Banking Department Warns About Mortgage Marketing
By: Amy Mearkle
Updated: April 20, 2010
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA -- The Pennsylvania Department of Banking is warning consumers about a new wave of misleading marketing tactics designed to entice homeowners into refinancing their mortgages.
The department says some homeowners are receiving letters that appear to be from their own lender or from the federal government and make reference to their home mortgage.
In some cases, they come from a company whose name is mentioned only in fine print on the letter. The homeowner may call the telephone number on the letter thinking they are contacting their own lender or a federal agency only to learn that they are calling a company competing with their lender for business.
Banking Secretary Steve Kaplan called the letters "brazenly misleading" and said they were designed to frighten and confuse consumers. He said they are contacting the offending institutions as well as their marketing companies and ordering them to put an end to this practice. On the web: www.banking.state.pa.us
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