MercuryNews – Irene Prusik has been dead for six years. But in April, someone showed up at the Department of Motor Vehicles in Brooklyn to renew her driver’s license. The explanation given by prosecutors rivals the Hitchcock classic “Psycho”: It was her son, in drag.

Thomas Parkin, 49, was charged Wednesday in the bizarre plot to impersonate his deceased mother so he could collect $117,000 in government benefits. He and the man accused of being his accomplice, Mhilton Rimolo, pleaded not guilty to grand larceny, criminal impersonation and other charges.

Both men were ordered held on $1 million bail. Their lawyers did not immediately respond to phone messages left on Wednesday.

District Attorney Charles Hynes said the scam was “unparalleled in its scope and brazenness.”

Authorities claim that following his arrest, Parkin told them that because he held Prusik when she breathed her last breath, “I am my mother.”

Parkin, who lived with his mother, was accused of hatching the scheme after she passed away in 2003 at age 73. He managed to conceal the death by falsifying her death certificate, then collected $52,000 from her $700-a-month Social Security checks over the next six years, prosecutors said.

Authorities say Parkin also got another $65,000 in rent subsidies by falsely claiming he had a disability and that his mother was still alive and was his landlord.

Parkin used his friend Rimolo to pose as the mother’s nephew when going to cash checks and do other business, prosecutors said. A security camera photo from the DMV office shows a frail-looking Parkin in a wig and dark glasses, Rimolo by his side, as he fills out paperwork.

The ruse began to unravel amid a dispute over the mother’s home, which was sold at foreclosure in 2003. Parkin challenged the purchase by suing the new owner on his mother’s behalf so he wouldn’t be evicted.

As the property dispute dragged out, both sides eventually contacted the district attorney to accuse each other of fraud. By the time investigators arranged a meeting with the family in May, they already had proof Prusik was dead: a photo of her tombstone in a local cemetery.

The investigators played along as Parkin showed up for the interview “wearing a red cardigan, lipstick, manicured nails and breathing through an oxygen tank,” prosecutors said.

My house is for a short sale. The first mortgage accepted the offer and is willing to eliminate the debt. However, the second mortgage indicated that will be a balance of 53k which I am responsible. I have a court order where shows my ex-husband is responsible of the 60% of any outstanding debts regarding this short sale. How can I repair my credit?

Nurys (more…)

I am currently living in a house that foreclosed this month. It is a nice four bedroom home I’ve been renting a little over a year now. I really like the house and would consider buying it but there are credit issues I’m working on to improve my credit score. Are their any non-conventional loans that would give me a loan. Recently, I went on the USDA web site and they offer loans to someone like me who wouldn’t qualify for a conventional loan, but nothing is said regarding credit. What do you suggest I do.
In deep thought about this.

Tarris (more…)

Can a second mortgage change the status of the loan type from “secured” to “unsecured” and continue to report the payments as late after foreclosure in a state that has an anti-deficiency law?

Our situation is we bought property in Arizona, an anti-deficiency state if the loan(s) were used solely as purchase money.  We took out a first and second (80/20) all used to buy the property.  The property value was less than the balance of the first mortgage at the time it foreclosed, in March 2008.    The first mortgage company reported it as a foreclosure as of March 2008.  The second mortgage company changed the loan type from secured to unsecured and has continued to report it as a missed payment, more than 120 days late, every month since March 2008, so as of todays writing we have 21 late payments from this one company.

Thanks,
Michelle (more…)

A friend of mine was at the Pinellas County Courthouse in Clearwater Florida yesterday and said while he was there, someone walked in with one of my mailers (my office sends out copies of the lis pendens along with a note to check out this site or call me for free information about some of your options).  Anyways, the person walked in to the courthouse to check to see if the lis pendens was real.  The purpose of this post is to inform anyone in Florida that they can check the following links in public records:

For Pinellas type ‘clerk of court Pinellas County’ into Google and then click ‘Official Records’ and then type in your name and ‘lis pendens’ or whatever you’re searching for.  All counties in Florida work similar, so you can type in ‘Clerk of Court’ and your county into Google for any county in the state.

