Foreclosure Fraud Prevention Team

The Community Law Program has partnered with the Pinellas County Department of Justice and Consumer Services; St. Petersburg Neighborhood Housing Service; Gulfcoast Legal Aid and the Community Development Corporation to form the Foreclosure Fraud Prevention Team. My name is Nita Carroll. I am an attorney in Pinellas County and I am currently staffing this project for the Community Law Program.

The goal of this project is to help the community identify and prevent foreclosure fraud. As the number of foreclosures rise so do the predatory scams designed by unethical and sometimes criminal people or businesses to take advantage of desperate homeowners. Some of the common scams are equity skimming or stripping; mortgage broker scams; internet and telemarketing scams and phony counseling. I will discuss each type of scam in more detail in the weeks to come. In the interim it is important that if you or someone you know is facing foreclosure you should:

1. beware of anyone that contacts you offering to save your home;
2. read and understand everything you sign and talk to an attorney if you need an explanation;
3. do not sign any papers with any fields left blank;
4. check for complaints about a business before signing anything by calling 727-464-6200 or online at www.pinellascounty.org/consumer and
5. remember that if the deal sounds to good to be true then it probably is.

The Community Law Program and the Foreclosure Fraud Prevention Team will be participating in community outreach programs and will also counsel individual homeowners. We also hope to recruit volunteer attorneys to help represent homeowners that have been victims of foreclosure fraud.

If you need help with foreclosure fraud please contact us at727-582-7480.

Nita Carroll