Long Island homeowners are pegged to be the guinea pigs for a new $40,000 loan program aimed at stemming foreclosures, but is it a scam? What may be a better choice for locals finding it hard to keep it up with mortgage and property tax payments?
Last month New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the roll out of a new $40k loan under the new ‘New York State Mortgage Assistance Program’. The program which will become available first on Long Island, in September 2014 is being heralded as help for those delinquent on property taxes, mortgage payments and which have incurred other liens which threaten foreclosure.
According to coverage from Long Island Newsday funds for these new home loans will come from NY’s share of the $25B settlement which major banks forked out to avoid fraud charges.
With hundreds of loans being predicted to be made according to the Attorney General’s office this could be a big money maker for the state.
However, few would be blamed for pointing out the irony in this new program. It may not be a ‘scam’ in the purest sense. Yet, there is no doubt something a little off by using funds already supposedly won and paid by banks to help homeowners to make loans, instead of directly passing them on to those in need. Plus, in many cases, this means pushing Long Island homeowners into borrowing more money to pay over billed property tax charges.
In other words if you can’t pay the erroneous bills which threaten to throw your property into foreclosure, and you into the street, the government will loan it to you, from funds that you should already be receiving for being defrauded by the banks.
Many would argue, if not handed out to those in need, this money would be better spent fixing the broken property tax system.
Sadly, the chances of this happening are probably even slimmer than winning the lottery.
Instead get independent help to fight back, and get your personal property taxes corrected now, and avoid borrowing.