Homeowners facing foreclosure are often desperate for a way out, but the agencies that claim they can save your home may not be able to help. Foreclosure filings topped 2 million in the United States last year — a 65 percent increase over the previous year.Mave Elise Brown of Housing and Economic Rights Advocates in California said innocence and desperation on the part of the homeowner can make them prime targets of such scam

Foreclosure rescue scams come in creative packages — the most popular are mortgage negotiation and title transfer.

The ploy in mortgage negotiation goes something like this — for a fee, a company can save your home from foreclosure by negotiating with your loan servicer.

The homeowner puts out over several hundred or thousand dollars and never sees the scammer again, and still loses their house.

See the rest of the KCRA.com story

Story from the Nevada Appeal;

“Unfortunately, home foreclosures are on the rise in Nevada and that has given scam artists fertile ground for cheating those desperate to keep their homes,” said Masto. “If you are facing foreclosure, I encourage you to talk with your mortgage lender before accepting help from an outside party.”

Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and Secretary of State Ross Miller are warning all Nevadans to beware of fraudulent foreclosure rescue schemes. Recent reports place Nevada first in the nation for its number of foreclosures. This has led to an increase in the number of foreclosure scams reported to law enforcement authorities.

We at IamFacingForeclosure.com agree with the attorney general, but the facts are that when people do reach out to their lender for help, that is far from what they receive. These third party companies are appealing to homeowners because in most cases they were unsuccessful in negotiating a loan workout with their lender. So, out of desperation, they look for another company to save their home as a last ditch effort.

While there are definitely a lot of fraudulent companies out there, there is also legitimate services that assist homeowners that are facing foreclosure. Our goal is to expose the scammers and highlight the legitimate companies that offer foreclosure prevention services in the coming months on this blog. So, please stay tuned.

More from the Nevada Appeal;

Some companies which appear to offer foreclosure relief will require consumers to sign contracts which involve turning ownership of a home over to the foreclosure relief company and leasing the home back to the consumer with a buy back option at some future date. Many companies prey on consumers’ fears of losing their homes. Many of these schemes are designed to fail so that consumers will lose their homes to the foreclosure rescue company.

An example of one scam known to be operating in Nevada: The perpetrator solicits victims directly through the mail with promises to help a homeowner from foreclosure by saving their credit and negotiating directly with their lender. The perpetrator will offer to buy the house for the total amount owing on the house, plus some small amount of cash.

The perpetrator will require the victim to sign a deed, a transfer tax form, and a contract of sale. The deed provides that the seller (the victim) is selling the house to a corporation. The perpetrator pays the cash to the victim and assures him he will take care of paying off any mortgages on the home. After the victim moves out of the house, the perpetrator rents the house, does not pay the mortgages, and the house goes into foreclosure. The perpetrator can continue to collect rent until the foreclosure process is completed. The victim collects none of the rent, and, once foreclosure is completed, the renters are evicted.

“Anyone who has information about a scam with these characteristics should contact the Secretary of State’s office in Las Vegas at (702) 486-2440,” said Secretary of State Miller. “In the current market there are a lot of people who, for various reasons, may want or need to sell their homes. When that need to sell becomes desperation, homeowners become lucrative targets for scammers. If it’s not something that’s within the jurisdiction of my office, we’ll find the appropriate agency to deal with it.”

Please let us know of any scams or a legitimate company that has helped homeowners stop foreclosure.