Preventing Rip-Offs, Foreclosure In Home Repairs

lsc.gov, Dec 14, 2006

Imagine you are 74 years old and want some repairs on your porch.

A friendly contractor offers to make the repair and set up the financing to pay for it.

Six months later, the contractor, who was paid in full from the loan he set up, has done no work, and the lender has foreclosed on your home.

That's what happened to one Legal Aid of Western Missouri client. We'll call her Ms. Smith, a retiree, living in the home that she had owned for 30 years with her disabled son.

We see far too many cases like Ms. Smith's. Our senior citizens, many with significant equity in their homes, are among the most vulnerable targets for predatory lenders.

When seniors lose their homes to foreclosure, the results can be devastating.

Often they end up having to live in subsidized housing or in nursing homes--at tremendous expense to the state. Read more at lsc.gov