Attorney General Josh Shapiro today announced that the Office of Attorney General won $500,000 in restitution for Pennsylvania residents scammed by Harbour Portfolio Capital, LLC, affiliated Texas companies, and their leader, Charles A. Vose III.
As published by attorneygeneral.gov, citizens were deceived by Defendants through entering into unfair and unlawful “for sale by owner” purchases of uninhabitable family homes.
“Harbour sold uninhabitable, overpriced homes at unlawful interest rates to Pennsylvanians who were only hoping to have a place to raise their family and build savings,” said Attorney General Shapiro.
“Today, we’ve given money back to consumers to ease the financial burden placed on families by a cynical, heartless scam. I’m asking any Pennsylvanians who have been impacted by Harbour to reach out to my office at scams@attorneygeneral.gov”
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Shapiro sued defendants, including Charles A. Vose III in July 2018, for reselling homes at prices that were generally three to four times more than Harbour had paid for the homes just days or weeks before. The homes had no improvements.
No basic essentials
Homes sold by Harbour were usually in run-down condition, sold without disclosure of defects, and often lacking basic essentials.
According to the Attorney General, the company sold at least 80 homes of this kind in Pennsylvania.
Harbour required a large, non-refundable down payment and then asked victims to sign “Agreement for Deed” paperwork. The paperwork looked like conventional mortgage documentation, but did not include a deed in the buyer’s name or other standard protections.
According to the lawsuit, Harbour was collecting interest on the home contracts at almost twice the maximum rate permitted by the state law for this type of transaction. Defendants have agreed to pay $500,000 in restitution to consumers who entered into land installment contracts with them for Pennsylvania homes.
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