‘Deceptive’ Marketers Banned from Mortgage Fix Services: FTC

In three separate actions, the Federal Trade Commission said today it has settled with marketers who sold mortgage modification or foreclosure rescue services, but did not deliver what they promised after charging thousands in upfront fees.

Under the settlements, the marketers are now banned from peddling such programs in the future.

The FTC actions are part of a larger crackdown by federal authorities against deceptive mortgage modification promotions that prey on desperate homeowners facing foreclosure.

In the case of the Federal Loan Modification Center, Steven Oscherowitz was accused by the FTC of charging consumers up to $3,000, “much of which they required up-font, but…often failed to live to the promised results, the FTC said.

The order imposes an $11.5 million judgment against Oscherowitz, which represents the amount consumers paid to the defendants while he was involved in the alleged scheme

In the case of Loss Mitigation Services, defendants Dean Shafer, Marion Anthony “Tony” Perry, and Bernadette Perry, also known as Bernadette Carr and Bernadette Carr-Perry, settled allegations that they “falsely promised that a loan modification was assured or virtually assured if consumers paid an advance fee of up to $5,500, the FTC said.

Shafer and the Perrys, who were principals of Loss Mitigation Services, Inc. (LMS) and Synergy Financial Management Corporation – doing business as Direct Lender or DirectLender.com (Direct Lender) – also allegedly misrepresented that the companies were a department of, or affiliated with, the consumer’s lender or mortgage servicer, the FTC said.

In the case of Hope Now Modifications, brothers Salvatore and Nicholas Puglia, doing business as Hope Now Modifications LLC, and Hope Now Financial Services Corporation, settled FTC charges that they “falsely claimed that they could obtain mortgage loan modifications in all or virtually all cases and would refund consumers’ money if they failed,” the FTC said.

The federal agency also charged that Hope Now Modifications falsely claimed an affiliation with, or was part of, the HOPE NOW Alliance, a free federal homeowner assistance program.

Read the FTC’s news release on these actions.