Is mortgage elimination a scam or legitimate?

Answer 1

The possibility of losing your home to foreclosure can be terrifying. The reality that scam artists are preying on desperate homeowners is equally frightening. Many companies say they can get a change to your loan that will reduce your monthly mortgage payment or take other steps to save your home. Some claim that nearly all their customers get successful results and even offer a money-back guarantee. Others say they're affiliated with the government or your lender and still others promise the help of attorneys or real estate experts.

Unfortunately, many companies use half-truths and even outright lies to sell their services. They promise relief, but don't deliver. In fact, many of these companies leave their homeowner customers in worse financial shape.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation's consumer protection agency, wants you to know that there is a Rule in place to protect homeowners. The Mortgage Assistance Relief Services (MARS) Rule (also known as Regulation O) makes it illegal for companies to collect any fees until a homeowner has actually received an offer of relief from his or her lender and accepted it. That means even if you agree to have a company help you, you don't have to pay until it gets you the result you want.

If you're struggling to make mortgage payments or facing foreclosure, the FTC wants you to know how to recognize a mortgage assistance relief scam and exercise your rights under the Rule. And even if the foreclosure process has already begun, the FTC and its law enforcement partners want you to know that legitimate options are available to help save your home.

Answer 2

Mortgage elimination services that claim they can eliminate your mortgage without you paying your mortgage debt are a scam. They typically involve the payment of an upfront fee.

Answer 3

The possibility of losing your home to foreclosure can be terrifying. The reality that scam artists are preying on desperate homeowners is equally frightening. Many companies say they can get a chance to your loan that will reduce your monthly mortgage payment or take other steps to save your home. Some claim that nearly all their customers get successful results and even offer a money-back guarantee. Others say they're affiliated with the government or your lender and still others promise the help of attorneys or real estate experts.

Answer 4

The possibility of losing your home to foreclosure can be terrifying. Many companies say they can get a change to your loan that will reduce your monthly mortgage payment or take other steps to save your home. . Others say they're affiliated with the government or your lender and still others promise the help of attorneys or real estate experts.

Answer 5

If you're struggling to make mortgage payments or facing foreclosure, the FTC wants you to know how to recognize a mortgage assistance relief scam and exercise your rights under the Rule. And even if the foreclosure process has already begun, the FTC and its law enforcement partners want you to know that legitimate options are available to help save your home.

Answer 6

There are many scams in the mortgage industry. Some people believe that mortgage elimination is a scam, but this may not be true.

Some benefits of eliminating your mortgage include:

• Having a higher level of financial freedom and financial security.

• Decreasing your monthly expenses, such as taxes, insurance, maintenance, and utilities.

• Giving you more time to spend with family or friends while also being able to work on other things like side hustles or hobbies.

Answer 7

Overview. Debt elimination scams are illegal schemes that offer to eliminate people's debt. For an up-front fee, the organizers of these schemes create phony legal documents based on people's loan(s).

Answer 8

Scammers promise to make changes to your mortgage loan or take other steps to save your home, but they don’t deliver. Never pay a company upfront for promises to help you get relief on paying your mortgage.

Mortgage Assistance And Your Rights

Types of Mortgage Relief Scams

What To Know About Hiring a Lawyer

Where To Find Legitimate Help

What To Do If You Paid a Scammer

Report Fraud

Answer 9

Mortgage Relief Scams

Scammers promise to make changes to your mortgage loan or take other steps to save your home, but they don’t deliver. Never pay a company up front for promises to help you get relief on paying your mortgage.

Mortgage Assistance And Your Rights

You don't have to pay any money until the company delivers the results you want.

The company must disclose key information to you.

The company’s ads and telemarketing pitches must clearly say

The company can’t tell you to stop talking to your lender.

Types of Mortgage Relief Scams

Phony Counseling

Fake Forensic Audits

Rent-to-Buy Ripoffs

Types of Mortgage Relief Scams

Phony Counseling

Fake Forensic Audits

Rent-to-Buy Ripoffs

Equity-Skimming Scams

Bait-and-Switch or “Rescue” Loan Schemes

What To Know About Hiring a Lawyer

Steps To Take Before You Hire a Lawyer

A reputable lawyer doesn’t guarantee results, no matter what your circumstances.

Before you hire someone who claims to be a lawyer (also called an attorney or counsel), or someone who claims to work with lawyers, ask relatives, friends, and others you trust for the name of a lawyer with a proven record of helping homeowners facing foreclosure.

Get the name of each lawyer who’ll be helping you, the state or states where lawyers are licensed, and the lawyer’s license number in each state. Your state has a licensing organization — or bar — that monitors lawyers’ conduct. Call your state bar or check its website to see if a lawyer you're thinking of hiring has gotten into trouble. The National Organization of Bar Counsel has links to your state bar. Get — in writing — specific information about the work the lawyer or firm will do for you, including the cost, and the payment schedule

If you decide to hire a lawyer, stay in touch with them and keep a file with a record of your conversations, letters, emails, texts, and paperwork.

Some less-than-honest law firms send direct mail flyers that urge you to participate in a “mass joinder lawsuit.” The firms charge upfront fees and bend the truth to make you think you’re joining with other people in similar circumstances to sue your lender. They make it seem like they can stop your foreclosure, cut your loan balance or interest rates, get you money damages, and even get you the deed to your home, free and clear of your mortgage. Mass joinder lawsuits are not class action lawsuits. In a mass joinder lawsuit, you still have to go to trial separately to prove your case. And a mass joinder lawsuit is not likely to help you save your home.

Lawyers and Upfront Fees

Under the MARS Rule, lawyers can ask you to pay an upfront fee, but only if they

**are licensed to practice law in the state where you live or your home is located**

**are supplying you with real legal services**

**are complying with state ethics requirements for lawyers**

**place the money you pay them in a client trust account, withdraw fees only as they complete actual legal services, and notify you of each withdrawal**

Where to Find Legitimate Help

Contact your mortgage servicer or lender.

If you're having trouble paying your mortgage or you've gotten a foreclosure notice, contact your servicer or lender immediately, even if the foreclosure process has already started.

Talk to a certified housing counselor for free legitimate help.

**Go to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) list of approved housing counseling agencies to find a counselor in your state who can explain your options.**

**Visit makinghomeaffordable.gov, a website from the Department of the Treasury and HUD, or call their help line at 1-888-995-HOPE (4673).**

**Visit the Homeowner Preservation Foundation.**

**Visit the websites for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). These agencies are working together to help homeowners and renters during the coronavirus pandemic.**

What To Do If You Paid a Scammer

Scammers often ask you to pay in ways that make it tough to get your money back. No matter how you paid a scammer, the sooner you act, the better. Learn more about how to get your money back.

Report Fraud

If you think you’ve run into a mortgage relief scam, report it to

**the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov**

**your state attorney general**

Equity-Skimming Scams

Bait-and-Switch or “Rescue” Loan Schemes

Answer 10

Mortgage elimination is a type of debt elimination in the United States. The United States FBI has put out specific warnings regarding this. ... The Dorean Group is a high-profile promoter of this type of scam.