CORAL GABLES (CBSMiami) – A scam alert for homeowners about the PACE home improvement program.

The program allows you to finance the up-front costs of repairs and then pay them back over time. But what if you find out someone took out that loan in your name, without your knowledge. That’s what one homeowner said happened to her.

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“It felt like I had been financially raped, that’s what it felt like,” said Coral Gables homeowner Mildred Carlo.
She recently became the victim of scammers who took out a PACE home improvement loan against her property without her knowledge.

“I felt like someone had absolutely totally violated me. I was a single mother, I had worked very hard all my life, worked hard to the extent that I don’t have a mortgage on my house,” said Carlo.

But the $18,500 loan taken without Carlo’s permission threatened her desire to leave her family debt free. The money from the loan would have gone directly to a contractor and, according to loan documents, was for work on her air conditioning system.

Loan specialist Jean-Pierre Paul said these types of loans were originally designed to help homeowners complete work without refinancing or pulling out equity.

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“They would set up a PACE loan, let’s say for windows or roof or air conditioning or what have you, they…