Mortgage Relief Scams

We’ve always had and continue to get calls from homeowners who are stunned they found a foreclosure notice posted somewhere on their home. Often, the notice was posted in an obsolete area – a side door or an obvious seldom-used area. Consequently, the homeowner finds the notice after a hearing has been held and an eviction notice filed.

These homeowners are shocked when they realize they’re IN foreclosure or have been foreclosed on. Too many times the homeowners say they were working with or paying a company to stop any foreclosure from happening. Some were caught in a whirlwind with lenders selling off their loans so fast, the paperwork never caught up and mortgage payments weren’t credited. Then we have the homeowners who say they were in the middle of a modification and the lender sold the loan before the modification was completed.

These homeowners are all victims. We hear too often “they promised me I could stay in my home if I paid them”, “my modification was being approved when they sold the loan”, “I’ve been making payments to the wrong lender” and “I was never notified until now”.

Homeowners facing foreclosure are in such vulnerable positions they’re likely to grasp at the inevitable scam artists who crawl out of the woodwork. These scammers tell the homeowner what they want to hear like “we guarantee we will save your home”, “we will have your mortgage payment lowered”. Scammers make promises they can’t keep, while (illegally) collecting a fee from the homeowner each month. Unfortunately, homeowners find out later the scammer never contacted their lender (even though they told the homeowner they talk to the lender every week).

As I’ve written before there’s a rule in place by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) called the Mortgage Assistance Relief Services (MARS) that makes it illegal for companies to collect any fees until a homeowner has actually received an offer of relief from their lender and accepted it. It is illegal for these companies to take any kind of upfront money from you. Only an attorney licensed to practice law in the state where your home is located can require an upfront fee. The attorney places the money in a client trust account, withdrawing fees only when they complete actual legal services.

As a licensed, established and practicing attorney by the State of Colorado, I have sworn and taken an oath to follow all the rules, regulations and laws of Colorado and of the United States. Companies scamming homeowners are here today and gone tomorrow – after they’ve collected and debited your account for months. They know you don’t have the money to go after them, and most aren’t even located in Colorado.

The bottom line is, you paid a lot of money to a scammer for nothing. Lenders will only work with licensed attorneys, not phony counseling or foreclosure rescue companies (also called ‘foreclosure consultants’, ‘mortgage consultants’, ‘forensic loan auditor’, ‘loan modification consultant’, ‘foreclosure prevention specialist’, ‘short sales negotiator’).
If you think you’ve been the victim of a mortgage relief scam or are paying one of these ‘rescue companies’ contact a licensed foreclosure defense attorney as soon as possible – before you find an Eviction Notice posted on your home.

Keith A. Gantenbein, Jr. is a licensed, Colorado foreclosure defense attorney and real estate attorney located in Denver and servicing all of Colorado. His foreclosure defense practice includes foreclosure prevention, judicial foreclosure, HOA foreclosures, foreclosure assistance, loan modifications, short sales, and all other foreclosure defense legal assistance. He also defends homeowners against HOA claims in HOA lawsuits, handles real estate closings, title issues, lien issues, quiet title, real estate contracts, bankruptcies, mortgage negotiations, lender liability, real estate, civil litigation, contracts and landlord/tenant.

If you think you will be facing foreclosure, or are in the foreclosure process, or have had a wrongful foreclosure, contact Keith Gantenbein at (303) 618-2122 for a one-hour consultation where he will discuss your situation and go over all your options with you.

Visit: http//www.gglawllc.com