Being in the mortgage industry for over 30 years, I've seen many scam mortgage companies come and go during the refi boom. The likes of Southern Pacific, Corwest Bank, UPAM, Etc. I worked for them all. I even acted as a outside title agent and closed loans as a notary for some off these companies.
I've seen inside processor's cut and paste, make up income documents, and insert signature's at will. I've known and seen appraiser's inflate appraisal's and loan officer's that beat them up verbally to do so. All in the name to make quota's and increase pipelines.
A very unstable environment and the land of unprofessional double talker's and sales people. The term "loan officer" is a joke. Now with the licensing and regulations to be individually licensed has cleaned up some of the industry in Illinois. The problem is the business that is already on the books is a mosh pit of fraud. The brokers and retailer's even now hire loan officers without licenses and just use someone else's license in the office to book the loan.
I myself have fallen victim to Ameriquest, even with all the knowledge and experienced I have. It was Christmas 3 years ago. My spouse and I did a refi through Ameriquest (I knew the manager). He came to the closing table in the office (no title agent) and had us sign doc's. The doc's were funky and wrong product. I made him rip them up and make new to sign. We signed the second set and left the office.
After we recieved the funds from the title company 5 days later, I recieved the first set of doc's in the mail with our signatures on them. Photo copies only. I hit the roof and made some very noisy calls to no avail. The office was closed down and everyone was gone. More calls. No response. The dilemma being if I made a payment, I would admit to taking the loan, which I did not want to do.
I paid anyway and pursued filing a complaint with the attorney general (which is actually a dead end). Made more calls for attorney's (private) very few around that specialize in these matters, even in Chicago. Nothing but frustration there.
Months go by, correspondance fly's back and forth. No one listens, many hang up calls, foreclosure starts and I keep my funds in a special account. We file a joint BK (13) to reach the courts and dispute the balance, loan doc's, and the whole transaction. Back and forth in the chap 13 case with Ameriquest's attorneys. They are slow in answering my dispute to the courts. Not wanting the case to continue or stay active, we have it dismissed. This only prevented them from putting the house in the sale. Which was extreme on my part to do, but I had no alternative.
We pay $27,000 in payments to Ameriquest in one lump sum and they misapply the funds and put the money in suspense. They can't find it for 6 months and do not respond to correspondance. House goes back into the sale, we are forced to file another BK (13) to prevent sale. This is accomplished again.
The attorney's for Ameriquest never file a claim, go through with the sale, but my attorney makes them reverse the sale. Safe again, temporarily. Ameriquest attorney's tells the judge that they have had problems with this client (Ameriquest) before.
The Ameriquest attorney's now through the new BK has to find the money that was paid to Ameriquest. They drag their feet and finally state they found it, but applied in one lump sum agaist late charges and fees, instead of payments. All this takes place over a 3 year period of time.
I'm well documented, copies of all correspondance, copies of cashiers checks, Bad paper work and from what I found out from the processor that worked at Ameriquest I ran into at a Christmas party of a new mortgage company that she now worked (I never forget a face) that she routinely switched doc's and the manager routinely changed paystubs on his computer. She thought she was talking to another LO. I was infuriated, told my "buddy" who was the manager at her new company and she was eventually terminated after he looked into some of the stuff she had already done there.
THIS IS WHAT THESE COMPANIES LIKE AMERIQUEST BREED. She and other Ameriquest employees actually think this is acceptable practice. The industry, the system, the courts, attorney generals, all move too slowly to catch all the fraud. Sure they make some examples of some companies and individuals here and ther, but, so many families are ignored, go unhelped, and lose their homes. Very hard issue to find help, lot's of work involved, and you just run out of time, money, patirnce, and brain cells.
Like everything, when these individuals and/or companies violate the law, the process for a consumer to do anything is extremely hard, unknown territory, and compensation is minimal.
The laws are complex and attorney will bleed you with no guarantees. I eventually went ProSe filing lawsuits and making motions and amendments on my own (once I figured out the game).
I'm back in court on Weds. Fighting for the house and some satisfaction from the fraud, the outrageous adjustable rate, and keeping my home. SOME OF these Ameriquest or braker LO's that respond here are wrong. Yes, the public does not know about value of appraisals, DTI's, LTV's, paperwork and the like.
Should we be smarter and more knowledgeable?
Identity theft, switch and bait, trust in the LO that tells you something "don't worry, I'll take care of it"! All these things that the ignorant or uneducated (even educated) consumer get's caught up in. When a criminal wants to steal, he will have it figured out no matter what security you have to prevent it. I've seen it, experienced it, and lived it!
Unfortunately the Government give's these multi billionaire companies a forum and industry to do their dirty work. The almighty tax dollar, shoulder rub'n politician, wins out in the end. Ameriquest should settle with all these people for 50% of the balance of what these people owe, put them in decent rates, and take it from there. The Government, legal system, should make them do so.
Lower the delinquency rate, foreclosure rate, own up to there dishonest culture they provided thousands of employees and make restitution to thousands of Americans that lost their American dream of owning a home. Families have split apart, health has been affected, and I'm sure in the long run lives have been ruined forever.
What is the compensation for that?
Yes, filing BK was extreme, ruining your credit score is unfortunate, but to get into the court system to address the fraud and prevent a sale was all that could be done. Ameriquest still would not produce original doc's or the income doc's that were submitted on the loan. I signed for a 7.5% 2/28 and ended up with a 9.0% 2/28. My income doc (1099) was replaced with a higher amount by the manager to qualify and the appraisal was increased 20K. The appraiser is no longer licensed in Illinois.
I got out of the industry because these practices were constant and accepted everywhere. The Bank's no longer pay salaries only commission, and the brokers pay you only if you have business.
What the hell kind of profession is that and what do you think a LO would do to feed their family? Years ago it was much different with decent salaries, true titles and experience with ethics were required. The regulating agencies are blind and just a front for a "nonsense approack" to successfull careers.
It's not common sense, it's dollars and cents!
LO's should "not" be sales people! They should be salaried loan officers with the ability to say "no", not yes! And try to do something with every application. If you don't lower the rate, lower the payment, and decrease debt, then the loan should be left alone. If you do otherwise, the fee's should be minimal, the points should be non existant and the payment should be fixed. Wake up industry! Stop the predatory sales approach to product that is for profit and not for common sense lending thought process.
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