The Oregon attorney general has filed a lawsuit accusing American Team Mortgage, Mission Viejo, for repeatedly violating the state's Unfair Trade Practices Act and Mortgage Rescue Fraud Protection Act.
The lawsuit, first reported in The Statesman Journal, alleges that since January 2009, American Team Mortgage charged 32 homeowners a total of more than $80,000 in fees for loan modifications but that the money paid was given in advance of providing services.
The state claims the company obtained loan modifications for only a fraction of its Oregon clients, and possibly as few as two.
Investigators say that despite American Team Mortgage's poor record of obtaining loan modifications and despite promises to refund clients it could not help, the company refunded only two of the 32 Oregon homeowners who paid advance fees for loan modifications.
American Team Mortgage is no longer in business and its phone number is disconnected.
