Be Wary of Foreclosure Assistance Scams

The following story about Jennifer Falke and her family is one that you should be knowledgeable of if you are looking towards a third party to help you negotiate a positive resolution to your foreclosure woes. Falke contacted Foreclosure Assistance Solutions (FAS) and paid them money for them to negotiate with her lender. FAS took her money, did nothing, and now she’s not only poorer but she’s in a tougher spot with her lender because nothing happened in the time that passed. FAS took $1,200 and put her in increasingly more difficult positions, when she had money they told her that the fees would be more and more - essentially ripping her off and making it nearly impossible for her to get back on track.

She was told not to call her lender because it would only make it worse and eventually, since FAS stopped answering her calls, she did and found out FAS was lying to her in the first place and inflating the cost of catching up. Here are some tactics they try to use to rope you in:

* Saturation marketing: They learn of mortgage delinquencies through published reports and proceed to bombard the owners with phone calls, flyers and posters.
* Exploiting trust: Scammers build trust by acting sympathetic and solicitous; many owners can’t believe they would lie to their faces.
* Isolating owners: Scammers assure victims that they’ll handle everything. They tell them not to call their lenders nor seek legal advice.
* Outright fraud: Scammers have homeowners sign blank papers and fill them in afterward or they sneak the paperwork through without telling victims what they’re signing.
* Affinity marketing: Especially among minorities and sometimes evangelical church congregations, a scammer builds trust based on a common ethnicity or religion.

The article recommends that you talk to your lender directly as soon as possible, that’s absolutely your best bet.

Source: Money.com