MortgageModification

Janet's a lawyer who's losing her home, and she knows: When it comes to foreclosure, bureaucracy and paperwork can be your friends. Her foreclosure process has lasted for nearly 900 days, and counting. For homeowners in dire financial straits, her story is a lesson in how to keep a roof over your head as long as possible.

Even as many Americans struggle to make ends meet, scammers are plotting all sorts of sneaky ways to rob them of their money -- and in millions of cases, they succeed. When it comes to these cons, the best offense is a smart defense, so here's an intro course in how to spot the latest scams.

Millions of Americans fall victim to financial scams every year, and since the downturn began, many of those cons have been tailored to lure those suffering the most in our shaky economy: work-at-home schemes, fake mortgage modification services, fraudulent job opportunities and a host of unpleasant others.

A raft of con artists have cropped up over the last two years offering "forensic loan audits." They promise to review your mortgage documents, looking for errors and legal flaws that they say they'll use to expedite a loan modification deal. All they usually end up doing is taking more money from already stressed homeowners.

Attitudes toward mortgage default are shifting in America. People who've never missed a payment on anything in their lives are walking away from underwater homes, even when they can afford their monthly payments, because staying doesn't make financial sense. But how good a business decision is a strategic default?

Financial advice columnist Laura Rowley recently received an email from a homeowner who had negotiated a successful mortgage modification, but may end up as a short-sale candidate anyway -- because she can't finance home repairs. Her options are limited, but possible solutions do exist.

The Obama administration is reportedly considering a plan that would prohibit lending institutions from foreclosing on a home before a mortgage loan modification is given consideration. This is the sort of thing that may sound good on paper (especially after "draft proposals" were obviously leaked...

So-called "forensic audits" are often nothing more than con games bilking distressed homeowners out of money they certainly can't afford to just toss away. One high-ranking California law enforcement official is trying to steer people away from them. Former California governor, turned current...

President Obama's mortgage modification plan provided assistance to only 7% of borrowers who signed up last year, further adding to the chorus of boos for the much-hyped program. The Associated Press reports that : "BofA has completed modifications for only 1.5% of the more than 200,000 borrowers...

For some time now, I -- and others here at WalletPop -- have argued that the Obama administration's mortgage modification plan has largely been a dismal flop, with many distressed homeowners unable to get even a temporary three month modification, let along the desired permanent fix that would keep...