Having Trouble Paying Your Bills? Avoid Foreclosure And Mortgage Rescue Scams With New Website

A new website created by the New York State Attorney General’s office aims to help homeowners easily identify and avoid mortgage rescue scams, while also providing direction on how to reach housing counselors and legal services organizations if additional assistance is needed.

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman says AGScamHelp.com was developed to keep homeowners who are behind on their mortgages from getting deeper into debt by becoming victims of any number of scams.

“Easily accessible from smartphones, tablets, and other devices, AGScamHelp allows users to quickly search the name of any organization offering mortgage modification assistance,” he wrote in a piece of the Huffington Post. “The app will show that an organization is ‘Trusted’ if it is part of the Attorney General’s Homeowner Protection Program, or has been approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.”

If the organization has not been approved by HUD of the AG’s office, you’ll be advised to use caution since it’s not government-vetted. They’ll also provide info on how to spot a possible mortgage rescue scam, who to contact nearby for counseling or legal services, and how to report potential scammers so the AG’s office can investigate them.

According to a recent report from the Center for New York City Neighborhoods and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the average New York homeowner who falls victim to a scam loses about $4,187, almost $900 more than than the national average.

Check out the site at AGScamHelp.com.