Tuesday, November 21, 2006

What Are Government Authorities (or anyone else) Doing to Stop Home Equity Theft ?

Home Equity Theft, by all the reports I've seen, is a horrific scam being perpetrated on vulnerable American homeowners that has reached epidemic proportions throughout the United States. Victims tend to be those who are financially distressed, senior citizens, and the working class poor and middle class. Often times, these victims are experiencing other problems in their life as well (job loss, uninsured family illness, death of a breadwinner, divorce, and other unfortuante life changing events). People who are victimized by a "home equity thief" are often reluctant to tell anyone because of feelings of fear, embarrassment, and humiliation.

Fortunately, in many areas in the country, the horror stories have reached the ears of government and non-profit legal services organizations and efforts have begun around the country to do something about this terrible situation. Although regrettably, availability of financial resources appears to be an issue in going after these scam artists, the efforts to stop this activity on the part of "home equity thieves" are being made.

The following links are to stories from around the United States that report on these efforts.