Home equity lending attracts more than its share of schemers and crooks who are literally out to steal your home with misleading sales pitches and scandalous contracts full of hidden terms and fees.

Ignore salesmen who knock on your door, or call on the phone, pushing "special deals" that promise surprisingly big loans and low monthly payments.

Those contracts usually allow these lenders to repeatedly raise interest rates, pushing payments beyond what borrowers can afford. Homeowners are buried in an avalanche of fees and charges the second they're late, driving payments ever higher until they default and lose their home.

Click here to learn more about avoiding predatory lenders.