SF senior claims lender used scheme to foreclose

An Aventura senior claims that she has been caught in a forced-place insurance scheme leading to a foreclosure lawsuit — even though she never missed a mortgage payment.

Sarah Alhassid is filing a class action lawsuit after she was allegedly duped in what should have been a typical reverse mortgage.

“I feel very angry for what they are doing because the real estate taxes have been paid. I make my maintenance payments. I have been doing everything I am supposed to do, and there is no reason for them to do this to me,” Alhassid told the Daily Business Review. “They are trying to take away my home, the only thing I have left. I know there are a lot of other seniors out there in the same situation as me.”

In 2009, Bank of America allegedly purchased a flood insurance policy for $6,500 without her consent, even though her unit was covered by the Mystic Pointe Condominium Association.

According to the Daily Business Review, when Alhassid balked at paying the premium, Bank of America placed her loan in default and sold it to Dallas-based Nationstar Mortgage LLC. Alhassid received her reverse mortgage from Champion Mortgage, a subsidiary of Nationstar.

Alhassid has filed a lawsuit in Miami federal court claiming that Bank of America and Champion purposely targeted seniors with reverse mortgages by using force-placed insurance policies to file foreclosure suits and claim the property. [Daily Business Review] – Christopher Cameron