Foreclosure "Rescue" Scammers: Don't Lose Your Home to Them (Part 1 of 4)
Foreclosure "rescue" scammers can steal your home, equity, and money. Thousands of frightened, desperate homeowners facing foreclosure have already fallen victim to these dishonest, vicious predators. Here's how to protect yourself.
As record numbers of homeowners are defaulting on mortgages and become vulnerable to foreclosure actions by their lenders or mortgage servicers, foreclosure rescue scammers are coming out of the woodwork by the dozens. These people and companies act like they are helping frightened homeowners facing foreclosure, but what they really do is steal homes, equity, and money -- leaving the victimized homeowner even worse off than he was before the scammer "helped" him.
Don't become the latest victim of these vicious scammers. Learn how the scams work, what the scammers are like, and most important of all, how to protect yourself from them.
Because of the current credit crunch and less-than-careful lending practices by banks in the past five or more years, more and more people are having trouble paying their mortgages. And because the entire housing market is in a slump itself, it's harder for homeowners in financial distress to sell their homes (because they often can't sell their homes for enough money to pay off their mortgages).
Many of those struggling homeowners can't even refinance on better terms that would allow them to stay in their homes and successfully pay their mortgage obligations. As a result, we are seeing a dramatic increase in the number of people facing foreclosure.
And here's where the scammers make their entrance on white stallions, galloping to the rescue of the poor, trapped homeowner. Foreclosure rescue scams are so widespread and so cruelly successful for several very easily understood reasons:
There are hundreds of thousands of potential victims.
It's easy for the scammers to find their victims because the notice of default is public record (the lender must file the notice of default with the county recorder).
These days, this information is often computerized, making finding it even easier and faster for the scammers to find potential victims.
People are desperate.
Usually, those terrified people have a lot of money at risk.
Like anyone in a terrible situation, people facing losing their homes to foreclosure want to believe that there is a way out of their horrible problems.
You can easily see how frightened, desperate homeowners can become the victims of these dishonest, scheming, "rescue" scammers.
Don't become one of those victims. With the right information, you can protect yourself from the scammers, save your home, and live your life free from the fear of losing your home.
Next, learn how the scams work (Part 2 of this series), how to identify a "rescue" scammer (Part 3), and how to protect yourself from "rescue" scammers (Part 4).
About the Author
Matt J. Stuart has been involved in consumer protection his entire career. Most recently, he has focused on helping financially struggling homeowners protect themselves and their homes from the unethical, and often illegal, business practices of mortgage lenders who have taken advantage of hundreds of thousands of hard-working homebuyers in the past several years. Get started on saving your home at http://beam.to/savemyhome
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