FTC Busts ‘Foreclosure Relief’ Firm

BOISE (CN) - The FTC says two Coeur D'Alene-based companies are selling bogus "foreclosure relief" and "loan modification" to distressed homeowners. It sued Apply2Save, Sleeping Giant and the man who runs them, Derek Oberholtzer, for deceptive trade.

Oberholtzer pushes his "services" through a Web site, www.apply2save.com, which instructs consumers to call a toll-free number, where sales reps - telemarketers make "strong misrepresentations" that they can "save consumers' homes from foreclosure," and get loan modifications "in almost any circumstance," according to the federal complaint.

After taking "up-front fees," Apply2Save makes it difficult or impossible for its victims to contact the office, refuses their promised refunds, and "many consumers learned from their lenders that the Defendants had not even contacted the lender," the FTC says.

Customers say Apply2Save and Sleeping Giant often take a second payment from their credit cards, without authorization, and those who manage to get refund checks have found them returned for insufficient funds.

The FTC demands an injunction, rescission of contracts, disgorgement, and penalties.

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