Helpful Sites
Making Homes Affordable
Fannie Mae (Avoid Foreclosure Overview)
HUD (Avoiding Foreclosure)
VA (Trouble Making Payments)
If you have an FHA loan, call the FHA National Servicing Center at 1-877-622-8525.
Foreclosure Scams
Scammers sometimes contact homeowners who are having trouble making their mortgage payments to offer them “help.” Criminals like this promise to help you keep your home or sell your home without having to go into foreclosure, for a fee — but they’re just out to take your money, not help you.
These scam operators find potential victims in several ways:
- Advertising online and in local publications
- Distributing flyers
- Contacting people whose homes appear in the foreclosure notices (they can easily find these notices online or in a local newspaper)
- Targeting specific religious or ethnic groups
If you feel you've been contacted by a scammer you should consider filing e a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). If the scam involves bankruptcy, contact a local U.S Trustee office.
Also, be aware of the following tricks scammers use:
- Offering to negotiate with your lender or act as an intermediary between you and your mortgage lender to refinance your loan
- Advising you that they can stop foreclosure by "helping you" file for bankruptcy (here's a helpful link to the DoJ regarding Bankruptcy scams
- Encouraging you to sign fake foreclosure rescue or mortgage documents
- Claiming that they can perform a forensic mortgage loan audit to help you hold onto your home (here's a helpful link to an FTC article about this type of scam)
- Offering you a bogus relief scam or fake legal help (this is a helpful link to an article written by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau about this type of scam)
- Learn about your legitimate government-approved mortgage and foreclosure help options.
Don’t
- Don’t send mortgage payments to any company that is not your loan servicer.
- Don’t sign any documents without having them reviewed by a lawyer or independent expert.
- Don’t stop making mortgage payments.
- Don’t forget that real help from the government is always free.
- Don’t give anyone your personal information, Social Security number, or bank information without confirming their identity and that they represent a legitimate company.
- Don’t fall for rent-to-buy schemes or other mortgage fraud schemes (here's a helpful link to an FTC article regarding theses scams: .
