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Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - Protecting Your Identity and Business

Did you know that as soon as you pull a mortgage credit report for your borrower, the information is instantly sold to lead generating sites that these are people who are in the market to finance a house?

It’s hard to believe that the people you are paying to order the credit reports are turning around and selling your borrower off as a “hot lead!”

It’s true.  While the data you’ve collected about the loan application is not shared with the lead sites, the borrower’s name and contact information are sold.

You need to educate your borrowers and let them know that they may receive lots of enticing calls for mortgages and they should BEWARE.  I’ve heard countless stories from loan officers that lost applicants because the borrower got a phone call from someone who bought the lead and turned around and promised a drastically lower rate and/or fees.

Unfortunately, by the time the borrower gets to the closing table, the deal is never what was promised.

As if that wasn’t enough, people also can be victimized by identity theft this way.  When they entered into the application with you, the borrower knew and trusted you with their private identity information.  However, they can get suckered into the process with someone who they don’t know or trust and that person could steal their identity.  It has happened!

The best way to have your identity and borrower protected is to have them opt out of unsolicited credit card and mortgage offers, and to take their name off of direct marketing lists.

They can log on to www.optoutprescreen.com  or call 1-888-5-OPTOUT.

You should too!

By the way, this also happens when you order a payoff.  The lender that's being paid off is instantly triggered that the loan is being refinanced and they will call your borrower to entice them to stay with them and they have a lot deeper pockets than you do. 

Lesson here, don't order payoffs until just before closing!
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Tuesday, October 10, 2006 - Ameriquest to Disperse $325M Settlement

Anyone involved in a mortgage loan with Ameriquest between Jan. 1, 1999, and Dec. 31, 2005, can now call a toll-free number or go online to claim their piece of the settlement pie.

For more information, visit the official site created by the independent company hired to handle the settlement for Ameriquest, visit:

http://www.ameriquestmultistatesettlement.com/

You can also download the 55 page PDF copy of the Settlement to read. 
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Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - MORTGAGE FRAUD: Avoid becoming a victim

“The average homeowner does not know that 7500-10,000 new loan applications every business day has some type of mortgage fraud involved.

(EMAILWIRE.COM, September 11, 2006 )   Atlanta , GA - www.preventmortgagefraud.com most frequent web site questions is “What can I do to protect myself from being a victim of mortgage fraud at the closing?”

“The average homeowner does not know that 7500-10,000 new loan applications every business day has some type of mortgage fraud involved. We have 2 main types of mortgage fraud, Soft Fraud and Hard Fraud.” Says Michael S. Richardson author of “An American Epidemic, Mortgage Fraud a Serious Business”.

The FBI also has stated that about 80% of the fraud committed in these loans is done by insiders of the industry. The fraud rings operating around the country can involve one or all of the following people, your loan officer, real estate agent, title or closing agent, the appraiser and yes the homeowner as a victim. These fraudsters are very convincing using words like “This is done all the time”, “No one will ever catch us”, “and we have never had a problem closing this type of loan before”. “These are the people that you need to beware of” says Richardson .

The homeowner needs to make sure that they understand the terms of the mortgage applied for and more importantly approved for. Be sure to bring all your original loan information with you to the closing so that you can compare the list of loan terms, the loan type and the interest rate information on that you had applied for is what you are signing.

You should want to always have a chance to review your HUD 1 settlement statement prior to attending the closing and at the same time confirm with the closing agent what your interest rate and loan terms are before driving to the closing. This will allow you to review the closing figures and confirm your interest rate without the pressure you have at the closing table to complete the transaction. You should insist on this even if it means delaying the closing for a day. The fraudsters have a strong way of pressuring you to close and they will take care of it later. Do not do this as you cannot reverse the transaction after the closing and funding of your loan, no matter what anyone tells you.

You need to make sure the name, address and social security number, credit, and employer on your application is all yours and matches the original loan application. If anything has been changed in the documents, or any of the information used to approve your loan is not you’re while you are at the closing table you should have the closing delayed and refuse to sign until you can have the information corrected. If you were to sign these documents with incorrect information you could be considered one of the fraudsters. These types of closing have also happened where the fraudsters have taken ownership of your home without you realizing it until months later when you are being evicted from your home.

You should never sign any loan documents that contain blanks. The closing agent should not be notarizing your closing documents if there are blanks. If your documents have blanks you susceptible to mortgage fraud and if the other people at the closing table are encouraging you to sign anyway, walk away from the closing.

You need to make sure you know what you're signing. The closing agent or notary’s role is to be an impartial, third-party witness. They know very little about the details of your loan and most will not be able to answer questions related to the specifics of your loan closing package. If you have any concerns about your loan, these should be clarified with your loan officer or someone you can trust before you sign any your documents. Also make sure to work only with a closing agent and notary who can communicate directly with you in your own language. A lot of mortgage fraud has occurred when the borrower has been dependent on an interpreter who may have a motive for misrepresenting the document during the translation. Also need to make sure you and your closing agent and notary are in the same room at the same time when the document is being signed

Some of the most misunderstood loan and terms have been the 2/28 Arms and the Option Arms. You need to understand there are no 1 ½% loans, these loans are promoted at this rate but in most cases the 1 ½% will only be for the 30 to 90 days and will then adjust to a much higher rate. The 1 ½% rates is a teaser rate to get the phone to ring and the mortgage companies can post larger profits immediately when they close on these types of loans. Remember ARM stands for Adjustable Rate Mortgage, so your interest rate will definitely change at some point. You just need to ask questions until you are clear about the terms of your loan and what happens when your ARM interest rate adjusts.

Unfortunately the “Fraudsters” have many schemes to get your money and or home equity, the fraud schemes are called, property flipping, equity skimming, appraisal fraud, stolen deeds, straw buyers and more. If someone approaches to have you apply for a loan to buy a investment home promising you will make money just to go to closing or even get you a big check after the closing, then the they will pay you money monthly while they rent the house, since they will manage property and need to control the money, buyer beware, really beware! They are using you as a “Straw Buyer” for their fraud scheme. In most of these fraud schemes you will never see the money, you will owe the mortgage, but not own the property as the fraudsters will have you quit claim ownership somehow, and they will ruin your credit along the way.

You need to understand and read the details, if you do not understand the explanation given by the loan officer, then call someone else and get a second explanation if you do not understand. If it seems too good to believe than it most likely is, keep asking until you understand, please! All homeowners need to realize that the “Fraudsters” and all of the fraud schemes have only one concern is to take away your home, your home equity and it they will ruin your credit along the way.

We can stop mortgage fraud one transaction with education and awareness! If you the homeowner refuse to sign the closing papers on the suspicious home loan transactions, then you have done your part to prevent mortgage fraud! After all it is your home, your equity and your credit that you are protecting.

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