BOSTON -- A land trust corporation that claims to rescue people from foreclosure puts many homeowners into more debt and eventually they lose their homes, say attorneys who have sued the company on behalf of homeowners.

Team Five Investigates reported Monday that several lawsuits have been filed against Equity Holding Corporation of California. Attorneys for the defendants call the Trust a "rescue scheme." They further characterize it as a "sophisticated fraud."

Timothy Hegarty and Carolyn Sharp-Hegarty of Woburn were two of the plaintiffs who took Equity to court. They bought the house from Carolyn's mother 12 years ago, and have raised four children there. "We started with a high interest loan," said Sharp-Hegarty.

But that 13 percent rate got the best of the family when Sharp-Hegarty lost her full-time job.

"We were a few months behind in the mortgage," she said. "There aren't many options once you get close to foreclosure."

Sharp-Hegarty thought she found a solution when an Internet search led her to Equity Holding Corporation, a land trust company. They said they could bail her out by forming a trust for the home.

"They said they'd help us catch up and in a few years be able to refinance," she recalled.

Equity Holding Corporation arranged for an investor to pay what was past due. Then the Hegartys sent a monthly check directly to Equity, who paid their mortgage company. But there were extra fees each month. Within no time, the family was behind again.

When the Hegartys tried to refinance, they discovered they no longer owned the home. They had unknowingly signed over the deed to Equity.

"I was mortified that I was stupid enough to sing forms I didn't know were there," said Sharp-Hegarty. They played on every emotion that I had about wanting to keep my house," she said.

Equity Holding Corporation's Trust agreement states that after two years of timely payments, trust holders can reclaim their homes, usually through refinancing. But first they pay back all the advances, along with a mountain of fees.

Like several homeowners, The Hegartys sued Equity. The suit claimed the trust was fraudulent and in violation of state and federal consumer protection laws. Attorneys said Equity charged the Hegartys an annual interest rate of at least 68 percent.

"They do that by borrowing against the homeowner's equity," said attorney Kim Breger of Harvard Law School's legal services. "It's enough to cure the arrears but it's at an exorbitantly high cost. They set the homeowner up for failure. It's absolutely outrageous and illegal," she said.

Breger settled the lawsuit on behalf of the Hegartys. The family got the deed to the house back and a cash settlement. The family is managing to hold on to their home. Others haven't been so lucky.

Team Five Investigates found hundreds of title transactions with Equity Holding Corporation in the Massachusetts Registry of Deeds. The largest number are in Worcester County where Team Five found half of the homeowners never got their properties back. Their homes were sold by Equity to third parties.

"People do whatever it takes to keep their home," said Bruce Marks, CEO of the Massachusetts Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America. "It is loan sharking," he said. "Sign over your deed and you can stay in the house and get it back eventually. But it's clear they can't afford the house," he said.

In a statement provided to Team Five Investigates, Equity Holding Corporation wrote that "most property owners are successful in completing the trust agreement.", adding "the homeowners know they are giving up title when they sign a deed at closing to EHC."

The company also told Team Five Investigates that the homeowners have a 95 percent beneficial interest in the property. But that interest decreases after Equity and its investors are paid back. The Hegartys say the arrangement just put them deeper into debt. But Equity Holding said their land trusts provide those on the verge of foreclosure with an easy alternative to bankruptcy or sale.