Foreclosure Fraud, part 1

Some of you may have heard this before, but it bears repeating: if you find yourself facing foreclosure, try to work something out with your own lender. It is tempting to think that someone more knowledgeable will swoop in and save the day and you’ll just need to sign a few papers. More often than not, those who show up to help are not in it to help you keep your home.

There are many different versions of foreclosure fraud being perpetrated against struggling homeowners, but they fall into two basic categories. The first one is one in which a company offers to negotiate on your behalf.

They step in as if they are a knight in shining armor and when a person is under the type of stress that a homeowner facing foreclosure is facing, it all sounds really good. Who wouldn’t want someone to step in a make everything better? In these instances, the “heroes” don’t help anyone but themselves. They charge an expensive, upfront fee and then fly away with a homeowner’s money. Victims of this type of fraud are left to still fend off foreclosure with much less money than they initially had.

Come back on Monday for another look at foreclosure fraud.