UPDATED: Upstate Attorney Sues Over "Mortgage Fraud" | WSPA

UPDATED: Upstate Attorney Sues Over "Mortgage Fraud" | WSPA
UPDATED: Upstate Attorney Sues Over "Mortgage Fraud"
A woman says her bank told her not to worry about foreclosure, then foreclosed.



Upstate Attorney Sues Over "Mortgage Fraud" (Added: June 06, 2011)
An Upstate woman and her attorney say banks are using fraud to force people out of their homes. (more)
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By GORDON DILL
Published: June 06, 2011
Updated: June 06, 2011 - 8:39 PM
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SIMPSONVILLE, S.C. --
Attorney David Thomas has harsh words for some of America's biggest banks.

"It's a slight of hand. It's smoke and mirrors. It's the worst you could think of for fraudulent activity," Thomas said. "This has to do with breach of contract, misrepresentation, unfair trade practices. All the things that you would normally see in the world of fraud, i'm saying the banks are doing."

Thomas said he represents 8 Upstate clients who were offered loan modifications and then found out they were facing foreclosure.

"You can call up and you can say, 'you have my mortgage can we do a modification?' And they'd say absolutely, let me help you with that. Lo and behold, they end up filing foreclosure papers, while at the same time, you're talking to their agents about getting this modification done," Thomas said.

Karen Miller is one of Thomas' clients.

"They said no problem and they sent me the paperwork that i needed to fill out. I filled out all the paperwork, I sent them everything that they asked for," Miller said.

She said that once she entered the loan modification process with her lending agent, a subsidiary of Wells Fargo, they told her to stop paying her existing mortgage. In fact, she says that checks for the mortgage were returned.

But, she says, the bank was still penalizing her for those missed payments and now she's facing foreclosure. There's a sale date on her Simpsonville home. She may be homeless by June 13th.

UPDATE :

A spokesman for Wells Fargo now says they have been working with Miller and her mother for years to try and find a way to modify the mortgage. He said the company is still willing to work with her to find a solution that would avoid foreclosure.