Homeowners today have to keep their eyes and ears open all the time. With scam artists doing their work online and offline, it pays to know what they're engaged in and protect your residential property.
Housing scams continue to exist and the people behind these illicit activities target homeowners having issues with their mortgage payments and are desperately finding ways to keep their properties from being foreclosed. In particular, they prey on the elderly homeowners who may not be in the know about the internet and are often honest in their dealings especially when it comes to their homes.
Experts strongly recommend that homeowners get to know what these scams are in order to protect themselves from people with not-so-good intentions and save their homes. It would also be a good idea for the younger members of the family to be alert on these issues and inform their parents or even grandparents.
Upfront fees on loan modification. Many people facing foreclosure won't hesitate to request for a loan modification. They would even be willing to pay big upfront fees in the hope of a solution to their issues.
Experts, however, warned that counselors helping people negotiate for loan modifications are not allowed to charge advance fees. This is the regulation of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The best thing to do is to verify the person who may be posing as a foreclosure-prevention specialist. There have been cases in the past involving homeowners paying thousands of dollars for a modification only to find out later that nothing happened to their request.
Mortgage letter. If you happen to receive a letter stating that your mortgage has been sold to a new lending company, don't believe it right away. Although the letter may look like the real one from your mortgage lender, you still have to verify if the document indeed came from the company.
You might just waste your money if you follow the instructions in the letter. Just so you know, the letter usually provides you with the name of the new lending firm and the address to where you need to send your monthly payments.
What you should do then is to call your lender right away once you get a letter like this. Avoid using the phone number provided on the letter you received but get the contact details from your previous mortgage bill.
Deed theft. This type of scam involves a person posing as a mortgage lender or broker and letting a homeowner sign many documents. This person claims to have allowed you to refinance or modify your loan. Among the papers he or she lets a homeowner sign is one that actually signs over your house to them with you getting nothing out of it.
This particular document is then registered to your local office that records deeds and other property papers. Unknown to you, your home is sold normally to another scam artist who has negotiated with a bank to get a mortgage.
To avoid being fooled, the best step to do is to read and understand carefully what's stated in the documents provided to you before affixing your signature.
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