The following provides financial education and is not intended to provide financial or legal advice. We suggest that you consult a licensed financial or legal professional before taking any action.
Scam Victims Often Have Severe Financial Difficulties After A Scam
However, many times they can be improved by working with your creditors immediately – don’t wait!
There Are Things You’ll Need To Know And Ways To Resolve Issues With Your Lender Or Servicer
If you’re struggling to make your mortgage payments, or you’re already in default, there are things you’ll need to know and ways to resolve issues with your lender or servicer. Many people find it embarrassing to talk with their servicer about payment problems, or they’re hopeful that their financial situation will improve so they’ll be able to catch up on payments. But contact your lender or mortgage servicer right away to see if you can work out a plan.
Missing Payments And Defaulting On Your Mortgage
After closing on your loan to buy your home, you make monthly payments to your loan’s servicer. The lender is the company that you borrow the money from and the servicer is the company that handles the daily management of your account. Sometimes the lender is also the servicer. But often, the lender arranges for another company to act as the servicer.
If you find yourself facing financial problems that make it hard to make your mortgage payments, talk to your lender or servicer right away to see what options you might have. Because if you don’t pay your mortgage on time, or if you pay less than the amount due, the consequences can add up quickly. For example, the lender or servicer can add late fees and extra interest to the amount you already owe, making it harder to dig out of debt. And even one late payment can negatively affect your credit score. Your score affects whether you can get a new loan or refinance your existing loan — and what your interest rate will be.
When you’re behind on your mortgage, the lender or servicer can move to declare your loan in default and serve you with a notice of default. Default is the first step in the foreclosure process. Once your loan is in default, the lender can charge you for “default-related services” to protect the value of the property — like inspections, lawn mowing, landscaping, and repairs. Those can add hundreds or thousands of dollars to your loan balance.
If you can’t catch up on your past due payments or work out another solution (link to that section), the lender or servicer can start legal action to sell your home in a foreclosure proceeding. This process can also add hundreds or thousands of dollars in additional costs to your loan, making it even harder for you to keep up with payments, make your back payments, and keep your home. In many states, in addition to losing your home in foreclosure, you also may be responsible for paying a “deficiency judgment.” That’s the difference between what you owe and the price the home sells for at the foreclosure auction. A foreclosure will also make it tougher for you to get credit and buy another home in the future.
Dealing With Default And Disclosure
The longer you wait to contact your mortgage servicer, the fewer options you’ll have. If you’re having trouble paying your mortgage, don’t wait for a notice of default before contacting your mortgage servicer — the company that accepts your monthly payments.
- Consider contacting a free housing counselor (Talk to a Housing Counselor | HUD.gov / U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)). You can get free, legitimate help from a counselor who can explain your available options. Before you talk to a counselor, learn how to spot and avoid foreclosure and mortgage counselingCounseling Counseling is the professional guidance of the individual by utilizing psychological methods especially in collecting case history data, using various techniques of the personal interview, and testing interests and aptitudes. A mental health counselor (MHC), or counselor, is a person who works with individuals and groups to promote optimum mental and emotional health. Such persons may help individuals deal with issues associated with addiction and substance abuse; family, parenting, and marital problems; stress management; self-esteem; and aging. They may also work with "Social Workers", "Psychiatrists", and "Psychologists". SCARS does not provide mental health counseling. scamsScams A Scam is a confidence trick - a crime - is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust through deception. Scams or confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, irresponsibility, or greed and exploiting that. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men' - criminals) at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')". A scam is a crime even if no money was lost. that promise to stop foreclosure, but just end up stealing your money.
- Make a list of your income and expenses. Be ready to show that you’re making a good faith effort to pay your mortgage by lowering other expenses. Answer these questions:
- What happened to make you miss your mortgage payment(s)?
- Do you have any documents to back up your explanation for falling behind?
- How have you tried to fix the problem? Is your problem temporary, long-term, or permanent?
- What changes in your situation do you see in the short term and in the long term?
- What other financial issues may be stopping you from getting back on track with your mortgage?
- What would you like to see happen? Do you want to keep the home?
