In the months to come, homeowners in pre-foreclosure may be be approached by any number of unethical persons or companies who claim to be able to help those desperate people keep their homes. Regrettably, many of these individuals and companies are not in truth helping property owners facing foreclosure. Rather, they are making a profit off of people\'s desperation and fear and scamming them out of money, pride and even their homes.

In the following variations, homeowners approaching pre-foreclosure or days away from foreclosure are contacted by members of a company that offers to help them save their home. The scammers offer to loan the desperate homeowners the sum of money they are indebted to their current lenders in order to suspend the sale of their property. In one version of this scam, the company gives the loan at just below the lawful limit for interest rates and service fees. Homeowners who were already experiencing difficulty with their loan now find that they must make even greater payments or endure even higher penalties. Most victims who fall for this fraud lose their homes anyway.

Daring scammers take the deal even further. They execute a swindle called equity stripping. This means that they search for troubled homeowners who owe under half of the value of the real estate. Then, they approach the homeowners with a proposal to loan the money, again at egregiously high rates. If the homeowners start to have problems paying, they offer to forgive and again make them another loan. In each instance, the administrative fees get added on to the loan and the interest rates increase. After a time, the homeowner still loses the house, however they no longer have near the equity they once did.

No matter how hopeless your situation may look, you should always read every word of anything a person or company asks you to sign. If you don\'t understand what the document entails, have an attorney examine the papers. Do not trust any promises that are not made in writing! These are not contractually enforceable. Do not sign a contract that has blanks or has not been completely filled out. Remember, if your first language isn\'t English, use your own interpreter. Do not use an interpreter provided by the company. Finally, the old saying is continuously proved to be accurate: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.