Forged Deeds

A husband with marital problems may pass his girlfriend off as his wife to gain a loan, complete with the wife's personal financial documents and credit card number. Undeveloped land is prime fodder for a forged deed: A scammer takes over a piece of land illegitimately, then flips it before he has to repay the loan.

At a loan closing, the lender "packs on" credit insurance you didn’t need at additional cost to you. Often, he’ll hope you just don’t notice. Otherwise, he’ll casually tell you the insurance is a "standard" part of the loan. A last minute objection is met with a warning that "changing the terms" will mean a delay in issuing the loan, or even a rejection of your loan. Lenders know that most of the time you won’t back out once you are far in the process and are ready to close.

You receive letters from a lender shortly after taking out a mortgage explaining that your monthly payments will be higher than previously discussed due to escrow payments for taxes and insurance, even though the lender had previously agreed to your paying for those separately on your own. Other confusing fees that can suddenly appear include late fees and fees for inadequate insurance.

You feel you could use some extra money, so a lender convinces you to refinance. A few months later, he offers you more cash by repeating the procedure. But with each loan, you incur more charges in points and fees. You'll have a pile of cash, but the pile of debt is much larger and must be paid back with interest.

A contractor offers to arrange a loan through which you can pay for a remodeling or a major repair. After he begins the work, you're asked to sign a bunch of papers--he'll threaten to walk off the in the middle of the job if you don't--that you find out later were authorizations for a home equity loan, complete with inflated interest rates, points and fees. To add insult to injury, the contractor, who has taken his cut from the lender, has little incentive to stick around and finish the job

This scam involves a homeowner who sells his property to an accomplice. The seller forges appraisal documents to help inflate the value of the house he is selling to the fake buyer. The bank lends money to the fake buyer, with the proceeds going to the seller, for a house with an inflated value. The bank is left holding a mortgage on a house that's worth about half the outstanding loan. The fake buyer disappears and gets a cut of the profits from the seller.

Landlords lure wannabe homeowners by signing them up to rent a home with an option to buy. Typically, the renter will pay as much as $20,000 above the market rental rate, with that extra money earmarked for a down payment. Usually, however, the money is wasted, as the renter fails to qualify for a mortgage and never buys the house. And if he does, the landlord usually tries to back out of the deal.