BluefoxToday blog : HUD steps up mortgage modification scam enforcement - Las Vegas homeowners embrace initiative

Home loan scams are really part of the real estate landscape in any market, but generally speaking affecting only a small percentage of consumers. Now, however, things are very different. This housing and mortgage meltdown ranks right up there among the worst ever to sweep across from coast to coast. It brings with it some juicy opportunities for the con men among us and are they ever trying to take advantage of it.

Many have zeroed in on the mortgage loan modification programs heavily promoted by the government, but only tepidly adopted by the private sector. That has left a huge void for them to slither in, to the detriment of unwary mortgage borrowers. The media continuously reports on the extent of the problem and new twists to the scammers' arsenal to sound the alarm, but the mayhem marches on. Distressed homeowners are promised lower monthly payments and stoppage to the foreclosure process and all sorts of other goodies, anything to make them take the bait. At the end of the day the scammer pulls a Houdini with a pocketful of money from the borrower.

HUD is now taking a tougher stance on the issue. It just unveiled a website www.preventloanscams.org to try to put a stop to this bloodletting. It's doing this together with the Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network, a national group of private and public entities tasked to power up efforts to fight these vultures on local, state and national levels. The network is run by the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. The website is the go-to place for homeowners to report anything that smells like a scam and hopefully they'll start using it as needed.

Southern Nevada - including Las Vegas, Henderson, Mesquite, Summerlin, Anthem and Mountains Edge - mortgage borrowers and those in other hard-hit areas around the country are being relentlessly pursued by con artists working this angle. So far law enforcement has had only marginal success combating this scourge. The new website will give homeowners an easy access to a national complaint resource that is designed to expedite enforcement on the local level. It's a weapon that will help keep these scammers in check.   

Photo by tomsaint11