Commerce Dept. charges Mich. company with fraud

by Jessica Mador, Minnesota Public Radio

St. Paul, Minn. — The Minnesota Department of Commerce has charged a Michigan-based company with allegedly defrauding 118 Minnesota homeowners.

Commerce officials say the company, Save my Home USA, persuaded homeowners to pay upfront fees for loan modification services that were never provided. Together, the homeowners allegedly paid more than $289,000 in fees.

Commerce spokesperson Nicole Garrison-Sprenger said rather than saving their homes, the affected homeowners fell farther behind on their loan payments.

"Where this is of concern is people are paying for a service that they don't receive and what they are paying is a lot of money to somebody who is struggling to begin with, so in this case, we are looking at as much as $1,000 to $4,000 per family," she said.

Garrison-Sprenger says the department has ordered Save My Home USA to cease and desist from doing business in the state as residential mortgage originators or residential mortgage servicers.

An administrative hearing is set for May. Attempts to contact the company were unsuccessful.