Can you save your home from foreclosure without filing for bankruptcy?  There has been a lot of news lately about possible voluntary actions by mortgage companies to re-write loans, to hold off on foreclosure and to "work with" cash strapped homeowners.  All these possibilities are out there, but if you are facing an actual foreclosure, Chapter 13 bankruptcy remains your most reliable tool to stop a foreclosure.

This does not mean that scamsters have not found a way to use Chapter 13 as a tool for their fraudulent activity.   We recently came across an article in a Kasas City newspaper that described the activities of a foreclosure scammer.  The scammer would contact homeowners facing foreclosure and offer to stop the process for several hundred dollars.  He would then file a "two page" emergency Chapter 13 petition, then disappear.

The two page Chapter 13 will stop a foreclosure, but the homeowner is left with an incomplete petition and, quite possibly, a bankruptcy that they did not want.  Further, if someone signs your name to a bankruptcy petition that you did not authorize, this is a form of identity theft.

The U.S. Trustee estimates that this scammer stopped foreclosures on over $50 million of property in four States.  Although this particular scammer does not appear to have operated in the Tampa area, we regularly speak with clients who have been approached or vicitimized by foreclosure scammers here as well.

If you are facing a foreclosure, don't take a chance with a non-attorney who makes unrealistic promises.  A legitimate consumer bankruptcy law firm will tell you about the good and the bad having to do with Chapter 13.   Remember - if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.