If there is an active foreclosure case against you, then you can check that online too by clicking ‘Civil Records’ at the Clerk’s site in your county and then enter your name and click search.

This has been a public service message from your friends at the Broken Credit Blog.

(we now continue with our previously scheduled programming)

For Pinellas County Lis Pendens Short Sale Solutions Call Paul Jerome at 727-688-3779 or 727 688-3779 so that this phone number is indexed in Google and now you’ve reached my site and by the way, that’s my picture to the right.  So, call me and let’s talk about a full release of liability on a short sale.

Hello, I work in the lending industry and I have a client that missed two consecutive payments Feb/March of this year. It was a total error due to my client being on chemotherapy medication and it has been explained to the lender but they don’t seem to want to take off the lates. How can they get these two lates removed? They were 1-3 days late each month to get the 2×30. Help..

Lou (more…)

This is a fantastic site for anyone who is facing any type of mortgage related financial issues.  My question is this…

My wife and I want to file Chapter 13 to help eliminate a lot of unsecured debt that has piled up over the past few years, mainly because of a job layoff I suffered in 2007, and the ongoing housing crisis that has destroyed our house value here in FL.

We have two homes, one in Florida, and one in VA.  If we file Chapter 13, we hope to eliminate our credit card debt, a large amount of hospital bills and two car repossessions.  Until I lost my job, our bills were paid on time every month, but since then, we have found it impossible to catch up. 

Our primary residence is two months behind, and we owe about $75,000.00 more than it is worth on an 80/20 loan.  Our 2nd home in VA is one month behind, but has roughly $40,000.00 in equity.  We are thinking of giving back both homes, and read that you can possibly qualify for an FHA secured mortgage after making 12 payments in a Chapter 13 plan. 

If we relinquish both properties and rent for a year, is this possible, or will we have to wait just as we would if we let both the homes foreclose? 

I read in one of your blogs that the mortgage company can file a motion b/c the 1st mortgage on our primary residence and the mortgage on the second home are both secured, even though the 2nd mortgage on our 1st home can be stripped off.

We have talked to two bankruptcy attorneys, both of whom said to let go of both houses, and apply for an FHA loan after making 12 payments with the bankruptcy trustee.  I would rather keep our primary residence than rent if we will have to wait 3 or 4 years. 

What is your thought on this?  Thanks for the help.

Jason (more…)

What penalties may exist against First American Title, who after settlement, has held my funds for over two years. The issue begin after the checks were deposited, and the bank informed me of a stop payment on the check.

First AM, gave no reason except an investigation was necessary before releasing the funds.  Meanwhile, they refuse to cancel the loan or send the funds to my new loan. This went on for 7-months until a received in the mail an apologize letter, asking me to come back in to pickup the checks. I refused to do this unless they paid for the interest accrued over the 7-month period. It has been a stand off until recently, I received in the mail a check representing my disbursements of $150,000. There was no mention of, or a check for the interest paid over the 2-years without the funds.  Are title attorneys held to some of the same restrictions and compliance as lenders?

Valhola (more…)

6 months ago, I made a car payment that was 2 months past due on Saturday. On Thursday the following week, my car was repossessed because their computer system didn’t indicate the payment made over the weekend. I was informed if I had called, the repossession wouldn’t have happened despite the fact that i made a payment at their branch location. I had my car back in 3 hours, now there is a redeemed repossession on my credit. Do I have grounds to ask for that to be removed? Additionally, the account is now listed under closed accounts, but it’s an open account being paid as agreed.

Kim (more…)

I have 2 credit card accounts w/ B of A for a total of $30000.00. B of A has come to us with an offer to settle for $10900.00 and has further reduced that to $8900.00. They state the accounts are to be written off on June 30 2009.

My question is…is there a way to avoid the IRS coming at me for the difference. We are in pretty much an insolvent situation where we also owe the IRS over $20000 and our home is close to being upside down.

They are offering $8900.00 pay able in 3 months which will be extremely difficult to achieve. We could do $5000 if I borrowed from a relative. Any tips and/or advice would be greatly appreciated………Your site was recommended to me by a friend that used it to her great satisfaction

Jon (more…)