- What type of payment arrangement could work for you?
- Review your mortgage servicer’s website. See what options might be available for people in your situation. Read more about ways to avoid foreclosure.
- Contact your servicer to discuss ways to resolve your situation and avoid losing your home. The servicer may be more likely to delay the foreclosure process if you’re working with them to find a solution. If you don’t reach your servicer on the first try, keep trying.
Whenever you’re dealing with the mortgage servicer or lender, it’s important to
- Keep notes of all your communication with the servicer or lender.
- Include the date and time of any contact whether you met face-to-face or communicated by phone, email, or postal mail the name of the representative you dealt with, what you discussed, and the results Follow up on any requests made on a call with a letter.
- You can email your follow-up, but also send your letter by certified mail, “return receipt requested,” so you can document what the servicer got.
- Keep copies of your letter and any documents you sent with it.
- Meet all deadlines the servicer or lender gives you.
- Stay in your home during the process. You might not qualify for certain types of assistance if you move out. If you choose to rent your property, be sure the rental income is enough to help you get and stay caught up on your payments.
You may want to calculate how much equity you have in your home. To do this:
- Get the appraised value of your home from a licensed appraiser. You will have to pay for an appraisal, unless you had one done very recently. You also could estimate the fair market value of your home by looking at the sales of comparable homes in your area (known as “comps”).
- Figure out the total amount of loans you’ve taken using your home as collateral (for instance, your mortgage, a refinancing loan, or a home equity loan).
- Subtract the amount of the loans from the appraised value or fair market value of your home. That number is your equity.
Ways Your Might Avoid Foreclosure And Keep Your Home
If you’re struggling to make your federally backed mortgage payments because of the pandemic, payment forbearance may still be available. To learn more about your relief options and deadlines, visit consumerfinance.gov/housing, the federal government’s centralized resource for information from the Consumer Financial Protection BureauCFPB The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a United States government agency. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by making rules more effective, by consistently and fairly enforcing those rules, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives. CFPB LINK, HUD, the VA, and USDA.
There are several ways you might be able to catch up on your payments and save your home from foreclosure. Your mortgage servicer might agree to
- Reinstatement. This can help if the problem stopping you from paying your mortgage is temporary. With reinstatement, you agree to pay your mortgage servicer the entire past-due amount, plus late fees or penalties, by an agreed-upon date. But if you’re in a home you can’t afford, reinstatement won’t help.
- Forbearance. If the problem stopping you from paying your mortgage is temporary, this can help. With forbearance, your mortgage servicer agrees to lower or pause your payments for a short time. When you start making payments again, you’ll make your regular payments plus extra, make-up payments so you catch up. The extra payments can be either a lump sum or partial payments. Like reinstatement, forbearance also won’t help you if you’re in a home you can’t afford.
- Repayment plan. This could be helpful if you’ve missed only a small number of payments, and you’ll no longer have trouble making them each month. A repayment plan lets you add a portion of the past due amount onto your regular payments, to be paid within a fixed amount of time.
- Loan modification. If the problem stopping you from paying your mortgage isn’t going away, ask your servicer if a loan modification is an option. A loan modification is a permanent change to one or more of the terms of the mortgage contract, so that your payments are more manageable for you. Changes could include
- lowering the interest rate
- extending the term of the loan so you have longer to pay it off
- adding missed payments to the loan balance
- forgiving, or canceling, part of your mortgage debt.
Selling Your Home To Avoid Foreclosure
If you have a pending sales contract, or you can show that you’re putting your home on the market, your lender or servicer might postpone foreclosure proceedings. Selling your home may get you the money you need to pay off your whole mortgage. That helps you avoid late and legal fees, limit damage to your credit rating, and protect your equity in the property. But if selling your home doesn’t get you enough money, you need to have enough equity in the home to cover paying off the mortgage loan balance plus the expenses involved with the sale.
