***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
Date:  October 16, 2009
Media Contact:  Bob Cooper
(208) 334-4112

Attorney General Publishes New Foreclosure Prevention and Home Buying Handbooks

(Boise) – Two new handbooks for homeowners are now available to consumers, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said. The free publications Foreclosure Prevention and Foreclosure Scams: How to Tell the Difference and Buying a Home are available on Wasden’s website.

Foreclosure Prevention and Foreclosure Scams: How to Tell the Difference is a 60-page handbook that walks consumers through the foreclosure process, provides detailed information about how to get free assistance with mortgage modification and current federal programs to assist homeowners facing foreclosure. The manual also describes common foreclosure scams and tells consumers how to identify and avoid foreclosure fraud. The manual updates, expands and replaces Mortgage Fraud and Foreclosure, published by the Attorney General’s Office a year ago.

Buying a Home is a handbook for people interested in buying a home. The 45-page manual provides useful information about preparing to buy a home, finding an appropriate loan, information disclosures and legal safeguards and state and federal laws aimed at protecting home buyers. The handbook also contains a section on mortgage fraud including common fraudulent schemes and how to identify and avoid them.

“These manuals are designed to help Idahoans facing foreclosure in these difficult economic times as well as assist Idahoans interested in purchasing a home avoid the pitfalls that contributed to the housing crisis,” Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said. “The information in these handbooks will be extremely useful to people in either of those situations. A great deal of hard work by the Consumer Protection Division staff, along with valuable assistance from the Idaho Department of Finance, helped create these important additions to our consumer education process.”

The Attorney General’s Office publishes a variety of consumer education handbooks, including the Idaho Consumer Protection Manual, the Senior Citizens Manual, the Young Adult Handbook, Identity Theft, and Credit and Debt. All are available to read or print on the Attorney General’s website.

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