Foreclosure Fraud

The D.C. Council contemplates a law to prevent it.

WHEN JOY JENISE Jackson and her bridegroom, Kurt Fordham, walked down the aisle together at the Mayflower Hotel last year, they did it in style. The happy couple joined their 360 guests for lobster and four wedding cakes, then bestowed gifts on their attendants that included a house and a Porsche. The newlyweds were also business partners, in the Lanham-based Metropolitan Money Store, a "foreclosure rescue" service that advertised itself as a savior to families in danger of losing their homes.

How romantic. Alas, Metropolitan Money Store was a scam to bilk hundreds of financially troubled homeowners out of the equity in their homes -- allegedly to the tune of $60 million, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland. The company allegedly pitched its services to minorities via radio advertising, then siphoned off their wealth through "straw buyers" who would acquire title to their homes. The Secret Service and FBI are conducting investigations.

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Metropolitan Money Store is only the latest alleged version of an old scam that preys on people -- often elderly or minority -- who find themselves in this difficult family crisis. Foreclosure happens fast; as the bank letters begin arriving, people panic. Certainly the risk is not confined to Maryland, which had enacted legislation designed to combat foreclosure-rescue abuses in 2005. The District's attorney general has filed suit on behalf of at least 27 District residents who were allegedly victimized by the Metropolitan Money Store.

The D.C. Council is considering a bill to prohibit foreclosure consultant rip-offs in the District. Shepherded by Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3), the legislation, which is likely to pass, would outlaw the kind of promise that the Metropolitan Money Store allegedly made and allegedly broke: Hand over the title to your house in return for a bailout. The bill also declares that anyone who engages in the foreclosure rescue business is legally bound to act in the homeowner's best financial interest. No doubt the next generation of con artists will try to find a way around these strictures. But with the housing market headed for what could be extended difficulty, the District's homeowners need protection against fraud, and this bill is a good start toward giving it to them. (www.washingtonpost.com)