‘Occupy’ Group Organizes Victims of Alleged Loan Modification Scam

http://egpnews.com/2013/08/occupy-group-organizes-victims-of-alleged-loan-modification-scam/

Last year, buckling under the weight of a $3,000 monthly mortgage, East Los Angeles resident Catalina Gaitan needed help getting a loan modification. A commercial on a Spanish-language radio station lead her to the Siringoringo Law Firm, but nearly $6,000 later, Gaitan found herself in a much worse predicament.

She is now one of several people allegedly harmed by the law firm who is getting help from Occupy Fights Foreclosures (OFF), an organization aligned with Occupy LA.

Gaitan says she paid Siringoringo a $1,500 up front fee and that the firm also required that she pay a $495 monthly retainer fee — in the form of a monthly automatic withdrawal from her bank account — for the work she was told would take just three months to complete. She says she was also advised by a Siringoringo representative to stop making mortgage payments.

But the loan modification never came through and according to Gaitan, eight months of automatic withdrawals by the Siringoringo law firm left her with just $4 in her bank account.

(More at the link. Via Occupy Fights Foreclosures.)