What Do I Need To Do To Stop a Foreclosure?
Start here if you are buying a home and there's a threat of foreclosure against you.
By: Alaska Legal Services Corporation
Sixteen Rules About Choosing Which Debts to Pay First
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You should direct your limited resources to what is most necessary for you or your family-- typically food, clothing, shelter and utility service. Unfortunately, there is no universally applicable list of the order in which debts should be paid. Everyone's situation will be different. Instead what follows are sixteen rules about how to set priorities, from Surviving Debt (National Consumer Law Center, 3rd ed. 1999).
By: National Consumer Law Center
Helping Elderly Homeowners Victimized by Predatory Mortage Loans
(Separate Website)
Equity-rich, cash poor elderly homeowners are an attractive target for unscrupulous mortgage lenders. Many elderly homeowners are on fixed or limited incomes, yet need access to credit to pay for home repairs, medical care, property or municipal taxes, and other expenses. The equity they have amassed in their home may be their primary or only financial asset. Predatory lenders seek to capitalize on elders' need for cash by offering "easy" credit and loans packed with high interest rates, excessive fees and costs, credit insurance, balloon payments and other outrageous terms.
By: National Consumer Law Center
Helping People Avoid Predatory Lending Practices
(Separate Website)
By: Freddie Mac
Don't Be A Victim of Loan Fraud
(Separate Website)
Every year, misinformed homebuyers, often first-time purchasers or seniors, become victims of predatory lending or loan fraud. Included here are tips for protecting yourself, answers to questions, how to identify fraud, and what is predatory lending.
By: Deptartment of Housing and Urban Development
Home Improvement Scams Alert
(Separate Website)
Many low-income elderly homeowners are targeted by scam artists who use high pressure tactics to sell unneeded and overpriced contracts for "home improvements." Often these scam artists charge more than their quoted prices or their work does not live up to their promises. When the senior refuses to pay for shoddy or incomplete work, the contractor or an affiliated lender threatens foreclosure on the senior's home. In an effort to fight such scams, the National Consumer Law Center focuses this issue of Consumer Concerns for Older Americans on the practices of unscrupulous home improvement contractors. This article concerns information about "Deceptive Sales Tactics", "Deceptive Financing Schemes", "Problems With Contracted Work", and Issues to Consider When Problems Occur.
By: National Consumer Law Center
Dreams Foreclosed
(Separate Website)
Be aware of a growing scam targeting older Americans that can, and often does, literally cost them the homes they have lived in for years and worked hard to obtain. It is called a FORECLOSURE "RESCUE" SCAM .
By: National Consumer Law Center, Inc.
100 Questions and Answers About Buying a New Home
(Separate Website)
An excellent website of Questions and Home Buying Answers.
By: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Buying a Home -- Common Questions from First-Time Homebuyers
(Separate Website)
This web site provides answers to commonly-asked questions and explains your rights as a homebuyer and a borrower.
By: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
HUD Homes (Answers to Common Questions)
(Separate Website)
This web page explains how to buy a HUD Home and provides links to properties that are available near you for purchase from HUD. When someone with a mortgage insured by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) can't meet their payments, the lender forecloses on the home. HUD pays the lender what is owed and HUD takes ownership of the home. Then HUD sells it at market value as quickly as possible.
By: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
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Information Not Legal Advice. This web site has been prepared for general information purposes only. The information on this web site is not legal advice. Legal advice is dependent upon the specific circumstances of each situation. Also, the law may vary from state to state, so that some information in this web site may not be correct for your jurisdiction. Finally, the information contained in this web site is not guaranteed to be up to date. Therefore, the information contained in this web site cannot replace the advice of competent legal counsel licensed in your state.
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