Avoiding & Reporting Mortgage Scams
Reporting Mortgage Scams
- Contact us if you receive suspicious phone calls, letters, or emails—especially those that require payments or changes to your mortgage terms.
- Notify the credit bureaus of strange activity.
- Notify local and federal authorities of any fraud attempts.
Protecting Yourself from Mortgage Scams
Turn on Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for an extra layer of security. This is one of the most important things you can do to secure your account. With MFA enabled, you’ll be required to enter a one-time passcode—sent to you via email or text message—every time you sign in to your account. You can enable MFA for your USAA account on the Settings page.
Create long passwords and make sure they’re strong. One way to ensure your password is difficult to crack is to use at least 12–16 characters, with a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters (if allowed). You can also use a passphrase that’s long and easy to remember but misspell a word and use a number and a symbol for extra strength. Example: ILoveAllDogsThat4$Berk
Stay on guard. Today’s scammers are sophisticated and can use tools like artificial intelligence, fake websites, and elaborate letters and contracts to trick you. They may also disguise their email addresses and phone numbers with legitimate looking numbers and addresses to lure you in.
Avoiding Mortgage Scams
“Free” Money (Offers to Make Payments for You)
- Mortgage payments on your behalf in exchange for partial reimbursement.
These scams involve third parties making bogus payments to your account, which end up being rejected as non-sufficient funds. Though they may show you “proof” of their payment, it would only be in process (but not settled).
- Example: A scammer posing as a representative of a mortgage assistance program or deceased relative’s estate tells you a $50,000 mortgage payment will be made on your behalf but you will need to wire $5,000 back.
- Escrow overage checks that require you to send funds back.
These scams involve convincing you to deposit a fraudulent check (exposing your banking information) and to send some of those funds to the scammer via a wire service, gift cards, etc.
Incorrect Company Information (phone, email, etc.)
Contact phone numbers that do not begin with a toll-free area code (e.g., 800, 855, 866, etc.).
We never provide personal or cell phone contact numbers in official communications related to homeowner assistance.An email address that doesn’t end in our domain of “@home.usaa.com.”
Some scams may use our logo and font styles to appear legitimate, but there will always be some kind of incorrect information listed. Also watch for red flags like misspellings.
Payment Requests
Requests to make payments with “unconventional” methods. These may include:
- barcodes sent via email or text message asking you to pay through Walmart, Green Dot, MoneyGram, or Western Union;
- prepaid/”Green Dot” debit cards; or
- wires to an individual (rather than USAA).
You can always review our official payment method options. If a requested method doesn’t exactly match one on the list, please contact us immediately.
Requests for up-front or advance payment to begin the modification, refinancing, or reinstatement application process. We never charge fees for applying or approving loan modifications.
Advice to start making payments to any third party instead of us for any reason.
Missing Payments
- Payments you’ve been making that you were led to believe were going toward a trial or modification agreement but we have no record of them.
Please contact us as soon as possible so we can research the issue.
Personal Information
- Lists your full Social Security Number in communications.
We will never list your full Social Security Number in communications.
Pressuring or Aggressive Tone
Threats of foreclosure or eviction if funds are not paid “immediately.”
Pressure to make commitments to things you don’t fully understand.
Be especially careful if you’re pressured to sign over your deed or sign any paperwork you haven’t had a chance to fully review and ask questions about.
Suspicious or “Too good to be true” Modification Agreements
A trial or modification agreement from the “Underwriting Department.”
Our underwriting department never sends notifications directly to members.A trial or modification agreement with extremely low interest rates, well below industry standards.
A loan modification agreement that was not received from a verified USAA source.
The phrases “government approved” or “official government” in descriptions of loan modification offers.
Government agencies like HUD, and government sponsored entities like Fannie Mae, will never contact you to offer you a loan modification or to make a payment.
