Kristine Dugan, ABR, BS, CRS, SFR
Your Resource for All Things Real Estate
Direct Phone: 702-332-7781 :: Email: info@HomeSearchVegasValley.com
Beware! Scam with Bank of America Mortgages
Posted on May 14, 2011
I have recently come across some information that I want to notify as many people as possible of a scam that is spreading through the Las Vegas Valley for some homeowners that have their mortgage loan with Bank of America. Homeowners are getting mailed a notice from a company Great Western with notice that Bank of America has sold their mortgage. If you click here, you will be able to see a sample letter one of my clients received. If you look at this letter without thinking twice, one might think it is completely legitimate. Let me point out a couple of things that I noticed right off the bat...
1. On the letter, there are two company letterheads. In most instances, if a company is sending out a notice, especially with notification that a mortgage is being sold, there will be one letter from the current mortgage holder with notification that the loan is being sold, then a separate letter from the new mortgage holder that they are going to be taking over the mortgage.
2. The new location that homeowners are supposed to be sending payments are going to a PO Box in Las Vegas.
3. "If you are currently utilizing an online or electronic bill paying service, you will need to cancel this transaction and pay by mailed check for the next 90 days" - Strange that a company does not allow electronic payment
4. This letter was sent on the 18th and is notifying the homeowner to make their payment to the new company by the 1st of the following month. Usually if your mortgage is being sold, you will receive notification months in advance, not weeks.
5. If you happen to call the 1-800 number provided for questions, you are forwarded to a full mailbox.
The rest of the letter looks great, actually it is near perfect other than the items I noted above. My guess is someone locally devised this idea to scam local homeowners and copied a real mortgage transfer letter from Bank of America so homeowners that weren't suspicious would just make their monthly mortgage payments to this new company.
Thank goodness my client was smart enough to forward the letter along to me and we were able to save him the heartache of getting scammed out of one month's mortgage payment. Moral of the story, if you receive a letter notifying you that your mortgage is getting transferred, call your bank or your real estate consultant so the information you received can be verified!
Please forward this along to everyone you know so they can become aware of this scam.
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