Stories from Scammed Homeowners

Real Stories

Zulma Navarette

Los Angeles, California

Zulma Navarette has encountered not one but two loan modification scams. The 36-year-old Guatemalan native received unsolicited referrals to companies from a Spanish-speaking woman who had earlier helped her through the home-buying process. In both cases, Zulma was told not to talk to her bank directly.

Zulma first paid $2,000 to a company that promised to lower her mortgage payments but instead did nothing. Her bank called to explain her loan modification paperwork was incomplete and her payments would likely increase. The company told Zulma she still had to pay for services rendered. Only when she threatened to call the police did she receive a refund.

I was robbed. And I wanted my money back.

Two months later, the same woman advised Zulma that she was eligible for a loan modification, without back payments, through a local lawyer's office. The lawyer even offered a 100 percent money-back guarantee. So she paid $3,495 and waited. As instructed, she stopped making payments to her bank. Her paperwork, the lawyer said, was in progress. She just needed to be patient.

Finally, Zulma called her bank, only to learn that no one from the lawyer's office had been in touch. She had fallen even farther behind in her payments and would lose her home if she didn’t do something soon.

"I was robbed," Zulma says. "And I wanted my money back."

Zulma found help she could trust through Los Angeles Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc. Working with her bank, the NeighborWorks® America affiliate was able to get Zulma back on track and cut her mortgage payments in half. "It’s critical that people understand they should not pay money up front for loan modification services," she says. "It's important to do research and contact local housing and consumer affairs offices for help."

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