There is no question that the foreclosure industry has scam operators simply running rampant throughout it. The reason for this, of course, is not very difficult to figure out. After all, families in desperate situations are trying their hardest to save their homes, but are immensely terrified of dealing with the mortgage company. So they decide to hire an outside, unrelated third party with no interest in the situation to help them deal with the lender. Is it any wonder why the industry attracts some of the worst, least ethical, most immoral bottom feeders?
Unfortunately, we come across numerous homeowners every day who say they were taken advantage of by a foreclosure scam, who promised them help, took their money up front with no guarantees, and then disappeared. Preventing just these sorts of victimizations is exactly why our website and numerous free articles encourage homeowners to read and understand the foreclosure process on their own, before taking the next step and hiring any company to help them stop foreclosure.
But for the homeowners who have already lost a significant amount of time and money to a scam operator, there are a number of resources that may be available to get their money back, or at least alert other foreclosure victims of the danger of a particular company or individual.
Homeowners who have been scammed, though, should be aware that if the person who tricked them simply left town with their money and moved on to another city or state with no forwarding address, the homeowners will have a tough time finding the person even just to request their money back. Foreclosure scams are notorious for shutting down one business and opening another every few weeks or months in order to keep operating under the radar. The homeowners' money is probably gone and spent by now, and it might not be enough to initiate a small claims lawsuit against the company, even if they can even find the owner to serve him with the suit. It may be best to move on and attempt other methods of saving the home, rather than spinning their wheels and trying to get back the wasted money.
Many homeowners looking for a foreclosure help company perform some due diligence, but not nearly enough. One of the first, and usually the only, source they check for information about a company is the Better Business Bureau. However, the BBB is little more than a membership program for companies who want to make themselves appear legitimate. Anyone can register their company the BBB by paying a fee and giving out some information about the location, owners, and contacts for the company.
If the homeowners search for a brand new foreclosure help company, or one that has not received numerous complaints up to that point, they may feel very secure in trusting the legitimacy bestowed by the BBB. In many cases, though, the BBB will know even less about the company and its owners than the homeowners who have been speaking with them for some time. refundee.com/action-fraud
In fact, only when there are numerous complaints will the BBB take any kind of action, which is usually just removing the company from its membership rolls. Of course, knowing a company is a scam after having one's money stolen is very small consolation for most homeowners, as the scam may have led directly to their inability to save the home from foreclosure. Thus, trusting in only the Better Business Bureau to prove the trustworthiness of a certain company is simply a mistake.
Homeowners who have been taken advantage of by a scam company, though, should try to complain about the company to the BBB, but take it even further to regulatory agencies. Some of these resources may involve contacting their state's and the state's in which the foreclosure help company was located attorney general consumer fraud division. The attorney general can initiate an investigation into a company and order a "cease and desist" letter, ordering the company to perform no other services or spend any of its money until the attorney general has investigated.
This only happens in cases where there are numerous complaints, but homeowners should alert the state if they have been taken advantage of. If enough foreclosure victims do this, the attorney general will have no other choice but to open an investigation and attempt to shut down the scam.
Other sources to file a complaint about a company include the state office of banks and real estate supervision, the city or county the business was located in, the Federal Trade Commission, and any other agency that handles real estate, banking, or consumer fraud. Every state will have different names, different divisions, and different agencies, but homeowners should have numerous resources available to them. If they do not get their money back, as is most likely the case, they can help make sure the illegitimate company does not further victimize foreclosure victims.
A final source to get the message out, so to speak, about the scam involves contacting local news stations where the homeowners can give out their story of being scammed while trying to stop foreclosure. News media and television stations are always looking for human interest stories, especially if the homeowners have not yet saved the house but were taken advantage of for their life savings or several thousand dollars that could have been used to pay the mortgage. Using this media, though, depends on how much publicity the homeowners are willing to take on. It might alert other foreclosure victims to the company's scams, though, and the record foreclosure rates in the country show that there is no shame in falling behind.
After falling victim to a foreclosure scam, homeowners may be better off just moving on and finding some way to stop foreclosure on their own with the time they still have available. There are numerous resources online, including (especially) our website's foreclosure information section and blog to educate oneself about the foreclosure process and what options might be available for any specific set of circumstances. To save a home from foreclosure, it is usually better to trust no one for now, until the homeowners understand more about how foreclosure works, and only hire a help company if they know exactly what they are getting.
Hiring the right foreclosure help company can mean the difference between saving a home and negotiating a realistic deal, and losing the home, wasting time, and falling victim to scams. But, unless homeowners know enough about the process to assess the possibilities of being taken advantage of, and the very real benefits of hiring a company to assist them in avoid the loss of the house, they should trust only themselves.
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