The Federal Trade Commission's new loan website Esteemed Lending Services offers "A Loan for every situation. Guaranteed."

However, pay attention now, unlike other websites offering similar come-ons, it's a fake.

The website is a convincing example of how the Obama Administration gets it when it comes to what consumers face in the financial world -- too much bull .

The FTC created the faux website for a fictitious lending company to warn consumers how easy it is to be fooled by scammers, especially online scams charging up-front fees for bogus loans, including mortgages.

The site also explains how to spot and avoid loan scams.

The website is part of the FTC's stepped up consumer education campaign to help consumers manage their money and learn to recognize rip offs.

At Esteemed Lending Services consumers enter the fictitious world of "a guaranteed loan for every situation – regardless of your credit history," only to find a world where:

• Lenders aren't interested in your credit history and claim bad credit isn't a problem. (Honest ones do want to see your credit history and will tell you bad credit can be a problem.)

• Fees aren't' disclosed clearly or prominently. (Honest firms disclose fees. Regulations mandate fee disclosure.)

• Loans by phone are legal. (They aren't.)

• Lenders use copy-cat names that sound like well-known or respected organizations to convince you they're legitimate. (While using variant names isn't necessarily illegal, it is a scamming tactic.)

• Lenders are not registered in your state. (While state registration is not a guarantee for the best loan, it does help weed out the come-ons by giving you a government agency where you can seek redress should a problem arise.)

• Lenders ask you to wire money or pay a specific person. (Don't!)

The FTC explains its ruse with links to "testimonials," "FAQs," "loan programs," and "contact us," all of which point to warnings about scammers masquerading as lenders.

While Esteemed Lending Services isn't particularly loaded with a lot of new information, it is a website that reveals how easy it is to scam consumers. It's also a handy website to use as a reminder of what's out there to take you to the cleaners.

Bookmark it.

A feature of DeadlineNews.Com, "Site To See" reviews are occasional, but timely critiques of content-heavy real estate Web sites deemed unique, consumer-friendly, informative and easy to use.

Published: July 22, 2010

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a 30-year career in old-school journalism into a digital-age news service offering editorial content and related consulting services. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based content provider specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and consulting. An open house for news that really hits home, the DeadlineNews Group includes the umbrella website DeadlineNews.com the flagship blog Deadline Newsroom, and three Examiner.com outposts -- Real Estate News Examiner; Consumer News Examiner; and Offbeat News Examiner. Along with a decade of work here with Realty Times, Perkins also provides content for Silicon Valley based ERate.com and the new AOLNews.com, where now "You've got news....that really hits home." His current work can also be found in Californian publications, the San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco's The Registry and the Salinas Californian. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News, before launching DeadlineNews Group. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Nolo.com among more than four dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins served as chief editorial consultant for "Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home."