SCAMMED BY A LOAN MOD COMPANY OR LAW FIRM?

Can you imagine not even having enough money to pay your mortgage, and then scraping up two or three thousand dollars on the promise of someone guaranteeing you they can make your problems go away and keep you in your home, and then finding out you’ve been ripped off?  The knowledge that not only have you lost your money to a con artist, but that your home is about to be sold, is devastating to people.  Yet, it is sadly happening everyday.  Men, women and children are being forced from their homes and often, it’s after being scammed by a loan modification company or even a loan modification law firm.

The advertising done by many of these loan modification companies and law firms borders on illegal, and is certainly unethical.  Many ads guarantee results and offer a money back guarantee.   Other ads talk about the past successes of the company and insinuate your outcome will be just as successful.  The reality is these ads often bring in so much business that the company doesn’t have the staff to properly handle the case loan and not much work is ever done.  Attorneys at these firms seldom spend more than 15 minutes on a file, hardly enough to actually do any real work.  Horror stories abound from homeowners who believed the sweet words of a loan modification sales person and ended up being ripped off.

If this has happened to you or if you’re considering a loan modification company or law firm for help in modifying your loan, there are steps you can take to stop these companies and protect yourself.

First, before giving anybody any money, check with of the following entities.  If you have already signed up and paid a company and you feel you have been scammed by them, you can file a complaint with all of the following;

1. The FTC at www.ftc.gov.  The FTC has taken action against approximately 100 loan modification companies and law firms nationwide.  Many of these companies and even law firms have been shut down by the FTC.

2. Your State Attorney General’s (AG) office.  Every State has an AG and they all have a web site.  Many of them have links on the first page regarding loan modification scams and other such information.  You can find your State AG here:  www.naag.org/attorneys_general.php

3. If the company should happen to be “attorney backed” or even a law firm, get as many attorney names as possible and then go to your State’s Bar association.  Every State has a Bar association which licenses attorneys and gives consumers information such as any disciplinary actions against an attorney.  Any complaints filed against an attorney are investigated by the Bar and can result in an attorney losing their license.

4. The Better Business Bureau (BBB).  You can file a complaint with them and also check on a company’s history.  While the BBB has its flaws, it does a good job of tracking complaints against companies.  Although not every company is listed in the BBB, many are and if they’re not, that should be taken as a signal that you need to continue investigating the company.

In addition, any company or law firm a homeowner is considering hiring, should be looked up in the search engines.  You can use an internet search engine such as Yahoo Search or Google and you may be amazed at what you find.  Look up the company name and also the names of the company owners, managers and attorneys.  If the agent you’re speaking with doesn’t want to give you that information, then you don’t want to do business with them.  When you start running the names through the internet search engines, if you see results come back from places like ripoffreport.com and complaintsboard.com, you probably want to stay away.