A theft in-'deed'
Lured by promises of a better interest rates and lower mortgage payments, some borrowers end up signing away their houses.
Thieves pose as mortgage professionals or attorneys who pledge to modify or refinance the homeowner's mortgage. The borrower is asked to sign the supposed modification papers. One of the pages in the stack of documents is a deed that once signed, transfers ownership of the property to the perpetrators or a company related to them.
-------
Phantom of the loan mod
Do not pay upfront fees for a loan modification. Homeowners have been warned about this repeatedly through numerous education campaigns. Despite the warnings, scam stories of borrowers who paid $1,000 to $5,000 for a loan mod but received nothing in exchange are widespread.
"People are starting to pick up on the fact that an upfront fee is illegal," McGill says. "But the scammer will say 'we are not charging you for the services but for doc preparation,' or they'll offer you a 30-day money-back guarantee."
----------
Banks often buy and sell residential mortgages, and con artists take advantage of that. They create fake companies, pretend they are the new owners of your loan and take your payments until you figure out it's a scam. Most borrowers don't learn about the mortgage scam until their actual lender notifies them that their mortgage is in default. Receiving a letter notifying you that your mortgage was sold from lender A to lender B doesn't always mean a scam. Often, when a mortgage is sold, lender A continues to service the loan and nothing changes for the borrower. But in some instances, the loan buyer becomes the new servicer and borrowers are required to send their payments to lender B instead.
Under federal rules, whenever the servicer on a loan changes, the borrower should be notified with a "Goodbye" letter from the current servicer and a "Hello" letter from the new servicer, Sullivan says.
---------
Steer clear of reverse mortgage scams
Elderly homeowners are easy targets for scammers. They are more vulnerable and more likely to have equity in their homes.
Fraudsters engineer several types of reverse mortgage scams. Reverse mortgages allow homeowners who are 62 or older to borrow against the equity in their homes without having to make monthly mortgage payments. Normally, the scammer wants to steal the equity in the home or use the senior citizens as straw buyers and borrowers.
"They use sleek marketing campaigns," says Chris Moessner, formerly president of Moessner & Associates, a research firm in Washington, D.C. "They'll say 'we'll allow you to keep your house and you'll be able to pay your bills, but this is the easiest way for you to get cash when you need it.'"
-------------
Avoid lease/buy-back agreements
Thanks to public records, con artists in many states know when a home is in foreclosure. Once they identify distressed borrowers, they persuade them to sign a quitclaim deed, which transfers the property ownership into a land trust.
In lease/buy-back mortgage scams, the perpetrator promises the deed transfer is temporary and you'll be able to rent the home from the new owners and eventually repurchase the home after you get back on your feet.
You are told it is necessary to sign the document so the company can make the mortgage payments and stop the foreclosure process. In addition, the scammer presents a lease/buy-back agreement, which specifies how much the borrower will pay in rent and explains that the borrower has the option to buy back the property after a certain period.
-------
This is just a small snip of the article, go here for more details:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/top-mortgage-scams-avoid/story?id=20178540#5
|
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing the top 5 mortgage scams and ways to lose the property.
Thanks for it.
Post a Comment