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I opened my mail yesterday and found a very interesting piece. It seems that a law firm who had foreclosed on an investment property I owned has been sued in a class action for illegal practices.

Holy smokes, Martha, lawyers doing something not legal? Can that really be so? Why would they do it? The answer can be found on any given week day down at your local court house. Stand around there some day and watch as the “processors� for the law firms walk in with their arms full of foreclosure papers. Each file, a person’s life being flushed down the system’s toilet by a banking institution and a lawyer.

Why do they do it? Take a sneak peak if you can at the line on the paperwork that itemizes the attorney fees. The homeowner got behind on the mortgage, maybe to the tune of a few thousand dollars. Then they got a notice from an attorney saying that foreclosure was imminent unless they settle now with the attorney.

Unfortunately, as soon as the paperwork hits the attorney’s desk, that few thousand that the homeowner thought he owed is now well over ten thousand dollars once you add in the attorney’s fees, and the best part of it is that once the papers go to the attorney, the bank won’t talk to you anymore. Settling is all up to the attorney. It is a huge money business. Not very pretty or kind, but a lot of money.

So back to the papers I received. The law firm has openly admitted to certain allegations and has already settled for $ 1.8 Mil. Basically they overcharged, more than the law allows for handling the foreclosures. So thousands of people lost their homes because these attorneys price gouged. What do they care? The banks pay them no matter what happens. If they collect from the homeowner, great. If not, the bank writes off the debt and everyone wins big time, except the poor slobs who invested everything they had trying for the American Dream.

So what happens to the law firm now? They broke the law. Of course, they bargained it away, like most everything else in the system. They pay out a small percentage of the money they collected illegally, and they walk. What a concept.

So if anyone reading this is facing a foreclosure, read the line where it says “fees� very closely. Then either have another attorney look at it, or look up the USC codes yourself to make sure it is lawfully done. It may just cost you everything.