Protecting Carrington Customers Against Mortgage Fraud
Valued Customers,
Scammers are preying on homeowners applying for forbearance or a loan modification. To protect you, we want to provide you with information that can help you recognize a mortgage assistance relief scam.
If you receive a phone call, letter, text message or email regarding your mortgage which appears to be suspicious, especially those that require up-front payments or changes to your mortgage terms, please call us right away at (800) 561-4567. We’ll check our records and let you know if it’s legitimate or not.
Here are a few common “red flags” that indicate a communication is likely a scam:
- Unfamiliar Numbers or Communications. Don’t answer calls or text messages from unfamiliar numbers. We will never communicate with you via text message to explain relief options, and we will never conceal our caller ID. If you do receive a text message or blocked phone call, please contact us.
- Call Spoofing. Watch out for “call spoofing”—scammers can disguise their caller ID numbers and hide behind legitimate company numbers.
- Personal Information. Hang up immediately if an automated call asks you to enter personal information, like your loan number, date of birth, social security number (or last 4 digits)—Carrington will never ask for this information in an automated call.
- Calls from Carrington. If you accept a call that sounds like it’s from Carrington, take time to confirm it’s us. If in doubt, hang up and call us back on a verified number.
- “Too Good to be True” Offers. If you’re being told that you’ll have a surprisingly large payment reduction or any other offer that may sound too good to be true, please reach out to Carrington on a verified number to confirm the offer.
- Unsolicited Offers to Modify a Loan. If you didn’t make a request to modify your loan and someone reached out to you, it may be a scam. Some investors have outreach programs, but it’s always best to call us to confirm the legitimacy of the offer. Learn more here.
- Trial Modification from Underwriting. A trial or modification agreement from the “Underwriting Department.” None of our Loss Mitigation offers will come from “Underwriting Department” as the signature line in any notifications sent directly to customers.
- Unconventional Payment Methods. Requests to make payments with “unconventional” methods. These may include a prepaid/”Green Dot” debit card, “American Express serve card”, “American Bluebird”, or a Western Union/MoneyGram wire to an individual (rather than Carrington). Don’t trust reloadable cards (like MoneyPak or Reloadit) and gift cards (like iTunes or Google Play). You can always review our official payment method options. If a requested method doesn’t exactly match one on the list, please call us immediately.
- Up-Front Payments. Requests for up-front or advance payments to begin the modification, refinancing, or reinstatement application process. We never charge fees just to apply for a loan modification, and we never charge a fee to approve a loan modification.
- Strange Requests. Requests to start making payments to any third party instead of Carrington for any reason.
- Feeling Pressured. Pressure to make any commitments you don’t fully understand, send money quickly or decide in a short timeframe. Be especially careful if you’re pressured to sign over your deed or sign any paperwork you haven’t had a chance to fully review and ask questions about.
- The phrases “government approved” or “official government” in descriptions of loan modification offers.
- Don’t deposit a check and wire money back. By law, banks must make funds from deposited checks available within days, but uncovering a fake check can take weeks. If a check you deposit turns out to be a fake, you can be responsible for repaying the bank.
Sign up for free scam alerts from the FTC at ftc.gov/scams. Get the latest tips and advice about scams sent right to your inbox.
For additional resources on COVID-19 related scams, please use the resources below:
