Foreclosure Prevention & Mortgage Modification ‘Scam Alert’ – The ‘Debt Management’ Vultures Who Promised Magical Solutions to Delinquent Credit Card Debt Problems Are Now Circling Home Owners Facing Foreclosure.
A recent development in the ongoing New Jersey mortgage and foreclosure crisis is the emergence of a new type of business which purports to offer “loss mitigation consulting,” “foreclosure prevention,” “mortgage loan modification,” and similar services.
The New Jersey State Department of Banking and Insurance recently issued a warning about “(a) new type of business which purports to offer “loss mitigation consulting,” “foreclosure prevention,” “mortgage loan modification,” and similar services”. The Department of Banking and Insurance has seen an increasing number of advertisements, direct-mail solicitations and other marketing materials offering New Jersey consumers assistance in negotiating resolutions of their delinquent residential mortgage loans with lenders and servicers in exchange for up-front fees[and] … has begun to receive consumer complaints regarding fees paid to parties providing these services.“
These ‘so-called’ loss mitigation and foreclosure prevention specialists bring to mind the con artists who masqueraded as “debt management experts” following the economic crisis in 2008, when millions of Americans who either lost their jobs or had their income reduced, and were unable to pay their credit card debt.
Although debtors were eligible under the Bankruptcy Laws for a Chapter 7 Consumer Bankruptcy ‘fresh start’, they were inundated by misinformation that convinced them that filing a bankruptcy was a shameful act and would result in their ‘ never getting credit again’. As a result they contracted with so – called ‘ Debt Management’ companies many of whom were scam artists who took their money and disappeared. Government regulators – exhibited the familiar Rip Van Winkle syndrome – and awoke only after the abuses had gone on for a very long time and too late to provide a remedy for those who had been victimized.
The lesson to be learned by New Jersey homeowners seeking to prevent foreclosure from the credit card debt management scams that there are no magical solutions and there is no free lunch. Promises made by ‘modification specialists’ and ‘national foreclosure professionals’ who claim they will be able to find a solution to your foreclosure problem may make you temporarily feel good, but in the long run may make you feel really, really bad.
If anyone tells you that you don’t need a lawyer to defend you against foreclosure or that by hiring them to obtain a mortgage modification will produce a better result than retaining a lawyer, check your wallet or purse and then run. Better yet, contact us for a free case review. We have been defending home owners faced with foreclosure for over 32 years.
The knowledge and experience of an expert foreclosure defense and prevention attorney gives you your best chance of saving your home. You will get advice based on a full and detailed analysis of your circumstances and the remedies and strategies that may be available to you.
