Expert Foreclosure Help

Are Foreclosure Rescue Companies Helping Or Hurting You?

I don’t want to say that everyone that says they are a foreclosure rescue firm is a scam artist but you have to be very careful. Scam artists prey on the down hearted and uneducated. When you are about to lose your home and are lost in the sea of lawyers, lenders and legal jargon, you are a prime target.

Foreclosure rescue uses a term known as equity skimming or equity stripping. The main idea is to get as much of your money as possible before skipping town. There are several ways that this is done.

Upfront fees: You are approached by a company that promises to stop your foreclosure. They ask for an upfront fee. Then they simply disappear. Yes this can happen to people. When you are looking for last minute help, you know the big lenders are not going to be able to work with you. You do some searching on the internet and find a nice website that seems very professional and conscientious. The company’s small and relatively unknown but you feel you can trust them. So you give them the money and hope for the best.

Redirecting payments: The company you hire tells you to send your mortgage payments directly to them and they will negotiate with the lender and work out a settlement. After you send a few payments, they disappear without having made any payments or arrangements with the lender. There are many legitimate companies – debt counseling type – that negotiate on your behalf with your creditors. You pay them one monthly fee and they spread it around the creditors. How can you tell the difference between the good ones and the ones that will take your money and run? Sometimes there is no way.

Rent to buy back: You are told to surrender your title and you can stay in the home and pay rent and eventually buy it back. Each year the rent goes up until you can no longer afford to make the payments and you have to leave. You have turned over your title so you have no rights to the house but you still are obligated to the mortgage company.

The best way to deal with this situation is to be cautious of everyone. Read ALL the fine print. Get a second opinion of someone you trust. The scam artists will feed on the urgency of your situation but you need to keep your wits and take things as slow as you can. Ask for personal references and check them out thoroughly. Listen to your gut instinct. That’s probably the best thing you have going for you.

At Real Estate – In The Know, we can direct you to more information about how foreclosure works. Get In The Know now about how to stop foreclosure, refinancing, selling homes, different mortgage types and other real estate information at Real Estate – Get In The Know.