It's quite unfortunate how foreclosing homeowners are being a target of scammers everywhere. As if these home owners aren't stressed enough in their foreclosure issues, scam artists still have these people as targets in their loan modification scams. These scammers are all over the web, and they even invade the public files just to get to their next victim.
To help you stay away from these scam artists, here are the top 'modes of operation' these people use:
Mortgage Modification Assistance
Desperate home owners usually fall victim to scammers who claim to provide them assistance in the whole mortgage modification process. However, things can go from bad to worst as the scammers take their fee upfront and provide little to no assistance. So instead of risking your hard earned money towards people that can run away with it, you should know that there are assistance services offered for free through a few approved agencies.
Deed Transfer Scam
Another popular scam that homeowners face is the property deed scam where the scammers promise to buy the property and agreeing to let the homeowner desperately rent the home. These heartless people then suggest transferring the deed to a person with a higher credit score to make way for better financing opportunities, thus avoiding home loss. The most tempting part of these promises is when the scammer assures that the home will be sold back to the home owner. But in reality, these scam artists have no intention of giving back the property.
Typically, what happens is that the home is sold to another person. In worse cases, the scammer will collect the processing fees, take any equity, take the home title, and ultimately defaulting the property. If you are approached with such a scam, don't think twice in reporting it to the FTC.
Unrealistic Claims
As a really short summary, only the lender can agree to a loan modification, and this process can be quite long. So anybody who claims to provide you with an overnight fix is most likely a scam. With that in mind, you should also remember that you should never pay your mortgage to anyone else aside from your lender.
