Scam I Am

***SCAM ALERT***

I came across a scary news story the other day and felt compelled to share it with my readers. I think everyone knows that Las Vegas has been hit very hard by the housing crisis as well as the rest of the United States. C and I bought our house at the same time as several of our friends and family members. We "qualified" for much more than we bought because we just didn't trust what we were being told.  I'm so glad we bought cheap. We are the only couple that we know that bought a house at the time we did that still has their house. I'm happy to say we don't have a  ceiling in the bathroom instead of the bank doesn't have a ceiling.

A few years ago C and I were able to do a Loan Modification and changed our loan to a 30 year fixed away from the ARM we like a lot of people were suckered into. The Mortgage company even "forgave" a big chunk of money on the house and we are now very close to our house being worth what we paid for it. We are VERY, VERY VERY lucky!!!!!!!!

When we did our modification our loan was sold to a new company and even if you don't do anything to your loan it's common practice for your Lien Holder to sell your mortgage at any time. We were told by the company that did our adjustment the name of who would hold the note and we waited for the paperwork and coupon book to arrive.

Well, now I've lead into my scam alert. The Nevada Attorney General is currently prosecuting a case involving a group of con men. Their scam set up a phony mortgage company with just the following items: Articles of Incorporation, an office, a bank account, a telephone number, and a post office box.  Then they sent out letters telling homeowners that their mortgage company had sold their loan to them. The note had a payment coupon and the Po box address. I suspect plenty of people sent them their mortgage payments. When the victims found out they had been scammed the checks had already been cashed and they were now behind on their real mortgage. These men are currently charged with 12 counts! I hope they get convicted.

In this day and age it's so hard to keep your house and  if you are and something like this happens I'm not sure how you can bounce back. So how do you avoid something like this happening?

1.     Be suspicious of everything you get in the mail. Think "This is a scam and I need to uncover it."

2.     Call your mortgage holder. Even if they have sold your loan they will tell you who to and how to contact them. If they haven't well then you've saved yourself a lot of heartache!

3.     If you find out about these scams report it. Call someone anyone (the attorney general's office, your local police, department of consumer affairs, the news) and keep calling until someone listens!

4.      If you fall victim to these types of scams don't feel ashamed. These are professionals and you are not!

5.     Report it and help end it so you save the next guy.

Most important don't blame the people that had this happen to them. It really could happen to anyone!