Homeowners Cautioned To "Look Before You Leap" When Dealing With Loan Modification Rackets Peddling Foreclosure Rescue Quick Fixes

In St. Paul, Minnesota, the Star Tribune reports:

• Patricia Goff got taken not once, but twice, by shoddy loan modification companies promising to fix her mortgage woes for an upfront fee. Neither delivered and now Goff, 47, is facing foreclosure on the Rosemount home where she lives with her husband and 21-year-old son -- unless she comes up with $34,000 -- more than Goff earns in a year.

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• Hoping to prevent others from ending up like Goff, the Minnesota Home Ownership Center and dozens of partners are kicking off Look Before You Leap, a campaign designed to teach people how to spot foreclosure-related scams and let people know help is available for free from housing counselors around the state.(1)

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• [A]n event [was scheduled for last Tuesday] on the East Side of St. Paul, one of the areas hardest hit by foreclosure, featuring homeowners who have agreed to share their horror stories.

For the story, see Look Before You Leap: Out to quell foreclosure-related scam (The Look Before You Leap campaign warns of illegitimate loan modification companies. Event features homeowners who have agreed to share their horror stories).

(1) Reportedly, Look Before You Leap is part of a national public education effort called the "Loan Modification Scam Alert," which was started by the community development nonprofit NeighborWorks America with $1 million from Congress. According to the story, several cities around the country so far -- Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Milwaukee and Kansas City, to name a few -- have created local versions of the campaign, NeighborWorks spokesman Steve Hermes said. Events are planned in Chicago, Des Moines and Omaha later this year, the story states.