Tax liens filed against Apply 2 Save

Apply 2 Save Inc. in Coeur d’Alene has closed its doors, shutting out hundreds of frustrated customers who did not receive the mortgage help they paid for and employees who are owed wages.

The Internal Revenue Service on Monday filed four tax liens totaling more than $663,000 for unpaid 2008 federal unemployment and income taxes. The state of Idaho has filed a nearly $52,000 lien for unpaid withholding tax.

Wednesday, Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden also filed an amended version of a consumer protection complaint originally filed against Apply 2 Save and its president, Derek Oberholtzer, last month. A response to that complaint, which says the company preyed on desperate homeowners seeking help with lenders, was due Wednesday.

The Apply 2 Save Web site was down Wednesday, and its main telephone number had been disconnected. Calls to spokesman Ryan Robinson were not returned.

Apply 2 Save said it could negotiate restructured mortgages for homeowners facing foreclosure. Some clients paid as much as $1,500 up front for help.

According to the attorney general’s complaint, Apply 2 Save often did nothing or put off clients, such as Monica Lalla, by repeatedly demanding paperwork already submitted.

Lalla, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said Wednesday she paid Apply 2 Save $1,200 for help with a $185,000 mortgage obtained from IndyMac, a subprime lender closed by regulators, sold and reorganized as OneWest Bank.

The bank said it never received any paperwork from Apply 2 Save, she said, adding “I did everything they told me to do.”

Employees who were not paid, or who received checks returned for insufficient funds, recently demonstrated outside Apply 2 Save headquarters on North Meadowlark in Coeur d’Alene.