• advertise over the Internet and in local publications
• distribute flyers
• contact people whose homes appear in the foreclosure notices (they can easily find these notices online or in a local newspaper)
• target specific religious or ethnic groups

If you are facing foreclosure, contact your lender immediately to see if they can help you renegotiate your current loan. Often, the lender is willing to work with the homeowner because they may also lose money if the house goes into foreclosure. You may also contact a lawyer for help.  Click here for a list of foreclosure legal aid providers in New York.

These foreclosure scams often promise to negotiate with your lender, help stop foreclosure by filing for bankruptcy or help make it easier to make payments by asking you to sign over your house to them and make smaller rental payments to them until you can afford to buy the house back later. They will then file for bankruptcy without following through with it, which allows foreclosure proceedings to continue so you may still lose your house and have a bankruptcy listed in your credit history for years.

If you think an individual or company is running a mortgage foreclosure scam, you may file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). If you think an individual or company is running a mortgage foreclosure scam that involves bankruptcy, you may contact the local office of the U.S. Trustee Program.

Additional Resources:

• Help for homeowners in foreclosure
• What to do when you can’t afford your mortgage
• Home equity theft and foreclosure scams
• Other NY foreclosure resources

**Thank you to USA.Gov for the information on this blog post**

Shred Fest is a free annual City event to help New Yorkers prevent identity theft. At Shred Fest you can:

Click here to view the list of Shred Fest locations and download the flyer which is in English and Spanish.

• Shred papers containing your personal information safely using shredding trucks at one of 14 locations throughout the City.

• Get DCA’s free identity theft prevention tips.

As an added bonus, Staples will be donating a free paper shredders to the first four people to arrive with their personal papers at each Shred Fest location.

• Bank statements that are at least one year old and do not contain tax-related information
• Pay stubs (only after you receive your Form W-2)
• Credit card applications
• Any documents that contain any of the following personal information: your Social Security Number, account numbers, password/PIN information, birth date, private contact information, and signature

Note: Shredding trucks cannot shred the following items: books; old toys; electronics; wet paper; any item that is not paper. Please do not bring these items to Shred Fest.

It will take time to figure out which individuals are eligible for help from the settlement. If you are eligible, you should receive a letter in the next 6 to 9 months.

In the meantime, you can learn about the National Mortgage Settlement from its website, including

• Who is eligible for help?
• The details of the settlement
• Scams related to the settlement

The settlement will provide assistance for eligible

• Homeowners needing loan modifications
• Borrowers who are current, but underwater and in need of refinancing.
• Borrowers who lost their homes to foreclosure.

Learn more about the National Mortgage Settlement.

Thank you to USA.Gov for this information.

Since its inception in 2007, the Veterans Crisis Hotline has received more than 500,000 calls.  Veterans and their loved ones can call 1-800-273-8255 and Press 1, chat online, or send a text message to 838255 to receive confidential support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

To learn about other services and assistance available for veterans and their loved ones in New York click here: NY Veterans Help Information.

To help meet the need, A2J programs were designed to help litigants in housing, divorce, paternity, small estates, probates, name changes, and on and on, when these litigants do not have an attorney to help them with their case. The program’s beauty is in its simplicity. A2J asks the user a series of simple questions in plain language about their case. The program uses the responses to populate a form for the litigant to give to the judge, file with the clerk, or generally use to help his or her case.

It’s also free. It can help unrepresented litigants save their housing from eviction, settle a claim in surrogate’s court, or help with child support orders.

In recent years, studies have shown that legal service providers have been unable to serve around 75% of the people that request assistance due to only a lack of funding.  Technology has been at the forefront of increasing low-income, limited English proficiency (LEP) speakers, and other vulnerable populations access to justice. Access to justice is the concept that one’s income, location, education level, or ability to speak English should not negatively impact one’s civil court case. A poor outcome in this type of court case could have serious implications, such as loss of housing, income, or other necessary services.

For a list of A2J program that can help you complete court paperwork click here: New York A2J Programs.

This year’s Citizenship NOW! call-in is being held from April 23 to 27, and hundreds of volunteers will be on-hand throughout the week to answer any immigration questions for free.  The 10th annual Citizenship NOW! initiative is also supported by media partner Univision 41 and sponsors: Cisco, BlueWater, a Presidio Company, AILA, the Legal Aid Society, WADO 1280, La Que Beuna and Gristedes.

Have an immigration question?  Call Citizenship Now!

For English, call: (212) 857-6221, or for Spanish, dial: (212) 857-6225. For the hearing-impaired the TTY/TTD number is 212-221-2465.

Last week several news headings mentioned that Healthy NY was “closing its rolls” and is no longer accepting new enrollees.  Although, Healthy NY is not ending, it did cut services as a result of rising health care costs, flat funding, and high number of enrollees.  Health NY reports that beginning January 1, 2012, it would no longer be able to accept new enrollees into its standard plan.  This means, the only program available for new enrollees is their High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP). With HDHP, new enrollees can still access coverage, but will have to pay a higher deductible.

Many feel this change will place another burden on low-income families who will now have to pay $2,400 out of pocket to meet the deductible. Because of limiting health care options in New York, some argue that the state should move quickly to implement the new federal health reform law, which is thought to bring down prices to working families and small businesses.

Follow the links below for more information:

Information on how to apply to Healthy NY’s HDHP plan.

Information on the rights and options for the uninsured in New York.

Click here for more information about the HEAP program.

If you are collecting unemployment insurance and are only finding temporary or part-time work, you must report any side income you earn while receiving unemployment insurance.  This is important and will prevent you from having your benefits cut off.  To report this information, you must call the Tel-Service Toll-Free number at (888) 581-5812 (if you live outside of NYS, call (888) 864-9920) on a weekly basis.  Even if you work part-time or temporary, you may still qualify for partial benefits.  For example, if you only work three or fewer days in a week, you can still get partial benefits. The law does not consider you unemployed on a day when you spend any time doing:

• temporary work,
• self-employment or free-lance work (even if you
don’t earn anything that day), or
• work or “favors” for a business belonging to a
friend or relative.

If your unemployment benefits have been denied, contact a legal aid program in your area that deals with unemployment issues.  For a list of all New York State Legal Aid Programs that deal with unemployment and public benefits, click here.