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For a number of reasons, the rate of house foreclosures is rising in the United States. In fact, the rate is up some 70% over a year ago. Part of this is due to rising interest rates that are making payments unaffordable to houseowners who bought their houses three or four years ago with adjustable rate mortgages. Many of these mortgages were set to adjust after three years, and the resulting increases in payments have left the houses unaffordable for their owners. With little recourse, thousands of owners have had to walk away from their houses. This unfortunate situation may be avoidable in some cases, particularly if the owners discuss their troubles with their lenders. Instead, many owners have answered ads posted by corporations offering "foreclosure assistance", hoping to find a way to keep their houses despite their financial troubles. In many cases, the owners not only fail to get the assistance they need, but they often end up literally giving their houses away to the corporations they thought would assist them keep them.

The scam is a common one that takes advantage of individuals in desperate situations. Mortgage corporations that intend to foreclose on delinquent customers file notice with the counties in which the houseowner resides. The county posts those notices and investors make note of the addresses. With a bit of research, they determine the value of the property and the amount owed on the mortgage. The investors seek properties with large amounts of equity. They then approach the owner with an offer to "assist" them with their financial troubles. The offers vary, but the deal usually involves an offer to make good on the delinquent amounts while renting the house back to the owner for a set period of time. At the conclusion of that time period, the investors say they will offer the owner-turned-tenant the opportunity to repay and take their house back. For desperate houseowners who want to keep their houses, these offers seem like a Godsend.

Unfortunately, the deals rarely work out to the benefit of the owner. More often than not the paperwork provided with the offer includes a quitclaim deed, which, once signed by the owner, essentially gives the property to the investor. The investor, now the owner of the property, then demands an unreasonable amount of rent from the owner-turned-tenant. When he or she cannot pay, the investor evicts the tenant and sells the house, pocketing the profits. In some cases, investors have pocketed several hundred thousand dollars from a single property, all for the minimum investment of a few months' of delinquent mortgage payments. The former owner is left with nothing.

Some states, such as Minnesota, have passed laws that severely restrict this practice, but others, such as Florida, have so far been unable to overcome large opposition from business interests. In the states with few restrictions, flyers offering foreclosure assistance can be found on telephone poles in just about every city. Unfortunately for houseowners who have financial trouble, the last thing they will receive if they respond to these flyers is help. houseowners who are in financial trouble should call their lender first. The last thing lenders want to do is foreclose, so buyers would be better off calling their lender rather than trusting their house to a stranger who advertises on telephone poles.