Kathy Moseley thought she got a bargain. Low on cash after a long illness, she had been searching for a way to cut monthly payments on the Essex row house where she and her two children live.

Moseley found what she was looking for in June 2006 when she refinanced her fixed-rate mortgage with a loan that would give her some cash to pay bills but would keep her $726 mortgage payment the same. Now she?s afraid she?ll lose the home.