The Four Pillars: Hospitality - Prayer - Formation - Service  

Foreclosure Scams

Our parish was represented at the Avoid Foreclosure Rescue Scams Interfaith Forum, which was facilitated by Arizona Attorney General’s Office (included remarks by Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and other agencies.   See resources below for foreclosure prevention/scam related websites, brochures, Arizona Foreclosure Information Workbook (provided by AZ Attorney Genneral) and key telephone numbers.

Highlights of the Forum included tips to avoid foreclosure scams, i.e.: work only with a non-profit HUD-approved counselor; don’t pay an arm and a leg – most HUD approved agencies provide free services; never provide a cashier’s check or wire transfer before an action is taken on your behalf; be wary of “guarantees or trust me’s;” know what you are signing – and be sure you sign it; if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is; be very suspicious if someone offers to pay your mortgage and rent your home back to you in exchange for transferring title to your home; do not trust anyone who tells you to stop making payments to your lender, even if the person says it will be done for you; your lender should be your first point of contact for negotiating a repayment plan, modification or short sale – be wary if told don’t talk to your lender; do not listen to anyone who claims that “secret laws/information” will be used to eliminate your debt and have your mortgage contract declared invalid – these are sham arguments;   don’t let anyone pressure you into signing anything you don’t agree with or understand; never let anyone else do the paperwork for you – i.e. just sign this now, we’ll fill in the blanks later; calling 1-800-Fed-loan may be a scam; filing for bankruptcy only temporarily stops foreclosure; beware some scammers will file bankruptcy in your name, without your knowledge; high pressure tactics signal trouble; BBB and other complaint tracking may not be reliable due to privacy laws.

Resources:

• Click here for Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation brochure "Is Foreclosure Knocking at your Door."  This brochure provides information about applying for a loan modification, a loan modification checklist and a list of foreclosure prevention resource websites.
• Click here for "Arizona Foreclosure Information Workbook" (provided by AZ Attorney Genneral).
• Click here for Worried about Foreclosure - Free Help website.
• Click here for Arizona Foreclosure Prevention Attorney General's Task Force Website, includes tookits, webinar slides, etc
• Click here for FDIC Foreclosure Prevention Website or call 1-877-275-3342.
• Click here for Free Foreclosure Mitigation Assistance/Counseling or call 1-888-995-HOPE; the website includes an online self-assessment.
• Click here for Federal Citizen Information Center’s Consumer Action Website.
• Contact  Arizona Foreclosure Prevention Hotline - sponsored by Arizona Department of Housing 1-877-448-1211

Avoid Foreclosure Rescue Scams Interfaith Forum, held 01/27/2010 Mountain View Lutheran Church in Phoenix, AZ.

Terry Goddard,     FDIC, HUD and AZ State Foreclosure Panelists

AZ Attorney General

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