Common Scams of Predatory Lenders
There are many different ways you can protect yourself from predatory lenders and some common types of schemes that they use to get you to sign away your finances. First, you should never take out a loan that you cannot pay. It might seem like a simple notion but many people are often lied to about monthly payments or about how they can afford the loan if the value of the item they buy increases over time. Any loan or loan offer that seems too good to be true should automatically be suspected. If you have any questions about your loan and live in Orange County contact us for free advice.
A frequently occurring problem with predatory lending in California seems to be that the lender tells the potential borrower that their loans and their rates can only be had through their company. Any borrower should always shop around for the best loan rates and the most legitimate business. Our office has seen predatory lenders that come as friends of the family or were recommended by coworkers. If a company is telling you that they are the only ones who can offer you this loan at their rate then you should automatically suspect them of predatory lending and contact our office.
If a house or property in the Orange County region costs significantly more than any other house in the same area you should also suspect predatory lending to be a factor. Often predatory lenders will raise the price of the house in order to lend more money to the borrower. When the borrower realizes that their investment has not increased and yet they are still paying high rates to the loan company they have not only lost money but are paying money they don’t have to pay. Often these borrowers are unable to keep up with the payments and because their property does not increase in value they are forced to sell at a loss.
Other common scams of predatory lenders that our office has seen in Orange County involve contracts and outright lying. These contracts are often not what the lender promised but the borrower is unaware or completely trusts the lender that they do not check until it is too late. When it comes time to make payments these fees are higher than expected, are not what the lender told the borrower they would be or they contain charges for late payments and errors that were not disclosed beforehand.
If a lender tells you that you can get out of debt by refinancing on your home to pay off other debt you should also be cautious. Repaying other debt by going into further debt is not generally a wise decision even when you are deeply into debt. These companies will often make the borrower’s debt worse, cause them to become mired in an inextricable situation and often result in the loss of money and property to the borrower.
If you or someone you love has been the victim of one of these forms of predatory lending contact our office for a free consultation. Bisnar & Chase have years of experience handling all kinds of predatory lending cases. Often our lawyers are able to recover significant damages from the offending companies and potentially save the borrower from having to give up their home forever. Contact our office for a free and confidential consultation.
