Posted by John Behle on January 26, 1999 at 15:36:29:
That scams been going on for decades. It’s amazing people are so gullible that they redirect their payments to someone they don’t know without verification.
There have also been many scams with “Bi-weekly Mortgage Payment” companies and title and escrow companies that collect on seller financing, wrap-arounds or “subject to” transactions.
BOTTOM LINE. Don’t trust anyone to collect or direct your money without being VERY sure.
Who Are You Sending Your Mortgage Payments To? - Posted by Ted Howard (IL)
Posted by Ted Howard (IL) on January 24, 1999 at 12:11:10:
In todays St Louis Post Dispatch, columnist James DeBoth has an interesting article titled “Mortgage Borrowers Should Be on the Lookout for Fraud.” Most of the article warns against the dangers of people with credit problems hiring “credit doctors” to teach them to eliminate the derogatory items from their credit reports.
But at the end of the column, Mr. DeBoth outlines this scam that I quote:
“Credit doctors” are not the only ones who propose unacceptable solutions to homeowner problems. There are those who work to take advantage of older homeowners by targeting them to “steal” a few of their mortgage payments. A notice on an official looking letter is sent informing them that their loan has been sold and instructing them to send their payments to a new address. By the time people realize the new instructions are incorrect, the person “stealing” the mortgage payments has likely fled the scene with a considerable sum of money.
Dan Garret of the California Department of Real Estate claims that “federal law now requires letters from both the old lender and the new one, which has cut into this racket.” He goes on to add that “many homeowners don’t know that” and may still be victimized. Homeowners receiving such letters should always contact their current lender to check that the loan has in fact been sold or transferred, before they make payments to any new person or location.
The entire article can be found @
www.interest.com/thisweek-stlpd.shtml
Another item of interest at this site is the history of fixed rate interest mortgage money for the past year.
Ted Howard (IL)