Short Sale and Deed In Lieu of Foreclosure
Short sale. Selling your home for less than what you still owe on the mortgage is called a short sale. Before you can list your home as a short sale, your lender must approve and agree to accept the money you get from the sale, instead of going ahead with foreclosure. Your lender will work with you and your real estate agent to set the sales price and review the offers. Your lender will then work with the buyer’s real estate agent and lender to finalize the sale. In a short sale, he lender agrees to forgiveForgiveness What Is Forgiveness? Psychologists generally define forgiveness as a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness. the difference between the amount you owe and what you get from a sale. Go to the IRSIRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue & tax service of the United States federal government responsible for collecting taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code (the main body of federal statutory tax law.) It is part of the Department of the Treasury and led by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, who is appointed to a five-year term by the President of the United States. The duties of the IRS include providing tax assistance to taxpayers; pursuing and resolving instances of erroneous or fraudulent tax filings; and overseeing various benefits programs. Visit www.IRS.gov to learn more.’ site to learn about the tax impact of a lender forgiving part of your mortgage loan. Consider consulting a financial advisor, accountant, or attorney.
Deed in lieu of foreclosure. If a short sale isn’t an option, you and your mortgage servicer or lender might agree to a deed in lieu of foreclosure. That’s where you transfer your property title to the servicer, and the servicer cancels the rest of your mortgage debt. Like with foreclosure, you will lose your home and any equity you’ve built up, but a deed in lieu of foreclosure can be less damaging to your credit than a foreclosure. A deed in lieu of foreclosure may not be an option if you’ve used your home as collateral on other loans or obligations. It could also impact your taxes, Go to the IRS’ site to learn about the tax impact of a lender forgiving part of your mortgage loan.
Make Sure It’s Reported Accurately On Your Credit Report
Short sales, deeds in lieu, and foreclosures affect your credit. With a short sale or deed in lieu agreement, you still might be able to qualify for a new mortgage in just two years. With a foreclosure, it’s seven years. Sometimes it might not be clear to lenders looking at your credit report whether you had a short sale, deed in lieu, or foreclosure. That may keep or delay you from getting a new mortgage. If you negotiated a short sale of your home or a deed in lieu agreement, here’s how to reduce the chance of a problem:
- Get a letter from your lender confirming that your loan closed in a short sale or a deed in lieu agreement, not a foreclosure. Send a copy of the letter to each of the nationwide credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, Transunion. You also can use the letter if questions arise when you try to buy another home.
- Order a copy of your credit report. Make sure the information is accurate. The law requires credit bureaus to give you a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months. Visit AnnualCreditReport.com or call toll-free: 1-877-322-8228. Through December 2022, everyone in the U.S. can get a free credit report each week from all three nationwide credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) at AnnualCreditReport.com. Also, everyone in the U.S. can get six free credit reports per year through 2026 by visiting the Equifax website or by calling 1-866-349-5191. That’s in addition to the one free Equifax report (plus your Experian and TransUnion reports) you can get at AnnualCreditReport.com. If you find a mistake, contact the credit bureau and the business that supplied the information to correct the error.
- When you’re ready to buy another home, get pre-approved. A pre-approval letter from a lender shows that you’re able to go through with buying a home. Pre-approval isn’t a final loan commitment. It means you met with a loan officer, they reviewed your credit report, and the lender believes you can qualify for a specific loan amount.
Filing For Bankruptcy
If you have a regular income, Chapter 13 bankruptcy may let you keep property — like a mortgaged house or car — that you might otherwise lose. Learn more about bankruptcy. In Chapter 13, the court approves a repayment plan that lets you use your future income toward payment of your debts during a three- to five-year period, rather than give up the property. After you have made all the payments under the plan, the court says you no longer have to pay certain debts, for instance, those related to property settlements in divorce.
But Chapter 13 bankruptcy is generally considered the debt management option of last resort because the results are long-lasting and far-reaching. A bankruptcy stays on your credit report for 10 years. That can make it hard for you to get credit, buy another home, get life insurance, or sometimes, get a job. Still, it can offer a fresh start for people who can’t pay off their debts.
To learn more about Chapter 13, visit the U.S. Trustee Program, the organization within the U.S. Department of Justice that oversees bankruptcy cases and trustees. Consider consulting a lawyer to help you figure out the best option for you.
