Going through a hard time or financial situation can make you an easy target for people with dishonest intentions. When your mortgage lender takes court and legal action to foreclose your property, the fact that you have defaulted or failed to pay your mortgage payments becomes a subject of public records. Con artists can easily access this information and access homeowners going through this difficult process. Because these people have gotten so good at what they do, laws have been implemented by the federal and state government to protect homeowners from becoming potential victims.
There are several ways foreclosure consultants can get with your money. In addition to charging ridiculous prices for their services, scam artists can get a hold of your money by taking advantage of your current situation for selfish reasons. They will throw you a lot of options to choose from; all designed to take some of the “stress off your shoulders”. However, getting a “consultant” involved with the sale of the home to collect any extra money that belongs to you is one of their most successful scams.
They might even tell you that you may need to place a hold on the property to ensure that you pay them, or require you to give the consultant permission to collect any proceeds for you. These cons often charge you for information that you can obtain for free without anyone’s help.
Although scams in foreclosure services can be a big issue and have been for quite some time now, there are actual registered foreclosure consultants who can help you handle all of your ongoing foreclosure situations. Many states have established laws to prevent homeowners from being taken advantage of with scams. There are official benchmarks to identify and distinguish official service providers from the rest.
You know that you have found a genuine foreclosure consultant when he/she is registered with the state attorney general’s office, or when money is deposited with the state in case a consumer that has used the service decides to sue.
In order to ensure that you are confiding and putting your property in the right hands, place a call to your state attorney’s general’s office to make sure that no complaints have been made about this service provider in the past. You may also call your local department of consumer protection if you do not get a satisfying answer.
