can the sites that claim they can stop foreclosure really do it or are they all scams?

Answer 1

A lot of them will actually do it but the fees you pay will be insanely high. The short-term lenders that focus on people who are already behind in their bills write their loans so that it's almost impossible to keep up with them. I'd recommend you be very cautious when dealing with any of these companies, read the fine print about 20 times, and ask the lender what will happen to you if you get behind in paying them AND what happens if you pay them back early. Some have prepayment penalties of thousands of dollars so you end up either living with the loan-shark interest or paying $20k for settling up early, and neither one of these is a good idea.

Some of the "stop forclosure" sites also stop the forclosure by buying your house from you. Usually they offer you far less than the home is worth and it's not a good deal for you. You do get to preserve your credit but you end up selling for a lot less than you can get from a private buyer. If you have no other options, it's definitely better to sell the home and pay off the bank note than it is to go into forclosure; either way you won't have the home any more but at least when you sell, you can try to end up with the most favorable selling price and maybe some money in your pocket. If you have to sell, get a local realtor that specializes in quick sales. You will probably have to list the house for below market value but it will still get you more than selling to some of those services.

Answer 2

In most occassions they don't. They either are loan sharks or they want to buy your house below market value and may leave you with some of the mortgage behind. So you need to contact your lender for other options.