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Report Mortgage Fraud
FBI reports mortgage fraud rose 60% in year
Did your builder offer you incentives to persuade you to use their Mortgage Company and Title Company? Were you charged a high interest rate? Contact us:
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If you have been coerced into using a builder's affiliate, call the RESPA enforcement staff at 202-708-0502 or e-mail
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. For background on RESPA, visit www.hud.gov. KENNETH HARNEY, based in Washington, writes on national housing issues. His e-mail address is
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.
Washington Post: Beware of Builders Bearing Gifts and Pushing Lenders
Builders can't force you to use any particular lender; federal law prohibits it. Nor can they dictate whom you must use for other settlement services, such as the title company or homeowner's insurance provider... Ryland Homes, for example, has an in-house mortgage company, Ryland Mortgage, which deals only with people borrowing to buy a home built by Ryland. Brookfield Homes, the company offering as much as $100,000 in concessions, owns a mortgage subsidiary called the Mortgage Group. Although the law says builders can't force you to use their in-house lenders, nothing says they can't do their best to entice you to keep all your business under their roof. Read more...
Mortgage Financing: Signs Of Predatory Lending
If you're shopping for a home loan, you can save thousands of dollars by being aware of predatory lending practices, in which you're charged too much for your loan or are forced to buy services you don't really need. You can protect yourself by learning to recognize the signs of predatory lending. The Center for Responsible Lending lists seven specific warning signs that consumers should be aware of when applying for a mortgage. Read More...
 ! KB Home Mortgage Scandal
ATTENTION: Check your mortgage ducuments. Are you about to lose your home or have you lost your home due to KB Home loan irregularities?
HUD Audit Report - KB Home Mortgage Failed to Ensure Underwriting Certifications for Federal Housing Administration Loans Were Accurate
Did HUD Ex-Secretary Cisneros Help Mastermind Preditory Lending
"Henry Cisneros on the hot seat”...A predatory lending scheme that many experts predict could eventually lead to the worst recession to hit this county, and possibly the entire financial world...which ultimately compensated him generously... after leaving HUD Cisneros became a KB Home board member as well as a Countrywide board member. He created American City Vista, an affordable housing joint venture with KB Home, as KB Home began construction on the disastrous Mirasol project that cost taxpayers millions, of which $5M is still missing. Read More... Plus: Express-News on the Hot Seat...
A Recipe for enormous profits, defective homes and foreclosure disaster Shoddy or not, for the past ten years homebuilding has remained the chief indicator holding up the economy, and from the President to Congress no one wanted to disrupt the money flow. The result is the homebuilding industry grew more powerful and confident in building defective homes without consequences. Read more...
Understanding Easy Big Money and Kickbacks in Mortgage Lending
A seemingly arcane policy change by mortgage investor Freddie Mac sheds new light on issues of much broader concern for consumers: Do you really understand where the money is flowing -- all the nooks and crannies -- when you take out a mortgage and pay thousands of dollars in fees at settlement? Is anyone required to explain to you what's really going on inside your home loan -- how it works and whether it could morph into something very different? Freddie Mac's policy change announced Feb. 14 affected a dark corner of the mortgage business -- splits of mortgage insurance premiums between lenders and insurers. What? My lender is getting a cut of the premium, you ask -- just as builders and realty brokers are pocketing chunks of my title insurance premiums behind my back? Read more...
Report Mortgage Fraud:
WWW.NAMB.org - National Association of Mortgage Brokers/FBI
With the homebuilders owning their own mortgage companies and choosing their appraisers, creative financing has blossomed.
National Mortgage Fraud Law Firm
- National Law Firm Established to Handle Mortgage Fraud Cases A new national law firm, The American Mortgage Law Group, has been established to focus exclusively on the needs of the mortgage banking industry...
In Texas:
WWW.SML.STATE.TX.US - Texas Department Savings and Mortgage Lending The Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending is an agency of the State of Texas and is subject to the oversight and jurisdiction of the Finance Commission of Texas. The Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending (the Department) accepts signed, written complaints against mortgage brokers, loan officers, mortgage bankers, and state savings banks. File a complaint
Attorney General of Texas - Important Mortgage Fraud Information
Mortgage fraud bilks financial institutions, but it can also be devastating for borrowers and their families. It is, moreover a criminal offense. In 2007 the legislature passed HB 716, that directs the Attorney General to establish a Residential Mortgage Fraud Task Force to investigate and prosecute residential mortgage fraud and the perpetrators of mortgage fraud statewide.
Attention:Texas Attorney General Investigating Washington Mutual
File a complaint with the Texas Attorney General - Hundreds of customers of the mortgage giant complain they are getting socked with unnecessary fees and threats of foreclosure. If you have a complaint against Washington Mutual, you should direct those complaints to the Texas attorney general at 512 463-2100 or www.oag.state.tx.us. Read more...
