Friday, May 1, 2009

5 Foreclosure Scams to Avoid

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Given the recent mortgage fraud found on Staten Island, SIREN brings you a summary of an article from Business Pundit blog, which talks about five different foreclosure scams (visit the link for the full article):

1. The Pay Me First Scam

Some foreclosure rescue scammers ask customers to pay them fees in exchange for delaying a foreclosure. It’s actually illegal for foreclosure rescue companies to collect fees before performing a service.

2. The Title Transfer Scam

This scam involves transferring the title of your home to the foreclosure rescue company. This is a very, very bad idea. If your name is not on the title, guess who owns your home? Hint: It’s not you.

3. Sending Mortgage Payments to a Fake Address

Some scammers ask to receive your payment in place of the lender. They claim they have a special relationship with the lender, or can renegotiate your mortgage if you send them payments. This is sketchy, to say the least. One California scammer, for example, made $1.2 million by pretending to be a lender—then fled to his native Mexico.

If someone tells you to ignore your lender letters, or to send the payments somewhere else, run the other direction.

4. Fake Lender Letters

Some fraudsters have taken to forging major lenders’ letterhead and convincing homeowners to sign up for “official” loan modification services. Mail, envelopes, and letterhead may look exactly like the lender’s, but the content will be fraudulent.

5. The Obama Rescue Plan Scam

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that some rescue companies are charging as much as $3,000 to modify customer loans under the new Obama relief plan. The truth is that you can find out about rescue plan yourself, either online at MakingHomeAffordable.gov, through the Homeownership Preservation Foundation at 995hope.org, or by calling 1-888-995-HOPE

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2 comments:

stop home foreclosure May 4, 2009 at 11:45 PM  

Abhorrent practices by lenders within the mortgage industry are called abusive lending. There are some guides for you to identify those blabbermouth swindlers.Think first before biting. And it might be necessary to contact an attorney in your particular state to learn more about this kind of abusive lending.

Anonymous May 22, 2009 at 4:56 AM  

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Warm Regards

Foreclosu-re.info Team

http://www.foreclosu-re.info