NBC Nightly News On Renters Feeling The Mortgage Crunch

Last Wednesday night, the NBC Nightly News ran a report on the problems renters are facing when they unwittingly rent a place to live from a financially overextended landlord whose intent is to pocket the rent, stiff the mortgage holder out of its mortgage payments, and allow the property to go into foreclosure (referred to in some statutes as rent skimming or equity skimming). Two tenants are interviewed for the story: one is a grandmother that has already faced eviction on three separate occasions as a result of renting from three landlords who allowed their properties to go into foreclosure; the other is a family who reportedly got screwed over in a "rent-to-own" arrangement where the seller pocketed the rent without applying the funds to the mortgage payment.

To watch the news report, see Renters feeling mortgage crunch. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports from Minneapolis, Minnesota.

For other posts involving rent skimming and lease/option scams, see Tenants Unwittingly Renting Homes In Foreclosure I , II , III , and IV; and "Rent To Own" Scams I. equity skimming unwittingly gamma rent to own lease purchase option scams zebra