Foreclosure can lead to desperation. And when you're desperate it's easy to fall victim to a foreclosure scam. The promise to save your home sounds so good. But before you commit to anything, you need to be sure that it is legitimate. Here are a few common foreclosure scams.

One type of scam that is commonly used is to be offered a loan to cover overdue mortgage payments. Now there are legitimate places which will offer this kind of service. But, what may happen if it's a scam is that instead of signing paperwork about the loan, you actually end up signing over title of your property to the lender.

Instead of paying back the loan, the money is going toward rent on your own house, often at a high rate of interest. If it comes to the point where you can't make the payments, you may find yourself evicted.

A second type of "rescue scam" occurs when a homeowner is approached by a company or individual offering to negotiate with the lender on their behalf. Many borrowers are reluctant to talk to their lender about financial problems, so the offer of a middleman can seem welcome.

Be careful about fees for this service and avoid any offers that involve you making payments through them rather than directly to the mortgage company. In a scam, the money you are supposedly paying through this middleman never reaches the mortgage company. Then the company disappears before you can take action to recover your money.

Another scam involves again having a middleman deal with your lender. In this case, the negotiators insist that you do not contact the lender, and that you stop making payments directly. They want you to leave everything to them, even promising no fee unless they are able to stop the foreclosure. Of course, they don't make payments or respond to your lender. Instead they let your home enter foreclosure where they are then in position to buy it at a fraction of its value.

There are many more foreclosure scams operating today. Don't fall victim. The best way to avoid a foreclosure scam is to have your own lawyer check over any paperwork before you sign.