FTC gets interdiction on foreclosure prevention services scam

A federal court at the request of the Federal Commission has stopped a bogus mortgage foreclosure prevention operation that misrepresented both the “loss mitigation” services it offered and the earnings potential of the business opportunity it sold. The FTC seeks to end this deceptive scheme and make the defendants give up their ill-gotten gains.

The complaint filed by the FTC says that Freedom Foreclosure Prevention Services, LLC, Loss Mitigation Training Center of America, LLC, Jeffrey C. Segal, and Michael R. Workman sold “loss mitigation” services to homeowners at risk of foreclosure, falsely claiming they could prevent foreclosure in 97 percent of cases and misrepresenting that they would make a full refund if they failed. Before performing any loss mitigation services, the defendants required homeowners to pay the equivalent of one month’s mortgage payment.

Their contracts instructed homeowners not to contact lenders or their contract and its money-back guarantee would be voided. In some cases the defendants’ consultants told homeowners to stop making their mortgage payments while the defendants were working on their cases.

The defendants are charged with violating the FTC Act by misrepresenting that they would obtain a loan modification or stop foreclosure in all or virtually all instances; that they would give full refunds in all instances when they failed to obtain a loan modification or stop foreclosure; and that purchasers of their business opportunity could earn the levels of income claimed in their promotions.

The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. On June 1, 2009, the court entered a temporary restraining order against Freedom Foreclosure Prevention Services, Loss Mitigation Training Center of America, and Segal. The court entered a preliminary injunction against those defendants and defendant Michael Workman on June 18, 2009.