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I don’t know about you, but I have heard the stores and even seen the occasional late night TV ad talking about getting out of your mortgage for free.  Two years ago, I wrote about how it was the latest scam being pulled on people facing foreclosure.  And be aware… it is nothing but a scam.

Here is the “meat” of the old post…

Here is the way it works (and it all sounds so legit…):

  • Mr. and Mrs. Consumer buy a house and get a mortgage from MonsterMegaMortgageCompany (MMMC).
  • MMMC sells their mortgage to Investor Pool #1.
  • Then it is bundled and sold to IP#2… and #3 and #4 over a span of a few years.
  • Mr. & Mrs. Consumer start having problems, and despite everything they are facing foreclosure.
  • To try to get help they contact a “Foreclosure Mitigation” Law Firm that fights the foreclosure by filing a “missing title” lawsuit.
  • The law firm (or other entity) charges an up-front fee (maybe $2000) and then monthly fees (maybe $1000 or $1500)… as well as a contingency fee upon settlement of either 50% of the reduction or 75% or 80% of the value if the mortgage were completely eliminated.
  • After stringing along Mr. & Mrs. Consumer for a few months or longer (collecting fees), they fail to actually prosecute the case.
  • Mr. & Mrs. Consumer lose their home…

According to a few of the sources I looked at, their are no recorded examples of any suit of this type EVER being resolved in the consumer’s favor.

There are also a couple of links.  As an update, there are a couple of stories over the last few years of judges setting aside mortgages because the holder could not produce the right paperwork.  But, you have a better chance of getting hit by lightning.  The lenders have gotten smart and are making sure their paperwork is better… and in the few cases that I have heard about mortgages being set aside, the lenders also committed fraud in ginning up the paperwork… and that isn’t likely to happen many more times.

Follow the link above and visit the old post…  It’s lonely.

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