It is bad enough for your pride and ego that you face losing your home to a foreclosure. Even worse is that you might have found yourself in this situation because of some sleazy mortgage loan officer selling you a “too good to be true” loan program. And even worse than this is that you might fall for it again – the sleazy sales pitch to save your home. With this article, hopefully you’ll be able to spot some of the more popular tactics of the foreclosure rescue scam artists to save yourself another insult to injury.
First of all, how did the foreclosure rescuer get your name? They got it from the public records as foreclosure notices and proceedings are posted in the public record at the county courthouse. Given that your good name is in the public record for being in foreclosure these rescuers have an idea about your frame of mind. They already know that you are probably stressed, angry, desperate, scared, and probably embarrassed. In knowing your frame of mind, they know how to approach you about your situation. They are already have the upper hand.
Given your situation and frame of mind, let’s look at some of these tactics or strategies that these foreclosure rescue scammers use to get you out of your home and money.
There Is A Knock On Your Front Door
This is sales training 101. This tactic is designed around the idea that if they look you in the eyes that everything they say is the truth. How can anyone look someone else in the eyes and lie? So with knowing that you are in the middle of a foreclosure they know that with a little sympathetic sweet talking about your situation they can gain your trust.
Who Is Knocking At Your Door?
This is otherwise known as Affinity Marketing. This is a particularly deceptive tactic that puts you across the table from someone in your own demographic, race, and even religious background. It looks like this, we tend to feel more comfortable speaking to and trusting in someone like us: African American to African American, woman to woman, military to military, Christian to Christian, older person to older person, and so on.
What You Do Not Know Can Hurt You
Do you eyes glaze over when some starts talking numbers to you, or laws and statutes and regulations? Do you remember your loan closing when the closing agent was going over all of your paperwork? Did you stop to have them explain everything or did you just let it slide “trusting” that it would all be fine and work out? Many people just let it slide rather than seem like a bother to have it explained. So with being a little unsure of the foreclosure process – since it is unlikely you were ever in one before – you are likely to step over things that you don’t know. Hey, we all do it: we all let stuff slide for fear of looking bad.
What Is Being Said To You
This tactic is related to the first one in this list: the sympathetic sweet talker. When that rescue scam artist knocks on your door they know what to say to you; they are very trained in talking to folks who are about to lose their home. They know that you could use some extra cash, or a fresh start, or some relief from the pressure that you are under so they suggest that they can make all of these things possible for you. One thing to notice is that while they are suggesting that they can “make” it better for you, they at the same time tell you that you have very little time to act and that you must act now. This is the hammer they use to get you to do something with them.
Things Do Not Appear As They Should
The last tactic that we’ll look at is fraud and deception. An example of this tactic is where the rescuer will get you to sign a blank document that they can later fill in with damaging contractual language that binds you to their terms etc. Sometimes this will look like they have a long page contractual legalese and you are required to sign the material at the end of the page on separate page.
With these few tactics exposed, hopefully you will be able to prevent falling victim to another foreclosure rescue scam. Either way, you still might lose your home to a foreclosure process, but if you do not become prey to the scam artist vulture you can walk away with some dignity and confidence that you did the right thing.
This Article is designed to be of general interest and should not be considered legal advice. The specific information discussed may not apply to you. Before acting on any matter contained herein, you should consult with your personal legal adviser.
