Can a Homeowner in Foreclosure be Victim of a Scam?

Once you have been approved for your mortgage loan and conclude the commercial transaction between vendor and buyer, a sensation of fear undoubtedly will start to creep deep inside you. The fear of being unable to keep the mortgage payments in time and manner to the lender with the ultimate consequence of foreclosure; as a natural consequence, homeowners will seek to protect their real estate property from such events as strongly as possible.

This causes homeowners who are nervous and that are succumbing to the pressure of fear and anxiety to be prayed upon by scammers who offer to protect, stop and conjure the danger of a foreclosure against their homes. While there are some offices and professionals able to protect and provide you with both guidance and some protection against a foreclosure action. Still there are many things that have to go through before they can act on them; so, as time passes on by those homeowners that are desperate and worried because they have to pay their mortgage loans are more susceptible of falling pray to scammers.

Scammers find their preys in the notification boards; when a homeowner or borrower has fallen behind on his or her mortgage payments there is a notification that is posted so that the homeowner is aware that legal measures are being taken so that he or she will seek to put his or her mortgage payments up to date.

It is in this place where scammers find their potential preys; in some cases, they will contact them directly arguing that they have been referred to them on behalf of the lending agent or simply state that they are aware of the problems that the homeowner has in terms of mortgage payments. Once again, there are those companies that are actually serious and that they are able to stop and reverse a foreclosure action before it is consumed; but the scammers are also plenty and the homeowner who seeks to use their help has to be particularly aware of their potential damage.

There are many foreclosure swindles operational on the real estate sphere, some of them are:

• Rescue and Refinance. The scammers state that they can renegotiate a loan; they might even guarantee it and ask you to give them the money that you should be paying directly to your lender.

• Impersonating a government representative. They will claim that they are part of the homeowner assistance programs that the federal, state or even local government has instituted; confirm it with the corresponding government branch.

• Leaseback. Quite likely this is the most dangerous scam; in it, the scammer will ask the homeowner to sign over the deed of the real estate property with the excuse of getting a new and better loan, when it truth there will be no help. You will still owe the mortgage loan with all the penalty fees and will have lost your home.

• Bankruptcy and debt-elimination. There is no way to actually stop paying your lender and keep your house “for free”; at one point or another you will have to pay back your loan in full; any other alternative –even if they do ask for a small, medium or large amount- is a scam.

Naturally, for the laymen, any plausible solution will sound just as farfetched as a scam, so it will be a good idea to check with your local HUD government office representative and even a real estate lawyer.

                                                

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