September 25, 2007 (LPAC)--Pennsylvania State legislators met by the LYM in the course of organizing for the Homeowners and Bank Protection Act, are buzzing about a Ponzi scheme involving fraudulent mortgages in the Lancaster County area. According to a report in lancasteronline.com, the fraudulent practices of Personal Financial Management, also known as OPFM Inc. and "Image Masters," have put 800 homeowners in financial crisis.

Customers of the company are complaining that the firm's president, Wesley A. Snyder, wrote cheap, phony OPFM "mortgages" for the customers, while at the same time brokering actual mortgages in the customers' names with legitimate banks and mortgage lenders, at much higher monthly payments. The customers were aware only of the cheaper OPFM "mortgages," for which they received monthly statements and on which they made payments. When the scheme collapsed and Snyder's company went bankrupt last week, they were left liable for the higher actual mortgage. The Pennsylvania Attorney General has received hundreds of calls and e-mailed complaints from homeowners who have suddenly seen their monthly mortgages payments more than double, and who have lost up to $100,000.

Snyder was apparently able to temporarily pay the difference between the two mortgages by collecting money from a fraud which customers describe as a "double settlement," in which he convinced them refinance their mortgages at well above the cost of the home, and turn over "excess" cash to Snyder.