Learn More: Invaluable Sources of Information on Loan Fraud
Mortgage Servicing Fraud.org This nightmare is orchastrated by a growing number of well-known, corrupt and ruthless mortgage servicers who manufature defaults on perfomring loan to then flood the account with illegal fees strategically designed to STEAL the borrower's equity -- and ultimately the property. In addition, the borrower's credit is destroyed to prevent them from financing with another lender. Read "The Issue".
Mortgage Fraud Blog - Central clearinghouse for information on recent mortgage fraud schemes, indictments and prevention.
 Stop Mortgage Fraud.com See: A Borrowers's Bill of Rights -The Warning Signs of Abusive Lending - Report Abusive Lending
The Mortgage Fraud Blog - For Fraud Prevention Professionals - supported and funded by The Prieston Group. A great source for up to date information.
Prevent Mortgage Fraud - "My story of a being mortgage fraud victim and my courses, in general, are designed to arm you with the tools you’ll need to combat the forces of those who would commit fraud."
FBI Investigation of Mortgage Fraud
THE RISE OF MORTGAGE FRAUD
How It Impacts You
206 FBI indictments/informations (down from 241 in Fiscal Year 2004).
170 FBI convictions (consistent with 172 convictions in Fiscal Year 2004)
$1,014,000,000 (FBI) reported loss (up from $429,000,000 in Fiscal Year 2004.
Read more...
Beazer Homes and Fraud
Insurance Company Seeks Declaratory Judgment that it is not obligated to Defend Beazer Homes in Fraudulent Home Sales
A class action lawsuit has been filed in the Southern District Court of Indiana against Beazer Homes Investment Corporation, Inc. Hanover Insurance Company seeks a declaration that the it is not obligated or required to defend and indemnify Beazer Homes as an insurer because of Beazer's alleged fraudulent activity.Read more...
Reader's Digest - Cheated Out of House and Home
Don't let these scams happen to you!
The term mortgage fraud encompasses a grab bag of cons and tricks, perpetrated on victims ranging from average homeowners to novice real estate investors to savvy bankers and the banks they represent. It is, according to FBI Special Agent Ronda Heilig, "one of the fastest-growing white-collar crimes in the United States." ...Mortgage fraud has been around as long as home loans, but recent trends have made it easier -- and far more lucrative -- to game the system. Here's what's driving the crime spree...Avoid Being Scammed Read more...
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The Birth of Mortgage Fraud Scams Deregulation by HUD – a temptation for the homebuilding industry
A Message from Janet Ahmad
Over the past decade homebuilders have established an affiliation with mortgage institutions and created their own mortgage companies. Using unscrupulous appraisers to inflate values and creative financing techniques, mortgage fraud has flourished, causing home foreclosures rates to skyrocket.
See: HUD's Broken System - Deregulation
Beware of Builder Gifts and Incentives
Builder discounts on the price of the home, washer, dryer, and refrigerator, big screen TV’s and gift cards are the common incentives offered by the builder to entice buyers to use a particular mortgage company that usually charges a higher percentage rate. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't.
Easy to fall victim to scams – “0” Down Lures Buyers – Builders Target and Over-Qualify Naive First-Time Buyers
Most homebuilders have a well-trained staff of professionals who often make it easier to buy a home than obtaining a credit card or a new car. The builders staff does all the work while the buyer’s attention is shifted to the fine details of the more expensive upgrade items, granite counter top, tile, energy savings features and of course the incentive appliances for using the builder’s friendly mortgage company. Concurrently, the friendly and creative financial staff gathers what they refer to as “pre-qualification” information by obtaining credit and income figures from the buyer.
The objective is to skillfully prepare the electronic financial statement for the buyer that will ultimately become buried in the vast paperwork of the “rushed” closing, so as not to draw attention to the inflated figures inserted that incorrectly state the buyer’s income. Routinely, the closing is rushed by over-worked staff of the builder-owned Title Company that dangles the key to the American Dream over the complex stack of papers for homeowners to sign, who are more worried about the furniture in the moving van headed to the house.
If caught, the mortgage company simply directs the blame to the buyer by explaining they only inserted the information that was provided to them. Knowing that the chances of getting caught are slim, builders and their associates simply ignore lending guidelines and over-qualify the buyer. The intent is to sell houses, regardless of the means.
Detecting Mortgage Fraud – Having trouble making your mortgage payment?
Check your closing papers, particularly your financial statement for accuracy of income and net worth.
Foreclosures are at Epidemic Proportions
Mortgage fraud is easily hidden. Homebuilders dismiss the high foreclosure rates in new subdivisions by blaming the economy, higher interest rates, loss of jobs, and then even accuse buyers of greed and overindulgence when buying a new home. See: Foreclosure News
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Foreclosure Reports:
See Special Reports - KB Home Foreclosure Rate More Than Double Other Builders.
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