Getting Help And Advice
If you’re having a hard time reaching or working with your loan servicer, talk to a certified housing counselor. To find free and legitimate help:
- Call the local office of the U, S. Department of Housing and Urban Development or the housing authority in your state, city, or county for help in finding a legitimate housing counseling agency nearby.
- Visit gov or the Homeownership Preservation Foundation. Or call the Homeowners Hope Hotline at 1-888-995-HOPE (4673).
- If you have a mortgage through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) or Veterans Administration (VA), contact them. You may have other options instead of foreclosure available to you. Visit the joint site of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPBCFPB The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a United States government agency. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by making rules more effective, by consistently and fairly enforcing those rules, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives. CFPB LINK), Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). They’re working together to help homeowners and renters during the coronavirus pandemic and might have other options for you
Housing counseling services usually are free or low-cost. A counselor with an agency can
- answer your questions
- go over your options
- prioritize your debts
- help you prepare for discussions with your loan servicer
Scammers may pose as supposed housing counselors and demand an up-front fee or retainer before they “help” you. Don’t pay anyone who charges up-front fees, or who guarantees you a loan modification or other solution to stop foreclosure. Those are signs it’s a scam.
Avoiding Mortgage Relief Scams
- Avoid companies that promise they can help you stop foreclosure. No one can guarantee they’ll stop foreclosure. That’s always a scam.
- Scammers will pretend to offer help, too. But they’ll take your cash and won’t deliver. Learn more about the ways scammers offer phony promises of help related to your mortgage.
- You don’t have to pay any money until a company delivers the results you want. That’s the law. In fact, it’s illegal for a company to charge you a penny ahead of time. They cannot charge you until it’s given you
- a written offer for a loan modification or other relief from your lender — and you accept the offer
- a document from your lender showing the changes to your loan if you decide to accept your lender’s offer. And the company must clearly tell you the total fee it will charge you for its services.
Report FraudFraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain (money or other assets), or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compensation) or criminal law (e.g., a fraud perpetrator may be prosecuted and imprisoned by governmental authorities), or it may cause no loss of money, property, or legal right but still be an element of another civil or criminal wrong. The purpose of fraud may be monetary gain or other benefits, for example by obtaining a passport, travel document, or driver's license, or mortgage fraud, where the perpetrator may attempt to qualify for a mortgage by way of false statements. A fraud can also be a hoax, which is a distinct concept that involves deliberate deception without the intention of gain or of materially damaging or depriving a victim.
If you see a scam, fraud, or bad business practice, report it to the FTC at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/?orgcode=SCARS and www.Anyscam.com
Essential Tools For Every Scam SurvivorSurvivor A Scam Survivor is a victim who has been able to fully accept the reality of their situation. That they were the victim of a crime and are not to blame. They are working on their emotional recovery and reduction of any trauma either on their own, through a qualified support organization, or through counseling or therapy. And has done their duty and reported the crime to their local police, national police, and on Anyscam.com From SCARS Publishing
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SCARS GREEN BOOK
Self-Help Self-Paced Recovery Program Guide
LEARN HOW TO RECOVER ON YOUR OWN
This program is designed to help scam victims struggling to recover on their own and for those who want to understand the overall process. You can be using other resources, such as traumaTrauma Emotional and psychological trauma is the result of extraordinarily stressful events that shatter your sense of security, making you feel helpless in a dangerous world. Psychological trauma can leave you struggling with upsetting emotions, memories, and anxiety that won’t go away. It can also leave you feeling numb, disconnected, and unable to trust other people. Traumatic experiences often involve a threat to life or safety or other emotional shocks, but any situation that leaves you feeling overwhelmed and isolated can result in trauma, even if it doesn’t involve physical harm. It’s not the objective circumstances that determine whether an event is traumatic, but your subjective emotional experience of the event. The more frightened and helpless you feel, the more likely you are to be traumatized. Trauma requires treatment, either through counseling or therapy or through trauma-oriented support programs, such as those offered by SCARS. counseling or therapy, qualified support groupsSupport Groups In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic, such as romance scams. Members with the same issues can come together for sharing coping strategies, to feel more empowered and for a sense of community. The help may take the form of providing and evaluating relevant information, relating personal experiences, listening to and accepting others' experiences, providing sympathetic understanding and establishing social networks. A support group may also work to inform the public or engage in advocacy. They can be supervised or not. SCARS support groups are moderated by the SCARS Team and or volunteers., or completely independent – on your own!
