Maricopa County resident Maria Elena Alvarez is prohibited from providing mortgages or other consumer loan modification services to Arizona consumers, following a court ruling from Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne.

The office filed a consumer fraud action against Alvarez in November 2013, alleging that she falsely represented to homeowners that she would help them obtain lower mortgage payments on their homes. 

Alvarez told homeowners that they needed to send their mortgage payments to her instead of their lenders, and she then would forward the payments to the lenders. But she never did and instead kept the funds for herself.

As a result, the court prohibited Alvarez from providing mortgage modifications, in addition to requiring her to pay consumer restitution.