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<br />1 _ <br />r;. <br />r: <br />~~ <br />/~ .: <br />i~ <br />Look ~ <br />Before you leap <br />LOAN MODIFICATION SCAM <br />ALERT <br />k ~ ~~~,. <br />r friends and nei hbors ~~~ ~rr, <br />» He p you g <br />~~a <br />Avoid reda#o foreclosure scams ~ ~}`~~{ <br />p rY <br />~, <br />~~; <br />:, <br />"Look Before You Leap" is at statewide public education campaign raising public awareness <br />about the booming mortgage rescue scam industry and its dangerous implications for <br />struggling and unsuspecting home owners, and to connecting struggling home owners <br />with the state's network of free, trusted nonprofit foreclosure counselors. It is led by the <br />Minnesota Home Ownership Center, in partnership with NeighborWorks° America and <br />continues to build support from organizations across Minnesota: <br />1. Mortgage foreclosure scams are <br />booming <br />The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) <br />received only one complaint of a <br />foreclosure scam in 2008. But by the <br />end of 2009, the number of <br />complaints swelled to 7,927. <br />2. Scams Strip home owners of their <br />savings, their home... or both <br />At their best, for-profit companies <br />charge home owners thousands of <br />dollars for help that is already available <br />in Minnesota for free. At their worst, <br />scams are robbing already vulnerable <br />home owners of their home, their life's <br />savings, or both. <br />3. Everyone benefits from stopping <br />foreclosures <br />4. Stopping foreclosures starts with <br />ending scams <br />Predatory stammers often hide in <br />plain sight with ads on the radio, <br />online and in our communities. Help <br />put an end to predatory scams by <br />reporting them to the Minnesota <br />Attorney General. <br />5. And turning home owners to real <br />local resources they can trust <br />Struggling home owners should <br />contact the statewide network of 24 <br />non-profit agencies who offer FREE <br />foreclosure relief and credit counseling <br />to Minnesotans statewide. Go to <br />www.LookBeforeYouLeap.org to find a <br />counselor near you. <br />Each foreclosure costs over $78,000 <br />when totaling the costs to neighbors, <br />home owners, cities and lenders <br />according to the Joint Economic <br />Committee of Congress. <br />Minnesota Home <br />Ownership Center <br />1000 Payne Avenue, Suite 200 <br />St. Paul, MN 55130 <br />Ph: (651) 659-9336 <br />Toll Free: (866) 462-6466 <br />LookBeforeYouLeap.org <br />~ <br />)) Be On The Lookout For ... -- <br />)) Know The Answers To ... <br />Be wary of companies offering help Before agreeing to work with any <br />that... company for mortgage help, know <br />• Charge fees for their services the answers to these questions: <br />• Ask you to sign over title to your Has the organization registered <br />with the Minnesota Department of <br />home or even power of attorney Commerce as an approved loan <br />• Claim you should stop paying your modification organization? <br />mortgage during the loan .Does the organization charge a fee <br />modification process at any point in the work? <br />• Claim you should pay them, rather ,Does the organization benefit <br />than your bank financially from the course of <br />• Promise a guaranteed outcome or action they are recommending? <br />claim they can help people in any <br />situation <br />