pplprincess
08-16-2007, 11:58 AM
Ameriquest Mortgage company. A fraud?
I wanted to share this with all of you so that you know whats going on. It completely shocked me that business could do this.
In business week I just read an article stating that Ameriquest loan officers in the Brooklyn NY branch 'coerced Overton into signing a loan. Unbeknownst to Ms. Overton, Ameriquest created fake tax returns, employment records, and a 401(k)- to make it apear that the loan was affordable.'
Ms. Overton is an little old lady who collects social security.
The FBI stated that the industry fraud hit a record $1billion in 2006 with brokers and underwriters accounting for 80% of it. The true levevl of fraud will be closer to $6Billion.
Ameriquest did forgive Ms.Overton's loan and was sited as saying 'This is an unfortunate situation where a rogue former employee conspired to take advantage of Ameriquest and Ms. Overton.'
There have even been cases where lender fraud involved forged signatures and other deceptive practices.
For instance,
There was instance that showed a woman named Lorna Reddy, a 38 year old salesperson, who noticed that her interest rates and payment were higher then what she had agreed to. She resceduled an appointment to take care of and sort out the numbers but, before she got there she recieved a package in the mail. The package contained paperwork with signed laon documents from her lender, Fifth Third Bancorp, that showed her annual income inflated by $20,000, that she was married, and included a forgery of her signature.
The most common fraud is faking a borrowers accounting for 25% of all incidents.
Fraud like this has been made easier by the new breed mortgages called 'stated income' where lenders just check your source of income and not how much is actually coming in.
60% of stated income laons had exaggertated the borrowers income by more then 50%
There was even a case where a woman getting a loan provided all of her income information and the borker firm blacked out the ammount on her social security benefits letters. Noone ever asked her, or lookied into it with Social Security. Now the only thing this lady can afford to pay is the interest.
What do you think this will mean for loan companies as a whole?
Will this create more laws for brokers to follow? Does this mean nothing?
What will happen to the people who have had fraud committed againt them by these companies?
You would think that companied would be required to validate the ammount of income that you have before they can approve a mortgage.
This is one of the many reasons I am SO glad I have prepaid legal. At least I know that my lawyers are looking through any document before I sign myself away.
Liz
I wanted to share this with all of you so that you know whats going on. It completely shocked me that business could do this.
In business week I just read an article stating that Ameriquest loan officers in the Brooklyn NY branch 'coerced Overton into signing a loan. Unbeknownst to Ms. Overton, Ameriquest created fake tax returns, employment records, and a 401(k)- to make it apear that the loan was affordable.'
Ms. Overton is an little old lady who collects social security.
The FBI stated that the industry fraud hit a record $1billion in 2006 with brokers and underwriters accounting for 80% of it. The true levevl of fraud will be closer to $6Billion.
Ameriquest did forgive Ms.Overton's loan and was sited as saying 'This is an unfortunate situation where a rogue former employee conspired to take advantage of Ameriquest and Ms. Overton.'
There have even been cases where lender fraud involved forged signatures and other deceptive practices.
For instance,
There was instance that showed a woman named Lorna Reddy, a 38 year old salesperson, who noticed that her interest rates and payment were higher then what she had agreed to. She resceduled an appointment to take care of and sort out the numbers but, before she got there she recieved a package in the mail. The package contained paperwork with signed laon documents from her lender, Fifth Third Bancorp, that showed her annual income inflated by $20,000, that she was married, and included a forgery of her signature.
The most common fraud is faking a borrowers accounting for 25% of all incidents.
Fraud like this has been made easier by the new breed mortgages called 'stated income' where lenders just check your source of income and not how much is actually coming in.
60% of stated income laons had exaggertated the borrowers income by more then 50%
There was even a case where a woman getting a loan provided all of her income information and the borker firm blacked out the ammount on her social security benefits letters. Noone ever asked her, or lookied into it with Social Security. Now the only thing this lady can afford to pay is the interest.
What do you think this will mean for loan companies as a whole?
Will this create more laws for brokers to follow? Does this mean nothing?
What will happen to the people who have had fraud committed againt them by these companies?
You would think that companied would be required to validate the ammount of income that you have before they can approve a mortgage.
This is one of the many reasons I am SO glad I have prepaid legal. At least I know that my lawyers are looking through any document before I sign myself away.
Liz