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Look Out For Foreclosure Assistance Scams

April 8th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Too often people find themselves facing financial difficulties. In extreme cases this can involve having their homes go into foreclosure. Due to the increasing number of people facing this problem each year, there have been many crooks who have surfaced offering foreclosure assistance to unsuspecting victims. Often these 'scammers' end up with more than just your money. They end up with your house as well.

If you have beed served a foreclosure notice, take a moment to educate yourself on the following ways that these crooks take advantage of people so you are forearmed before requesting any foreclosure assistance. Otherwise you may well end up their next victim!

If it sounds "Too Good To Be True" . . .

. . . it probably is. When you’ve got money troubles, it’s easy to get caught up in whatever type of help anyone offers you. This is especially true if you are in need of foreclosure assistance to keep from losing your home. One of the many types of scams that con artists use in order to take the unwitting victims' money is called Equity Skimming. In this scam, someone will approach you and offer to buy your home to get you out of trouble. The crook insists that you deed the property to him or her in order to avoid foreclosure, and then implies that you will receive a certain percentage of the profit when the property sells.

Too often, however, once you have willingly signed over your rights to the house, the con artist simply rents the home out for a short while to make some quick cash. The bank still forecloses on the loan, and you have absolutely nothing to show for it. If that wasn't bad enough, signing over the deed to your home does not negate what you owe your mortgage company so you could still find yourself liable for the reapayments.

Look Out For "Help Us Help You"

Illegitimate foreclosure assistance counseling agencies often prey upon those in need of financial help. These services promise that, for a small fee, they can work with your lenders to get you aditional help. Too often, however, the assistance they promise to provide is something you could well do yourself free of charge. The majority of these "counseling" services only call to negotiate a temporary payment arrangement with your lender. This is a step you should take yourself before calling in anyone else to help.

Anytime you request foreclosure assistance, be sure that you get all promises in writing. Never sign anything without the advice of an attorney, and contact your District Attorney’s Consumer Fraud Unit to check the legitamcy of the company/person you are thinking of dealing with.

Foreclosure Help

September 12th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

A Quick Foreclosure Help Guide
Foreclosure help is the first thing that a person needs when his or her home is threatened with foreclosure. But few people falling into such a crisis have the fortune to come away unscathed. Nor are the help lines suitably displayed for the unfortunate individual when it is needed most. The result is often extremely distressing for all concerned.

However, foreclosure help is available in several forms.

Foreclosure Help From The Lender

Some lending organizations do often come up with mortgage foreclosing plans and mostly they do so to avoid owning the property. Traditional banks are not in favor of taking on the homeowners responsible for taxes, upkeep and/or renting out properties so they prefer to sell them if they have to. Considering prevention better than cure they try not lend to homebuyers that are likely to default in the first place. That's their main way of preventing a property going into foreclosure - not lending in the first place.

If a borrower has defaulted on their loan however, they can receive foreclosure help from the lending institutions by having their payments are broken down into easy installments over a set period of time. If it is for 6 months the new payments would be due plus the person would need to pay one sixth of the due that is already there. This system will continue till the time the back payments have been repaid. This foreclosure help can often times help a buyer through a rough period and allow them to continue to be a homeowner wihtout the bank having to take a property on.

Foreclosure Help from Outside Agencies

Sometimes the mortgage lender is not willing to help and the buyer is not able to keep up with the mortgage payment schedule. In such cases there are outside agencies that provide temporary loans that can be taken on to meet the gap. This alternative allows a new lender to come between the borrower and mortgager to work out a payment method in which interest payments can be made in order to forestall foreclosure.

Bankruptcy Foreclosure

Bankruptcy foreclosure is one more option that starts when the buyer has to declare himself bankrupt in cases where there is complete financial disarray. By claiming bankruptcy a buyer can often work with the court and the lender in order to establish a payment plan whilst enabling them to maintain ownership of their home. The plan enables the borrower to pay most of the past due interest charges and late fees and the mortgage holder benefits by not having to go through the legal process of foreclosure.

Taking A Second Mortgage

The last item of foreclosure help may take the form of a second mortgage. Here money becomes due to two separate lenders against the same property which is held as collateral by both. Though this may provide a temporary relief to the borrower who is allowed to keep the property for the time being but when default affects both the lenders no amount of foreclosure help can save the property. So, unless you know your financial situations is going to change this typed of foreclosure help is a risky strategy.

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