Foreclosure Fears Leave Homeowners Navigating Financial Minefield

GREENVILLE, N.C. - North Carolina's record pace on foreclosure filings this year gives struggling homeowners a lot of reasons to be on edge.

Offers to restructure mortgages sound like a great idea.

They can be.

But, it depends on who's making the offer.

In this Nine On Your Side Report, Jim Niedelman goes over an offer dozens of people wish they avoided.

It's a common hazard in this economy.

You can't blame anyone who's hurting financially for trying to find a better deal.

Just beware if someone comes out of nowhere to find you.

"It was strange,” said homeowner Hilda Teel.  “Somebody called me."

Now, Hilda Teel is the one doing the calling, but only getting voice mail.

"I've been calling for the last 30 days at least 4 to 5 times a day and no one has returned a call," Teel said.

It's all because she signed up to get help with her mortgage.

A loan modification program like one she's seen advertised on television.

The offer sounded believable when she got the call.

“The person that called me said that they were a part of Obama's team that had come in to help people that were having problems with their mortgages,” Teel said.  “And, they knew information about, you know, my mortgage and who it was with and everything."

Teel's problems began a couple of years ago when doctors diagnosed her with kidney failure.

She's been on dialysis three times a week ever since.

Four months went by when she missed her mortgage to pay for her medicine that ran more than $1,200 a month.

So, in January she signed up with the group that called to help modify her loan.

The Law Office of Christopher Persaud does business under the name legal modification firm.

It’s an operation based in California with a website under the same name.

She sent a voided check that gave the company access to $1,295 from her bank account.

It promises results in 180 days.

Teel says she hasn't seen a thing.

"An alarm went off that it's some kind of bogus company and now they got your money," Teel said.

Teel's case is not isolated.

North Carolina's attorney general has another complaint about Christopher Persaud's company.

Investigators haven't had any luck tracking him down.

They say there are a lot of loan modification programs out there with warning signs to avoid the pitfalls.

Any foreclosure rescue company that wants money upfront should raise a red flag.

Stay away.

Avoid companies that want you to make your payments to them.

Stay away if they offer to pay off your mortgage if you give them the deed to your property.

Make sure you get promises in writing.

You should deal with your mortgage company directly if you're having problems.

Hilda Teel says her mortgage company worked out terms to keep her out of foreclosure.

First, she has to pay $1,695 by the end of the month.

After that, she has to pay $1,095 a month for a year.

Then her payment drops to $829.

That's still more than the 775 she paid before any of this began.

"We'll just have to bite the bullet and come try to make sure that we pay the mortgage,"
Teel said.

Teel says she's determined to keep her home and thinks she'll avoid foreclosure.

The company at the center of all of this has a record in its home state of California.

The better business bureau says it received 57 complaints against Christopher Persaud's Legal Modification Firm.

Two dozen of those are considered serious in nature.

We tried repeatedly to contact the company by phone.

None of our calls was returned.