Foreclosure-Gate a Reprieve for WWII Vet

In 2003, Tom (not his real name to protect his privacy) was a retired civil service employee and World War II veteran with money in the bank and a retirement income of $2,000. He also had nearly $80,000 in savings. Today at age 84, thanks to the unscrupulous dealings of a person who represented himself as a real estate broker and financial adviser, he's almost destitute and his house is at risk of foreclosure. The "adviser' encouraged him take the equity out of his home and buy investment property.

Before meeting this man, Tom had only $50,000 more to pay on the mortgage of a home he'd owned for 20 years in South Florida. Tom now owes $400,000 in mortgages, has lost all the investment property and "lives in limbo," he says, waiting for the bank to bring up a new foreclosure action on his home.

The only thing that saved Tom from being out on the street in August was representation by Ice Legal, who got the plaintiff to withdraw the foreclosure case from court because of faulty paperwork.