Shortly before this story went to air, FOX 4 Problem Solvers was contacted by a PR agency hired by Rust Consulting and informed that Rust Consulting was looking into the problems Bonnie Lewis had encountered and was working to resolve them.

Lewis, 79, had tried to get help at least 10 times since April but couldn’t get anywhere. Lewis is one of several million Americans who is owed a settlement check from the bank that foreclosed on her home. The checks are in response to charges by the feds that the banks had wrongly foreclosed on thousands of homes because of sloppy and at times illegal procedures, including robo signing.

Lewis was sent a letter telling her she was getting a $300 check, but every time she’s tried to collect it, she fails.

“They tell me my name isn’t on the mortgage,” Lewis said.

They is Rust Consulting a Minnesota company hired by the feds to distribute the settlement checks. Everyone Lewis said she talked to at Rust Consulting has insisted her mortgage was only in the name of her now deceased husband Clyde. Lewis said she has mailed work proving that her name was also on the mortgage and in August she thought she had made head way.

“In August they told me they had everything completed and there was no reason not to mail it out,” Lewis recalled.

But the check never came. It’s only for $300, but it Lewis who’s living on Social Security, could use the money.

And she’s not the only one complaining. You can read complaints from a dozen other frustrated people on websites like Ripoff Report and there’s even a Facebook page devoted to the issue.

FOX 4 Problem Solvers listened in as Lewis made yet another call to the help line at Rust Consulting to inquire about her check. But all she got was someone reading from a script telling her she would just have to wait.

So we got on the phone and asked to speak to a supervisor. We were told someone called a program manager would call Lewis, but so far that hasn’t happened. So we tried to contact Rust Consulting directly and were referred to a special number for the media, but when we dialed all we got was a recording telling us no one at Rust Consulting can talk to the media.

So then we tracked down the phone number of a senior vice president named Jim Parks and left a lengthy message about Lewis and a request for a return call. We never heard back.

A federal spokesman told us there have been so many complaints from people who haven’t gotten their checks that the feds have set up a customer service line to handle them. It’s 888-851-1920.

We passed that number on to Lewis and we’ll let you know what happens.

Federal Reserve Help Line: 888-851-1920
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Help Line: 800-613-6743

*NOTE: SHORTLY BEFORE THIS STORY AIRED FOX FOUR PROBLEM SOLVERS FINALLY DID HEAR FROM A MAN AT A PUBLIC RELATIONS COMPANY REPRESENTING RUSS CONSULTING. HE WANTED TO LET US KNOW THAT RUST CONSULTING APPRECIATED US HELPING MRS. LEWIS AND THAT RUST CONSULTING IS NOW LOOKING INTO HER CASE.