Police are looking for a man in connection with an alleged loan and mortgage scam that may have bilked an elderly couple out of the home they’ve lived in for over 40 years.
The elderly couple , who are on a fixed income, agreed to take out a loan in 2006 using their southeast home as collateral from a man who “cold-called” their home but the interest rate was for 65 per cent, which is against the law.
“They believed they were signing papers for a reverse mortgage, but the papers did not reflect a reverse mortgage, nor did it give the couple any rights to remain in their home,” Const. Karen Moffatt said.
Moffatt said the suspect initiated foreclosure on the couple’s home when they couldn’t pay him back $150,000 for borrowing $84,000, which has since been issued a court injunction pending the investigation. “They didn’t understand and they were explained one thing and signed a document that said another thing.”
Richard William Hoffman, 38, is being sought on charges of unfair practices under Alberta’s Fair Trading Act, as well as with criminal interest rate under the Criminal Code.
