Many Companies Promise Help To Foreclosure Victims But These Are Empty Assurances

With foreclosures gaining ground many companies are surfacing that promise help to foreclosure victims but these are mere empty assurances; the goods are not delivered.

Evelyn Perry has been one of the unfortunate victims. She was worried about her mortgage when an advertisement on the television caught her attention. Peoples First Financial of California promised help to its clients to prevent foreclosures by talking with the lenders. Accordingly Perry contacted the firm and got talked into giving them $3,000 as fees for getting the job done. For her at that point of time, it was a lot of money but she felt confident that they would be able to get her out of the mess. But they did nothing.

Unfortunately there are thousands and thousands of borrowers who are desperate. Thy have turned to these firms that work for profit – make promises that they never keep. The bulk of these firms are con companies who pocket fees and do not perform.

R. Scott Palmer the chief of the task force tackling mortgage fraud in Florida said, “It’s one of the most despicable crimes you can commit. It’s taking the last penny a consumer has and on top of that they lose their house and their credit.”

These con firms use clever strategy like making their names sound like government bodies. The mails have the appearance of being official documents coming from the lenders or the law. By the time the borrower finds out that something is wrong the illegal the matter has gone out of hand and no real deals can be worked out with the lenders or banks.

The problem has become endemic. It has now become one of the top priority jobs of the administration to focus on. In July the Federal Trade Commission started a law enforcement operation taking into its ambit 189 actions conducted by 25 federal as well as state agencies. Frank Dorman of FTC said, “People in every state are falling for these schemes.”

The office of Consumers Affairs of the Governor in Georgia is handling 11 such cases related to so-called rescue firms. Three are criminal and 8 civil cases are involved said Bill Cloud speaking on behalf of the agency. Cloud said, “Over the past year, it’s truly become a top, if not the top priority of our office, because of the severity of the problem.” Cloud declined to name the companies being investigated.