The Law Offices of J. Arthur Roberts would like to thank the California Attorney General Jerry Brown for his efforts to police and shut down loan modification scam artists.  From the A.G.'s website: http://ag.ca.gov/loanmod/index.php:

"Threatening possible criminal and civil prosecution, Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today ordered 386 mortgage foreclosure consultants to post $100,000 bonds and register with his office. He also ordered more than two dozen companies to justify suspicious loan modification claims made in "slick advertising," online and through the mail.
Threatening possible criminal and civil prosecution, Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today ordered 386 mortgage foreclosure consultants to post $100,000 bonds and register with his office. He also ordered more than two dozen companies to justify suspicious loan modification claims made in "slick advertising," online and through the mail."

The Attorney General's list of companies that must register as "foreclosure consultants" includes several Orange county law firms that advertise heavily on TV, print or radio, including the Lucas law firm and the Feldman law center.  Most of the companies on the list were not law firms but mortgage brokers or unlicensed entities throughout California.  Some on the list are foreclosure "boiler rooms" that are fronted by shady lawyers.  For a complete list, visit:  http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/press/pdfs/n1780_registry_list.pdf

The Law Offices of J. Arthur Roberts recently joined the Attorney General's fight against foreclosure scams when it sued "FastLink Financial" in Santa Ana Superior Court on June 29, 2009 for violations of the same Foreclosure Consultant Act ["CC Section 2945].  FastLink Financial is a loan modification shop operating in Anaheim Hills they made the list of companies targeted by the Attorney General.  The complaint states that Fastlink Financial and its principals, Zyad Maluf and Shirine Khatib violated Section 2945 when they charged the Plaintiff and her family $7,000.00 after a Notice of Default had been filed.  The subject property was ultimately lost and sold at a foreclosure sale.

Its no surprise here at the firm, the Treasury Department has reported B of A and Wells Fargo to be the worst performers among the biggest U.S. Banks in modifying loans for homeowners.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a5Nm438Sno9k

"Bank of America began 27,985 trial loan modifications, or 4 percent of its eligible loans, under the government's Making Home Affordable Program started this year, the report today shows. Wells Fargo had a 6 percent rate, trailing JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s 20 percent and Citigroup Inc.'s 15 percent. Wachovia Corp., which Wells Fargo acquired, had a rate of 2 percent."

These numbers relate only to loan mods done under the Obama Home Affordable Modification Plan or HAMP.  Bank of America modified 150,000 loans through other programs.  "Wells Fargo modified more than 240,000 mortgages in the first seven months of the year, including 20,219 through Obama's program."

"More than 1.5 million properties received a default or auction notice or were seized by banks in the six months through June, Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac Inc. said July 16 in a statement. That's a 15 percent increase from a year earlier."

Loan modifications have been taking 4-6 months, and in some cases even longer.  This data helps to explain why.  The Banks are not in the loan mod business, they are unprepared, understaffed and overwhelmed.  While we are hopeful that the situation will improve, we at the Firm are not convinced that homeowners should put all reliance on the banks as the government has advocated.  Furthermore, the government and homeowners should keep in mind that the Banks have a duty to pursue profit for the benefit of their shareholders.  The Banks always have the best interest of the shareholders, not the homeowners, in mind as they process loan mods.  Consumers need to keep this in mind if they are contemplating representing themselves.