A U.S. district court in California has temporarily halted a mortgage assistance relief operation, which claims it can help people under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act.
The National Amendment Assistance, or NAA, allegedly misled consumers into paying unlawful upfront fees in exchange for guarantees of lower mortgage rates and monthly payments that never materialized, according to a Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, lawsuit .
“When Americans look for ways to cut costs and lower their monthly bills, they shouldn’t have to worry about being targeted by mortgage scammers,” Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement.
Since 2022, Southern California-based companies headed by Marinus Pieter Van Zweeden, Martin Howard Rub, and Susan Jane Bustamante have mailed letters to homeowners nationwide claiming to offer mortgage relief, according to the FTC’s lawsuit. The letters claim that consumers can obtain a reduction in their home mortgage rate due to a special mortgage adjustment program and urge the consumer to call to learn more.
The lawsuit states that the letters provide specific terms for the mortgage modification that the consumer is supposedly eligible to obtain, including a lower mortgage rate and monthly mortgage payment.
The defendants also allegedly misrepresent that consumers have a “grace period,” in which they don’t need to pay their mortgage, according to the lawsuit.
The FTC alleges that these promises are false. The defendants don’t obtain any mortgage relief for consumers and walk away with consumers’ upfront fees and financial information. Consumers – many of whom are often in financial distress – have lost the money they paid to the defendants and have fallen behind on their mortgage payments, with some facing foreclosure or default.
The court entered a temporary restraining order against the defendants based on their alleged law violations.
