Trying to Hold Onto Home

In Fort Washington, his two boys could throw a football in the yard without his worrying about their safety. They could run around and bounce on the trampoline he placed beside the house.

Yes, life in the suburbs would be better, he thought. But, even before the move to Fort Washington, there were signs of financial troubles. The couple had a new baby, and Jacqueline Prunty suffers from a chronic illness, leaving hospital and doctors' bills. "When you're trying to pay a hospital bill, it makes you late on another bill," George Prunty said.

Within a year of buying the new home, the couple filed for bankruptcy. Under Chapter 13 bankruptcy, individuals are allowed to pay their debt over time. By filing, homeowners can stop foreclosure proceedings but must make subsequent mortgage payments on time. The repayment schedule for other bills can last up to five years.

By last year, the Pruntys had completed the repayment schedule and wanted to pay off some remaining debt, as well as make home repairs. With an appraisal showing the value of their house had more than doubled to $340,000, they decided to pull out some equity.

They ended up on the doorstep of Lanham-based Metropolitan Money Store Corp., a foreclosure rescue company that offered financing help to homeowners with credit problems.

Jacqueline Prunty, 51, said she heard about Metropolitan on nearly every radio station she listened to. The company advertised on gospel and R&B stations, promising to help homeowners like her with cash flow and credit problems. She was sold when she saw a spot on the Black Entertainment cable television station.

"Now I want to go down to BET and say, 'Do you know what you're putting out to our people?' " George Prunty said in a recent interview.

"What really hurts me more than anything else is that it's black-owned," Jacqueline Prunty said of Metropolitan as she sat at a dining room filled with knickknacks and family photos. "Why would they want to do this to their own people like this? It really hurts."

George Prunty said Metropolitan's owner, Joy Jackson, added "insult to injury" by spending nearly $800,000 on her elaborate June 2006 wedding at the Mayflower Hotel, which lawyers say was probably paid for, in part, with money from her business.

"It's a messed-up situation. . . . I want my two boys to have a stable home," he said.

Jackson and Metropolitan are the subject of a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of homeowners, including the Pruntys, who have collectively lost as much as $60 million in home equity. The company is also being investigated by the several federal agencies for possible fraud.

The lawsuit alleges that instead of helping homeowners, Metropolitan enlisted investors or straw buyers with good credit to buy the houses and borrow as much as possible against the home value, siphoning the equity.