Foreclosure Helpers and the Direct Mail Spam Campaign

One of the most common complaints of foreclosure victims is the enormous amount of mail that they seem to get from individuals and companies all over the country. Many of them offer to buy the house for bottom dollar, while others provide various mortgage help services to homeowners in danger. But the sheer volume of this type of mail is often very disconcerting to homeowners, who begin to believe that everyone in the country knows they are in foreclosure, and soon everyone on their block will know, as well. Getting the flood of postcards to stop, though, is much easier said than done.

As a small consolation, though, most of the general public is not going to read any one particular foreclosure victims' mail. Most people, even neighbors down the block, could care less if a particular homeowner in foreclosure or not. Furthermore, in the worst housing markets of the country, many homeowners in the community will be receiving the same types of mail, since many of the residents will be facing their own foreclosures. But even in the most insulated housing markets, where few foreclosures are being pursued, the average person has no interest in reading another's mail; there is simply too much junk mail of their own to keep up on, let alone making a habit of reading others' junk mail.

Also, even people who are not in foreclosure or own a home get postcards about various methods they may have available to stop foreclosure, applying for credit cards, getting out of debt, getting a new car loan, going to college for free, and any number of financial offers. Any particular homeowner will not be the only person in the city getting this kind of bulk mail, but they may just happen to be in foreclosure at the time of getting the mail. This is unfortunate, but does not change the fact that foreclosure mail spammers will send out their propaganda to everyone that they can, in order to have the highest response rate to their mailings.

Anyone who wants to know about a particular property being in foreclosure can find out in numerous other, more effective, less time-consuming, less illegal ways than reading every homeowners' mail. The filing of the foreclosure lawsuit is in the public records kept by the county, and anyone in the world can call the sheriff's department or the county clerk and ask about the status of a piece of real estate. These callers will be told that the property is currently in the foreclosure process, and they can also be told by the courts who is the defendant in the case (the homeowners) and who is the plaintiff (the bank), as well as the attorneys representing each party. So the information relating to the foreclosure status is not at all secure to begin with.

The only realistic chance of stopping the flood of postcards and offers of help is for the homeowners to try sending these places back their mail unopened or with a big "Return to Sender" mark on it. That may cut down on the mail they are receiving, although new mailers will be sent out even long after the foreclosure victims have left the house. Alternatively, they can call the numbers on the mail and tell these investors and companies to stop sending out the information. But it is not wrong for them to point out a condition of the property that is public knowledge, nor are these types of mailings illegal in any sense. They may be irritating and embarrassing, but they are just a minor part of the foreclosure process that must be dealt with.

Original article: Tons of Mail and Postcards from Foreclosure Spammers