Mortgage "Eradication" Scams
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2015 10:21 pm
Recently, in another thread, it was discussed that a certain individual was offering "mortgage eradication" services. Since then, either to his credit for growing some common sense, or because of that thread, that particular person has taken the references to same off of his website. However, a quick googling shows that the verbiage of "mortgage eradication" has been used in what seem to be questionable loan elimination programs fairly often.
One preliminary observation about how to spot a scam or a scammer - it seems that an unusual portion of the sales pitch of scammers revolves around discussing their faith, belief system, their love for humanity/family/whatever, or sometimes, their hate for banks/moneyed elite/those in power. All of these are perhaps appropriate secondary concerns for anyone who is dealing with the emotions of a foreclosure, but these are far too highly emphasized by scammers. So, you believe in "yahweh", you love your family, and you hate banksters - I get it - but why should anyone buy a strange, unproven service or product from you, because of that?
Perhaps the biggest distraction selling point used by these types is to demean lawyers. This resonates because, at least in my neck of the woods, the laws aren't very favorable to the average homeowner facing foreclosure. In nonjudicial states/proceedings like CA and many others, one doesn't have to "show the note" for example. Many of the marks of these types have gone to lawyers and been told that their case doesn't have merit, or that there are no strong legal arguments that could be made. Or worse, perhaps they have been taken by a lawyer or a quasi-law firm selling loan mods, and lost valuable assets - either money or sometimes the home outright - because of same.
If someone could bottle false hope, I dare say that nonjudicial foreclosure parties would be their primary target market. They can always say, "my false hope works, and it costs less than an attorney." Homeowner buys the latest form of false hope, thus contributing to their death of a thousand scams. Indeed, I see homeowners who have been taken by 2 or 3 or 4 different kinds of scammers, wasted years of their lives and thousands of dollars, and often have blown any opportunity to present what case they may have had due to statute of limitations concerns. I am going to post more about this kind of thing as it still is going strong, as I come across it, in the next year.
None of the sites that I found which discuss this concept have any description of their process. But, I infer it goes something like this: Get "forensic loan audit" (or whatever they are calling it these days). When it finds "fraud" or irregularities, then it gets fuzzy. Do they file suit to reform the mortgage? An action for rescission? I doubt it - to do that, you have to tender the monies borrowed.
I think what they must be proposing is to just stop paying the mortgage based on some document that hasn't been determined to be accurate or authentic, without any legal process at all. Perhaps there are a few questionable filings at the county recorder's office to go along with it. Who knows. But I do know this, only a sucker would buy that the mortgage is eradicated and then pay the sellers of this kind of scheme, and then cross their fingers to see what the lender actually does with it.
One preliminary observation about how to spot a scam or a scammer - it seems that an unusual portion of the sales pitch of scammers revolves around discussing their faith, belief system, their love for humanity/family/whatever, or sometimes, their hate for banks/moneyed elite/those in power. All of these are perhaps appropriate secondary concerns for anyone who is dealing with the emotions of a foreclosure, but these are far too highly emphasized by scammers. So, you believe in "yahweh", you love your family, and you hate banksters - I get it - but why should anyone buy a strange, unproven service or product from you, because of that?
Perhaps the biggest distraction selling point used by these types is to demean lawyers. This resonates because, at least in my neck of the woods, the laws aren't very favorable to the average homeowner facing foreclosure. In nonjudicial states/proceedings like CA and many others, one doesn't have to "show the note" for example. Many of the marks of these types have gone to lawyers and been told that their case doesn't have merit, or that there are no strong legal arguments that could be made. Or worse, perhaps they have been taken by a lawyer or a quasi-law firm selling loan mods, and lost valuable assets - either money or sometimes the home outright - because of same.
If someone could bottle false hope, I dare say that nonjudicial foreclosure parties would be their primary target market. They can always say, "my false hope works, and it costs less than an attorney." Homeowner buys the latest form of false hope, thus contributing to their death of a thousand scams. Indeed, I see homeowners who have been taken by 2 or 3 or 4 different kinds of scammers, wasted years of their lives and thousands of dollars, and often have blown any opportunity to present what case they may have had due to statute of limitations concerns. I am going to post more about this kind of thing as it still is going strong, as I come across it, in the next year.
None of the sites that I found which discuss this concept have any description of their process. But, I infer it goes something like this: Get "forensic loan audit" (or whatever they are calling it these days). When it finds "fraud" or irregularities, then it gets fuzzy. Do they file suit to reform the mortgage? An action for rescission? I doubt it - to do that, you have to tender the monies borrowed.
I think what they must be proposing is to just stop paying the mortgage based on some document that hasn't been determined to be accurate or authentic, without any legal process at all. Perhaps there are a few questionable filings at the county recorder's office to go along with it. Who knows. But I do know this, only a sucker would buy that the mortgage is eradicated and then pay the sellers of this kind of scheme, and then cross their fingers to see what the lender actually does with it.