Stopping Foreclosure Scams

Posted on August 18th, 2008 by saman

Foreclosures are now part of everyday life in the U.S. Homeowners are desperate to stop this disaster from hitting them and their loved ones. This group of distressed people comes to the notice of foreclosure scams. These scammers are willing to locate homeowners in distress and the blind them with the misguided hope that they can save their home. The worst part of being conned by these scammers is that they can ruin your credit, steal the equity out of your home.

If a representative of a company offers to help you deal with creditors, be sure to check their reputation, background and authorizations and references. There are some scammers out there who are able to manipulate you into turning over the deed to your home. In exchange, they say that they will pay off your mortgage and will let you and your family stay in the home as a renter.

If you do give up the deed to your house the con artist can raise your rent, sell your home and take out all of the equity in your home and even evict you out of your own house.

If the con artist stops making payments on the mortgage, the lender or bank will be able to foreclose on your home and the foreclosure will be on your credit record.

Some scams come in the form of refinancing. Thieves may get you to sign papers that they say if to assist in refinancing your home so your payments can be made but in reality you are signing over all rights to your home.

Scam artists are very skilled at finding legal loop holes that they can use to con you. One of these loopholes is bankruptcy. A thief will ask you to put the names of others on your house and this means that they can all file for bankruptcy which would stop the foreclosure process temporarily. The problem with filing for bankruptcy is that you have to keep paying off your debt.

If a con artist gets involved in this process and you pay him, the thief can keep your money and not do anything for you. If the scammer asks you to refinance your loans and that in return they will negotiate with your bank, then the thief could take your money and run. Never sign your home over to anyone.

To protect yourself, you should always know what you’re signing. If you are presented with a document and it confuses you, you should get help from a friend, professional, or even a lawyer.

Many scammers will leave blank spaces in documents and fill them in at a later date. Be sure that you have the correct copies of any and all documents that you sign. If an agreement has incorrect statements and errors, then you should get away as fast as you can. There are some con artists that will say that they will fix errors later but if you wait, your financial situation can become much worse. Never sign anything that doesn’t look correct.

If you have any question or doubts when dealing with those who claim to want to help you save your home, always seek the help of a professional.