The SCARS Steps program is a complete program and is provided for the purpose of helping scam victims to overcome this experience. Throughout this SCARS Steps Program, we speak about issues and challenges that a victim may have and help guide them through their recovery. But each person is different and it is important to understand your own reasons for being vulnerable to being scammed.
After the trauma of being scammed, you need to take steps to recover and move on. This may be an alternative to counseling in the short term, but we still encourage you to seek out professional help & support. Throughout this SCARS Steps Program, we speak about issues, challenges, defects, or problems that a victim may have in a generalized way.
The SCARS GREEN BOOK will help you recover from your scam offline and it will always be there when you need it!
SCARS SLATE BOOK – Let Us Explain What Happened!
A Guide For Families & Friends Of Scam Victims
HOW TO HELP ROMANCE SCAM VICTIMS FOR FAMILIES & FRIENDS OF SCAM VICTIMS
This SCARS Publishing book represents a complete guide to help the families and friends understand how these scams work and how to help the victim.
The SCARS Slate Book should be purchased by family and friends to better understand what happened to the victim and the traumatic impact on them. But it can also be shared by the victim so that they do not have to explain to family and friends about the scam. This publication is to help others to help Scam Victims to make it through this traumatic experience and recover.
Each person is different and it is important to understand how relationship scamsRelationship Scam A Relationship Scam is a one-to-one criminal act that involves a trust relationship and uses deception & manipulation to get a victim to give to the criminal something of value, such as money! Click here to learn more: What Is A Relationship Scam? work and why people are vulnerable; to being scammed, how they were lured in, then groomed and manipulated. This understanding is essential in helping them through the process of ending the scam and then on to recovery. The SCARS Slate Book will provide the information necessary to help support a victim through this process.
SCARS RED BOOK
Your Personal Scam Evidence & Crime Record Organizer
ORGANIZE YOUR INFORMATION TO MAKE THE REPORTING PROCESS SIMPLE!
Helps you get and stay organized. This publication is to help Scam Victims organize their crime information. Complete this information before reporting to the police then bring this book with you
Before or after reporting to the police the RED BOOK gives you a dedicated tool to record all the essential facts of this crime. The Victim, the Scammers, the Money, and your Police interactions. Everything that really matters can be easily recorded for your immediate use and for the future!
As we have seen, money recovery/repayment programs can become available years after the scam ends and you need to keep all the details of this crime in case it is needed. We have also seen scammers being extradited to the U.S. and other countries, this will help in the event you testify or give statements, Additionally, this helps you have your information ready to qualify for victims’ benefits, compensation, or aid.
The Official SCARS RED BOOK is your way of recording all the important facts of this crime so that you do not lose essential information, Complete the RED BOOK then put it away with the confidence that you will have it if or when it is needed.
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By the Society of Citizens Against Relationship ScamsSCARS SCARS - Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. A government registered crime victims' assistance & crime prevention nonprofit organization based in Miami, Florida, U.S.A. SCARS supports the victims of scams worldwide and through its partners in more than 60 countries around the world. Incorporated in 2015, its team has 30 years of continuous experience educating and supporting scam victims. Visit www.AgainstScams.org to learn more about SCARS. Inc.
A Worldwide Crime Victims Assistance & Crime Prevention Nonprofit Organization Headquartered In Miami Florida USA & Monterrey NL Mexico, with Partners In More Than 60 Countries
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To see ScammerScammer A Scammer or Fraudster is someone that engages in deception to obtain money or achieve another objective. They are criminals that attempt to deceive a victim into sending more or performing some other activity that benefits the scammer. Photos visit www.ScammerPhotos.com
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