By
Ashley Russell on January 23, 2012
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Recently the Obama administration created a Making Home Affordable program in an effort to help struggling families all over the country stay in their homes. Because of how attractive this is to so many struggling Americans, many individuals have created scams acting as part of the program, while in reality they are just taking advantage of desperate people.
The Making Home Affordable (MHA) program is a proactive approach to keeping families in their homes. Foreclosure affects not just the family and friends of the people whose house is foreclosed, but it affects the entire neighborhood. The program works to lower monthly mortgage payments for both employed and unemployed families. It also helps families find a way out of their home when that is necessary without having to foreclose. This keeps the family's credit high, keeps the prices of homes in the neighborhood unchanged, and saves everyone a lot of stress.
One reason that the MHA is so easy to scam is because it is not solely a government operation. The program relies on private companies and individuals to help manage and process the numerous requests and cases. As of spring 2011, the Federal Trade Commission had identified at least 71 companies that were running "suspicious ads" related to the MHA. Numerous government agencies, private companies, and non-profits are working together to help curb this from happening and protect the American public in the future.
These ads are often successful in taking advantage of people for numerous reasons. First, financial issues, especially foreclosures, are extremely complicated. The complexity of the situation makes individuals feel easily overwhelmed. Additionally, the new regulations and rules of the Making Home Affordable program add an entirely new level of complexity to the situation. This makes individuals in trouble even more vulnerable. Once companies realize this, they can play up how hard it is to deal with the new regulations of the program and entice people to give them their personal information and even money. Individuals in financial trouble are already stressed and overwhelmed as well. Just the fact that someone is looking into this program tells predators that they are vulnerable to "offers" claiming to have all of the answers to their financial woes, much like other financial scams.
Overall the program is a great idea because it keeps people in homes. However, there is a downside to the MHA because it opens up more opportunities for companies to scam innocent people. Hopefully in the future more of these scams will be address and removed so that people can be helped, not hindered, by this new program.
See also:
Home Affordable Modification Program