Cleveland woman with lung disease promised help with mortgage, but receives nothing

CLEVELAND - Kimberly Ford's mother used to tell the youngest of her eight children one thing: "Your too much a sweetheart. People will take advantage of you," said 50-year-old Ford.

If people weren't joking about her kindness, they were saying Ford worked too hard.

"All you do is work, work and sleep that's all you do," said Ford. She said there was a reason she worked two jobs as a nurse. "I said I want to be able to buy me a home and I can't do that if I can't save."

At 25 years old, she bought her dream home and said things were great, but money was tight. In 2001, she was diagnosed with a lung disease.

"It's hard for me to breathe and it feels like my chest is going to explode," she said. Forced to stop working, she lost money and her $915-a-month mortgage.

"I couldn't understand why my mortgage rate kept going up when I was at a fixed rate," she said.

She turned to the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, or NACA, a group that claims to help homeowners.

"They said you are eligible to be qualified because of your income," she said. She said they promised to work with her lender and cut her payments in half.

After a year, she said they did nothing. Now, she's telling her story so others don't go through the same thing.

"Don't mislead people, don't lie to them, don't make them feel like they are a piece of dirt, because I'm not. I work for everything I got. I've never asked anyone for anything," she said.

Ford said she went to ESOP, a non-profit who also assists homeowners, and they were able to help her in six weeks.

Cuyahoga County officials told ONN this is a big problem happening in Ohio and all over the United States. Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald said certain non-profits promise to help homeowners and then don't do anything.

He said the county has several programs that will do their best to help, but will never make guarantees.

"They are free, responsible and can give them good advice. These are people that have been victimized once through predatory lending and they need good sound legal advice," said FitzGerald.

FitzGerald and other community leaders held a news conference in front of Ford's home to warn people about foreclosure scams. They said be especially wary of foreclosure "road shows" and other scams that promise to help you in one day.

NACA never returned our call for comment regarding Ford's situation.