The Bucks County Pennsylvania Department of Consumer Protection recently issued an urgent warning about scam mortgage assistance letters being sent to residents, particularly the elderly.  While this warning was to residents of Bucks County Pennsylvania, similar letters are being sent to people around the country.  The letters appear to be legitimate and come from an organization that calls itself “The Mortgage Help Center.”  The letter is often marked “Final Notice” and claims to be able to lower mortgage payments to rates as low as 2%. Some versions of the letter refer to legitimate mortgage assistance programs, but the letter is coming from scammers and is not affiliated with any government program, government agency or mortgage lender.

The letter may seem to be legitimate because it does include information including the name of the person to whom the letter is sent, their property address, the name of their mortgage lender and the approximate balance of the targeted scam victim’s mortgage, however this information does not mean that the sender is legitimate since all of this information is readily available from the local Registry of Deeds.

The purpose of the letter is to convince the targeted victim to provide personal information such as Social Security numbers or banking information that will lead to identity theft.

TIPS

If you receive such a letter you should not call any phone numbers contained in the letter, nor scam QR codes or go to websites listed in the letter.  Also, it is important not to provide any personal information in response to the letter.  If you have any concerns about your mortgage and its rate, you should contact your lender to see what options you may have.

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