SILVAR  :  Newsroom  : Real Estate Articles

Real Estate Articles

REALTOR®: Freddie Mac Warns Borrowers about Foreclosure Fraud Schemes

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Freddie Mac, one of the country's largest investors in residential mortgages, has produced an Internet video dramatizing a common foreclosure fraud scheme after a new survey found one in four delinquent borrowers goes to the Internet before their bank or lender for information about avoiding foreclosure. This anti-fraud video can be found at http://www.youtube.com/AvoidFraud.

Freddie Mac decided to produce the anti-fraud video for You Tube after a 2007 company-sponsored study discovered 25 percent of delinquent borrowers go to the Internet first for mortgage information, only slightly less than those who call their mortgage lender (28 percent) or bank (32 percent). GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media, a division of GfK Custom Research North America, conducted the survey of 2,400 borrowers.

The two-minute video uses professional actors to demonstrate how con artists can:

* Get copies of foreclosure notices at City Hall or a county courthouse;
* Persuade distressed borrowers to give up the deeds in exchange for suspicious promises to solve their financial problems;
* Use the deeds to secure new loans for themselves; and
* Let the new loans go into foreclosure, which means the homeowners looking for help can still end up losing their house.

The Silicon Valley Association of Realtors (SILVAR), a professional trade organization representing over 4,000 Realtors and affiliate members engaged in the real estate business on the Peninsula and in the South Bay, strongly advises homeowners who anticipate they are going to miss a mortgage payment to contact their mortgage company immediately, or call 888-995-HOPE (or visit 995HOPE.org). This toll-free, confidential hotline is sponsored by the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, which offers free advice and counseling to homeowners.

SILVAR is supported by a vast network of resources, including the California Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors, which provide a network of experts and publications that help their members to better answer their clients' housing-related questions.


The Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® (SILVAR) is a professional trade organization representing over 4,000 REALTORS® and Affiliate members engaged in the real estate business on the Peninsula and in the South Bay. SILVAR promotes the highest ethical standards of real estate practice, serves as an advocate for homeownership and homeowners, and represents the interests of property owners in Silicon Valley.

The term "REALTOR®" is a registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and who subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.

Variations of this article have appeared in local area newspapers.

For further information, please contact Rose Meily at SILVAR Public Affairs, email , or phone (408) 200-0109.

» Back to Real Estate Articles

Site Navigation