t’s the untold mortgage crisis– homeowners who get scammed while trying to keep their homes out of foreclosure.

In St. Louis, Friday, officials with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the Federal Trade Commission, and attorneys general from Missouri and Illinois kicked-off an initiative to prevent loan modification scams. Julie Stackhouse is senior vice-president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Stackhouse said, “Foreclosures are now approaching an all-time high of nearly 8-percent.”

That has created an environment ripe with opportunity for scam artists.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said, “What they say to people is ‘We understand that you’re struggling, that you want to save your home, and we’re experts. We can work with your lender.’”

Madigan said it’s a lie.

“I have never seen a legitimate, for-profit loan modification service,” she added. “The vast majorityof these scammers do absolutely nothing that they promise to do. So they don’t contact the lender, they don’t get a modification on your mortgage, and they don’t represent you in court. So whether these folks call themselves ‘loan mod consultants’ or mortgage rescuers, these are totally con artists. And they are nothing more than opportunistic predators.”

Full story is available on KSDK.com