Attacking Mortgage and Foreclosure Fraud
There is nothing worse than the heartless scam artists that are exploiting the current mortgage and foreclosure crisis.
Incidents of foreclosure fraud can be found as far back as 2005. It was in that year that the National Consumer Law Foundation published a report on the incidents of mortgage and foreclosure fraud. Foreclosure scams vary but they are often used in concert with other schemes. Con artists will view the foreclosure crisis as a new way to fraudulently acquire and flip properties and steal the equity. Several news stations have done stories on the problem. One such report stated that the Attorney General of North Carolina banned a foreclosure “rescue” company from doing business within the state. Unfortunately, this same company moved only a few miles outside of the border into South Carolina and continues to operate unchecked. Another network ran a story about people who have fallen prey to these fraudulent “rescue” companies. These companies promise to “save” the homes of consumers and the consumers find that their homes are still foreclosed on and they are out several thousands of dollars which they advanced to the company in order for their homes to be saved.
In January of this year, Marc Dann, the Attorney General of Ohio, filed lawsuits against six of these fraudulent companies. These companies were charged with making false promises to save homes that are about to be foreclosed on. The Attorney General claimed that these companies violated five consumer protection laws. The companies were issued a stern warning to the companies who were exploiting families. Mr. Dann warned them to “Stop now or my office will stop you”.
Mr. Dann stated that there was nothing more shameful to him than sleazy predators trying to profit from the fear and misery of homeowners who face foreclosure and are desperate. They are willing to do anything that will give them hope and allow them to keep their homes.
This coming April, Deval Patrick, the Governor of Massachusetts will call for the criminalization of foreclosure fraud and tracking foreclosures. This tracking of foreclosures will include the filing of a required “pre-foreclosure notice” with the state. He is also calling for a new program to give the public an education about foreclosures. He believes that addressing the problem requires an approach that is more comprehensive than past approaches. Governor Deval urged the state to offer help for homeowners how are facing foreclosure, including a hot line and referrals to good financial counselors.
Homeowners about to suffer foreclosure are very vulnerable. Foreclosures are very public and the fear of embarrassment motivates them to grab a hold of anything that will help stave off foreclosure quickly and quietly. Foreclosures are usually advertised in the local paper for a number of weeks before the auction. These notices contain all of the mortgage information. It does not take long for someone to figure out the accurate figure of the mortgage balance. Then a quick trip to the county assessor and registry to discover any other liens on the property will give them additional information. With this information in hand it is relatively easy to get the amount of total equity. Scammers will take this number and use it to start their con game. Also, a public list of delinquent homebuyers can be bought for mass mailings. These lists are broken down into 30, 60, and 90 day delinquencies. Some lists may even have mailing labels with them.
Therefore finding and contacting a borrower in trouble is relatively easy. There are legitimate companies that can help desperate homeowners and buy properties out of foreclosure. The key is to separate these legitimate companies from the scammers.
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I’ve gathered a huge useful information from this blog.When a person takes out multiple loans for the same home simultaneously the term is shotgunning which may cause serious disaster to the mortgage provider. Typically after committing the mortgage fraud, the person or persons leave the country.