Editorial from the Corvallis Gazette-Times, Tuesday, July 12.
Posted with permission from the Corvallis Gazette-Times.
Successful scam artists push our most vulnerable buttons, so it's no surprise that the foreclosure crisis (which continues to play out in Oregon) has spawned a new breed of confidence game.
As people threatened with the loss of their homes search for any solution, they sometimes are tempted to turn to bogus counseling services that charge big bucks for advice that may turn out to be worthless.
It is, of course, a long-running trait of con artists that they play on our deepest fears - and these days, those don't come much deeper than the fear that we might lose our homes.
Fortunately, this is a scam that's relatively easy to see through.
The mid-valley has two nonprofit agencies that have been approved by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to offer counseling to people who are facing foreclosure. Here's the deal: They never charge for their services.
In other words, if you're dealing with a counseling service that wants to slap you with a big bill, better take another look. A much closer look.
You'll be better off with one of these two agencies:
- Willamette Neighborhood Housing Services, 541-752-7220. Ask for Kym O'Hare.
- Community Services Consortium, 541-758-2630. Ask for Jon Polansky.
Both of these agencies provide free (there's that word again, "free") information and advice to homeowners on ways to avoid foreclosure - and the best current estimate is that some 700 housing units in Linn and Benton counties, and 23,000 across Oregon, are in some stage of the foreclosure process.
The agencies also can communicate directly with your loan servicer to try to work out a mutually agreeable solution.
But don't wait until it's too late: As soon as you realize that you might fall behind on your payments, you should contact your mortgage servicer to see if you qualify for a modification or some other loan arrangement.
And beware of the wolves that come circling around your door, bearing offers that seem too good to be true. It's still the best advice for staying out of the clutches of scam artists: If it seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is.
