With many borrowers already or starting to get behind on payments, their desperation of avoiding foreclosure leads to them trying anything to prevent it. Desperation levels run in correlation with scamming activity, aka the more desperate people are, the more eager unethical people will be to try and take advantage of them.

Marietta Rodriguez, the director of National Home Ownership Programs, which is part of NeighborWorks America, commented that "The challenge used to be to encourage people to reach out for help,..."That's not the message anymore. Now it's borrower beware." Many companies that advertise foreclosure prevention/assistance, charge up front, or have hidden fees, and end up doing little in return for the struggling borrower. Says Rodriguez, "There are many rescue scams that are after your business,...They're guaranteeing something they can't and charging a lot. Even the legitimate for-profit services demand a high pay-out up front."

Some important questions to ask before blindly using an outside company to “help” you are the following:

How much will the service cost? Foreclosure-prevention counseling should not have a price. Austin Kin, spokesman for Acorn (a community organizer) says that any company charging for prevention assistance is “profit driven, not mission driven, and they can charge up to a couple of thousand dollars for doing an hour's work." Acorn and similar organizations, such as HUD, do not charge as they are funded by the government and lenders.

How long has the company/organization been working with foreclosure prevention? Check up on their history. Do they know what they are doing? A long work history is defiantly a more positive sign, as it shows experience and quality.

Do they have a connection with your lender/servicer and their mortgage-modification department? In order to truly help you in preventing foreclosure, they will need to work closely with your lender. Also, if they have already worked with your servicer before, they will be more aware of how best to work with said lender to get a good deal for you. Of course, don´t just take their word for it, check up on their working history with your lender: see if there is a written agreement or ask for a name to call for reference. Also, if they are able to work with your lender/servicer, how close is their connection; the higher the connection, the more secure that your new loan will be to your benefit and get approved.

If you work with this company, will you have one main case worker? Will they be with you from step A to Z? If you are going to get passed around from case worker to case worker, no one will be fully prepped on your situation and mistakes could get made and time could drag on, meaning perhaps more fees.

If all of the above adds up to a reasonable amount of yes´s then, that is a good sign. However, that does not necessarily mean that you will be successful. There may be no way to assist, if the you, the borrower´s situation, involves job loss, no income, etc. It might be better to cut your losses. According to Rodriguez, people must go with "the least amount of collateral damage," A well prepped foreclosure prevention counselor will be able to advise you which way to go is the best for you, be it a new loan, or actually foreclosing.