Homeowners warned to avoid foreclosure scams
After Jose Hernandez’s family fell behind on payments for the family home in Pacoima, he was approached by a man outside their church who said that for $300 he could help them modify their loan and avoid foreclosure.
Hernandez paid the man -- but got nothing in return.
With more “foreclosure vultures” preying on troubled homeowners, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and California Real Estate Commissioner Jeff Davi held a news conference Monday to issue warnings in English and Spanish against giving money to the scam artists.
The con artists typically promise to help people renegotiate their mortgage and avoid foreclosure in exchange for a fee. They take the money and disappear.
Some fraudulent companies make it seem as though they represent banks or even the government.
Evan Wagner, a spokesman for IndyMac Federal Bank, said he was disturbed to see men dressed like bank executives -- with the same blue shirts and official looking clipboards -- show up at a foreclosure avoidance clinic the bank held late last year in Riverside County and approach borrowers waiting in line.
“They were clearly representing themselves as bank staff,” said Wagner, noting that the men were arrested.
As for Hernandez, he said that after paying $300, he attended a meeting at his church for borrowers in trouble.
There, a representative from Neighborhood Legal Services warned people not to give money to such programs.
Hernandez said he felt grateful he gave the man only $300. For the last few months, he has been working with a legal aid lawyer and others in his community to modify his payments.
Still, it may not be enough to save the family’s home. “We still don’t know,” he said.
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