Complaint Review: TRUMAN FORECLOSURE ASSISTANCE LLC.

By Dan Tilkin KATU News and KATU.com Staff

VANCOUVER, Wash. - Many people, like Christine Atkinson, have turned to a loan modification company in desperation during the recession to save their homes from foreclosure, only to get empty promises, they said.

Atkinsons Vancouver town home is slated for public auction because her adjustable mortgage got out of control.

In an effort to save her home, she paid almost $3,000 to Truman Foreclosure Assistance, which is a company in Florida, after she saw a success story featured on the companys Web site.

E-mails and phone records show her correspondence since March: The company said in an e-mail that it would get your mortgage adjusted to where you are happy. But the exchanges progressed into frustration and disgust from Atkinson.
    
"As I stated before, I'm done talking. I just want my money back that I paid your company, Atkinson told the company in a phone call.

In early August she received news Truman had succeeded in getting a loan modification from her first mortgage lender Chase bank, but not her second mortgage.

It wasn't until this week that Atkinson said she found out by calling her second mortgage company herself that they were not willing to negotiate.
 
Experts said it's likely she could have negotiated the deal she got through Truman on her first mortgage by talking to Chase bank herself.

However, "A lot of these companies are not willing to do it until the home is in foreclosure and that puts our citizens in a really tough bind, said Oregons Attorney General John Kroger. Because they want to renegotiate the homes, but they don't want to enter into foreclosure. In a lot of cases there's no good answer."

Truman itself offers good advice, check credentials, check with the Better Business Bureau, it said. But the Better Business Bureau gave Truman an F.

Washington Attorney General, Rob McKenna also cautioned people to watch out for companies that want payment upfront.

"Only to find that in fact they receive no real assistance at all, no assistance that works, he said.

Truman boasts of a money-back guarantee. Atkinson is waiting to see if they deliver for what she believes was only half the job.

It's devastating. I feel completely defeated, she said.

After four days, Truman hasnt returned phone calls to explain its side of the story.

Regulators said Truman Foreclosure Assistance does not have the required license in Washington to perform loan modifications.

Washingtons attorney general said every loan modification company in the state is operating illegally in one way or another and regulators are having a hard time keeping up.

Homeowners can often renegotiate their loans on their own without paying a company to do it. The Oregon attorney general has home mortgage councilors homeowners can talk to. Click on the below link for Oregon for the consumer hotline to get in touch with mortgage councilors.

go to KATU.com, search for Dan Tilkin, look for the headline HomeOwner out $3000  to loan mod company.