Now is the time when surveys, consumer agencies, banks, credit cards companies, and all others have already noticed your spending habits have changed, due to difficult economy as said above. SO what? For you, it means nothing because if you are like millions of us, you'll recover. But there is something, somebody, or rather a body of someones that belong to a club which normally does not operate so openly and freely: the vultures.

Those people have also smelled, heard, and spied on the same signals. Pretty soon, they know well that you are in trouble and what they are going to try first is to gauge your degree of difficulties, and desperateness if it exists. That is when they will have assessed that you are the most vulnerable and offer the least resistance, with no understanding or even no idea of defending yourself and your loved ones against the scams they are ready to deploy on you, that these vultures and other vermines will strike and knock at your door.

Last month, just as for the last 6 ones, I was pondering if it would be better to save a little to make Christmas look "normal", or to dig further into an already dry well to try to pay our monthly mortgage. With already a month or two late, the question of a loan modification obviously had already come up. And somehow, I have not figured out but it does not matter, some parasites from the vulture club had heard about it. It is amazing what these birds can smell from in terms of distance.

But as sure as I had never heard about a program of that sort, the simple fact ofd talking to my lender about it, or something else attracted it like flies.

I received, or rather I was bombarded, by a flow of emails from a Company named ModPilot, although I suspect they are using alternate names, such as YoureMortgage rigths, an so on. What is interesting about these scammers is that they are very difficult to track for regulatory agencies. They are successful in convincing you they are legitimate, yet when you try to pin them down to report them there is nobody in the closet.

The rest of the story is rather boring. I made the mistake to answer one of these emails from ModPilot, naively insisting on "serious inquiries only". There we are, I was taken on for the ride within 24 hours. Very very smart tactics. Be careful: these people are dangerous. They will offer you an open check out with the BBB, for example, knowing that in 90% of the cases, you [I mean not you particularly, but the customer] will decline. They will offer you to sleep over their mortgage modification program just giving you two figures, which even me at the time I knew they pulled out of the blue: for example: "sleep over it and talk to your wife, etc., but these are the figures: 4,000 (that one they got from you), and compare it to $2200 (that they invented from asking you what is your current interest rate and "promising" a reduction of 2%-4% range). You hang-up full of hopes, they say good night and remind you not to forget to the dog about it.

The next day you (I) receive a call asking what the night had provided in terms of good advice. Of course they do not even leave you with the time to wake up. They are ready to go: I am taken to the ModPilot website (really an auto-pilot). Of course I need a credit card. Of course the choice is the most expensive program, the one that "everyone chooses". It always remind me of the waiter in any restaurant recommending the local wine (only one available in the cellar) or whatever using this ultimate authoritative argument: "that's the one I drink myself". Well in that case, how could we not take it ourselves? The problem is that by the time we leave the restaurant and have been a week in bed with food poisoning, there is no one to attest what happened to the waiter... You get the picture.

Dollars $1995.00. "Well Sir, you made a splendid choice. That is the one I made myself 6 months ago, and I do not regret it." Of course, he is only talking about the choice he made to lure so many poor idiots, including myself, I am not ashamed to admit it, in the same scheme. "From now on, you will have a 14/7 one-on-one counselor that will get your loan modified in, ... let's say 6 weeks". Please, PLEASE people and my dear friends, never do believe these scammers: for one, it is illegal to ask money for counseling on a loan modification, unless there is some real service involved, such as that of a skilled attorney who negotiates with your lender. For two, NO ONE in this inductry has ever seen a loan modication approved in less than 3 to 6 months (and if I am wrong, please let me know).

Anyways, let's finish my story. Within a week, I had heard nothing from them. Within 10 days, I had received a package that was indeed intended for me, but with a completely erroneous address [Style Barking Hill, instead of Parkers House, you get the picture]. Within 2 days of receiving the package with a CD with documents that plagiarized what you can find on the website of any lender for free. Within one day after that I called to try to reach my "24/7 personal one-on-one counselor, it was 5 pm on a week day", because I had a question regarding why a family of four would only spend $400/month in food (among a few others). Within 3 days after that, my personal assistant had not replied (I suspect she had a good week end).

Within a few days of the above, I called back the Company (they do answer their phones, one has to admit). Requested a refund, and HAD requested a refund through disputing the charge via my credit card bank weeks before. I was told that Oh, that is so unfortunate, but your are 3 days late from when you received the package, that is our policy". Interestingly, this policy never had appeared when one has to click the button upon the advice of the "instructor for idiots" that guides you for payment instructions.

The BEST of THE BEST of THE BEST of these scammers: for quality assurance and educational purposes reasons, all information I had entered on the website at the time of payment (shall we say scam now, I think that's legitimate), had been erased. Thus I am left with the classic car roundabout with 8 exits all one way-in: I don't have a sales receipt, hence the bank claims they can't do anything even though the charge appears on my statement with clearly the name of the the Company, Mod-Pilot. Without an official receipt, Mr. Banker can't do anything. The receipt has been erased from the website for educational reasons. AND, the imbecile is ME, I concede without inappropriate egotistic attitude.

I am reporting this so that whoever you are, wherever, and no matter how bad your situation is, DO NOT FALL PREY OF THESE SCAMMERS. They call themselves Mod Pilot, My Mortgage Rights, they may be other names. Also VERY IMPORTANTLY, please recognize the warning signs in what I went through and written here. There are dozens of these predators out there.

YOU CAN get a loan modification, and an honest counselor or organization right at your door, in your City, where you live.

Please do not do otherwise.

As for me, I am pursuing my own avenues to modify my loan, and I am trying to recover the money that was stolen from me by Mod Pilot. I am sure we will be OK.