Feds Investigating Home Builder Mortgage Programs for Consumer Abuses
Most American home builders don't need new problems at the moment, but they just got one: Federal regulators confirmed last week that they are aggressively investigating allegations that builders around the country are pressuring or requiring purchasers to use their mortgage financing affiliates illegally...In one case, a buyer complained to HUD's "RESPA police" -- its enforcement staff on settlement-related issues -- when a builder offered an "incentive package" of $13.450 for a customized "morning room," but only if the buyer got his mortgage from the builder's affiliated lender.

Mortgage scams increase 35% in first quarter of ’06
The mortgage lending industry is increasingly plagued by fraud, with a growing number of borrowers falsifying bank statements, income-tax returns, credit scores and declarations of debt in order to qualify for a mortgage or get lower interest rates. In the first quarter of this year, U.S. banks reported 35 percent more mortgage fraud than in the same period last year, according to a report published this month by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Be wary when a builder offers a home mortgage
Thinking of buying a new home in this softer market? Chances are your builder is going to try to sell you a mortgage. Builders have long encouraged their customers to use their mortgage affiliate for financing, and not just to make a little extra money. It also gives them control of the transaction, making it less likely that a mortgage snafu will create problems at closing. Now, as sales slow and cancellations rise, builders are increasingly rolling out special deals that may be tied to using their affiliated lender.

Suspected mortgage fraud soaring
The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCen, on Friday released its first report on mortgage loan fraud, which is said to be one of the fastest-growing white-collar crimes in the country. The agency undertook the review after seeing a significant rise in the number of so-called suspicious activity reports - forms most often used to report suspected money laundering - that it received from U.S. banks concerning mortgage loan fraud.The sample of 1,054 reports reviewed by FinCen came from financial institutions in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and American Samoa. The highest incidences of suspected mortgage fraud in 2005 were in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Texas.

2 Arrested In County's Largest Mortgage Fraud Case
Two women are accused of creating a complicated scheme that's forcing several Houstonians towards bankruptcy. KPRC Local 2 investigative reporter Robert Arnold finds that it is the largest case of mortgage fraud the Harris County District Attorney's Office has ever investigated. View Video

Mortgage fraud blamed in more foreclosures
An increase in home foreclosures in the local housing market is revealing a growing number of mortgage fraud cases.

Grand jury to probe mortgage scheme
U.S. Attorney Susan Brooks has begun a probe into a massive mortgage scheme that has roiled a modest Eastside neighborhood and left more than 100 Indianapolis homes in foreclosure.

DA says mortgage scam made of 'straw'
Alaniz is one of at least 20 people who the Harris County District Attorney's Office says were victimized by a mortgage fraud scam that obtained more than $16 million in bad loans. Two Houston women were arrested Tuesday and their homes and offices were searched in connection with the scam, which involved the sale of at least 41 homes in the Houston area, said Bryan Vaclavik, an investigator with the district attorney's Major Fraud Unit.

Three On Your Side: Betting the House: Mortgage Fraud
The FBI says there is an epidemic of elaborate mortgage fraud schemes occuring across the country, even in Mississippi. A federal crackdown has resulted in numerous indictments and guilty pleas.  Sources tell us some in the real estate industry alleged targeted African-American buyers, and made easy bucks in the red hot market.