Amie: Standing Up to Fraud

Amie was unemployed for nearly six months before she found a new job across the river in Portland. It didn’t pay as well as her last one, and she was concerned she might get behind on her mortgage. She heard an ad on the radio about a company that would help her secure a loan modification. “These people were promising me three, four hundred dollars off a month,” she recalled. However, the fee was $3,495, and it was payable in advance.

In December 2008, the government’s Making Home Affordable plan was not yet in place, and the foreclosure crisis hadn’t fully captured the public’s attention. “They weren’t doing newscasts on what to do and what not to do. When I tried to do research there was nothing out there,” Amie said. After an exhaustive search turned up no red flags, she accepted a $3,000 loan from her mother and enrolled.

The company told Amie it would only take 30-90 days to get a modification. “At three months, I hadn’t heard anything from them, so I started emailing.” The company’s responses were sporadic and evasive. Amie’s frustration mounted, but she remained vigilant, demanding results and, eventually, a refund. After getting the runaround for seven months, she contacted her lender directly and secured a trial loan modification.

As a condition of the modification, her lender required her to meet with a counselor from a HUD-approved housing counseling agency. Amie attended a mortgage default prevention orientation at the Community Housing Resource Center and came in for counseling. She told us her story, and we put her in touch with one of our partners, the Northwest Justice Project, a non-profit law firm that provides free legal assistance to low-income people and communities throughout Washington.

Amie’s lawyer threatened suit and got her money back in less than a month. Her trial modification is now permanent, and she’s already earned a promotion at work. “I like it there, and I’m starting to get ahead a little bit,” she said. With everything going her way again, Amie's only frustration these days is her crowded commute across the Columbia.

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