On Wednesday, February 6th, Deborah and Lonnie Bolden and David and Dolores Contreras, filed a lawsuit alleging that they were duped into overpaying for their homes in 2006 by inflated appraisals. Their lawsuit is against KB Home (a home builder company) and Countrywide Financial Corp. These appraisals were done for Countrywide KB Home Loan (part of both of the above companies) and had inflated the home values from between 10 and 15%.

The couples become aware of the alleged deception last fall when they found out that neighbors with similar homes, had received lesser values from KB after securing appraisals from independent appraisals.

These claims are in a potential class action lawsuit with the Los Angeles Superior Court and are similar to ones made by the ex vice president of of Countrywide KB Home Loan, Mark Zachary. He had sued them for supposedly firing him after he complained about their lending practices. He purports that they approved unqualified borrowers for loans, and he had also questioned their using highly motivated appraisers to inflate home values.

Zachary´s claims were denied by the company and also have said that they feel the newest lawsuit is ¨without merit."