For homeowners suffering during the economic meltdown, 2nd Chance Legal Services may have appeared like a dream.
Pitching itself as a consulting firm for people seeking to renegotiate their mortgage, 2nd chance lured customers with the promise of legal aid, a full-time caseworker, weekly case updates, and a money back guarantee if they were unable to negotiate a better loan.
Now, it appears that the whole operation was a fraud.
On March 24, the California Department of Real Estate and the Department of Corporations filed desist and refrain orders against the firm's parent company, 2nd Chance Negotiations, Inc.
It's unclear how many homeowners have hired 2nd Chance. One of their case managers, Deborah O'Campo, claimed that the organization had "hundreds of cases," with each client paying $3,500. O'Campo, who agreed to speak on the record in March, is no longer with 2nd Chance.
Since the desist and refrain order last month, 2nd Chance has changed its name to Superior Properties. The woman who answered the phone at Superior Properties, which maintains the 2nd Chance phone number, would not provide her full name and declined to comment.
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