Avoiding mortgage relief scams
Frank Moham, a fellow REALTOR from Newport Beach, California has a few tips on "Avoiding Mortgage Relief Scams". Remember as a REALTOR our job is to help people with their housing needs, that encompasses buying, selling or simply explaining the options they have if they are "upside down" on their mortgage.
Patricia "Patty" Mortara | Hunterdon Realty Group
Office: 908.782.0095 | Mobile/Direct: 908,349,0095
Consumers and specially people that are trying to buy, rent, or refinance their homes; save their homes from foreclosure; or sell their properties might hear some different stories and feel differently about the news and how they might be affected by it. Here is an interesting article worth a few minutes of your time:
The New York Times
Avoiding mortgage relief scams
The offers seem like answers to the prayers of a struggling homeowner: A promise of legal tactics to forestall foreclosure, reduce mortgage balances and interest rates, or restore credit. But these so-called mass joinder lawsuits being advertising in mailings are fraudulent – sent out by companies purporting to be law firms, according to a consumer alert by the Federal Trade Commission’s (F.T.C.) website.
Making sense of the story
- Consumers can lose valuable time to these dishonest players – not to mention money. The nonprofit Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law estimates that homeowners nationwide who reported scams to its database have lost more than $60 million in the last two years alone.
- There are many credible law firms around to help homeowners. But some businesses might be promoting themselves as providers of legal services, they might have only one lawyer on retainer, as a way around F.T.C. rules that allow only lawyers to collect upfront fees on mortgage aid.
- Such firms, and people posting as lawyers, are fueling a 60 percent jump in complaints about mortgage scams this year, according to a report by the homeownership Preservation Foundation, which helps distressed homeowners.
- When speaking with a lawyer, consumers might ask about the lawyer’s track record, including documentation of successes via media reports or signed court documents awarding borrowers money or relief.
- Consumers should beware of promises. According to the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, “legitimate lawyers don’t make guarantees, just like doctors don’t.”
- There are plenty of free services available at nonprofit groups certified by the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development.
- The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® also has information available about short-sale and foreclosure-prevention fraud. Visit http://www.car.org/aboutus/forconsumers/loanfraud/ for more information...
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