Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud Information

 

Real estate loan fraud is a problem! The number of suspected fraudulent real estate loan transactions has increased 500% in the past 3 years.

According to the FBI, 80% of all mortgage fraud involves a real estate insider (Agent, Appraiser, Mortgage Broker, Loan Originator, or Banker). We believe the reason for their involvement is their lack of knowledge about the mortgage process and laws.

 

What is fraud?  A misrepresentation that results in someone making a decision based on the bad information.  If the misrepresentation alters a decision, then misrepresentation becomes fraud, a state and federal crime punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.

This site will list common mortgage fraud scams, provide education and where to complain.  Hopefully with education your town may avoid declining real estate values and friends going to jail.

To the professionals who understand the depth of the problem and are trying to do the right thing, hang on, help and hope are coming. Recently a series of new laws, enforcement tools and a group of intelligent dedicated people have been trained to help combat this massive problem.

The multiple contributors, to this site, have been involved in real estate or law enforcement for decades and have been striving to create new laws that will help guide mortgage and real estate professionals to a better way of business. The people behind this site are true professionals - law enforcement officers, prosecutors, lawyers, real estate agents, appraisers, bank compliance officers, and educators - all of which want to help stop the mortgage fraud problem.

 

If you need to learn about:

  • foreclosure "rescue" scams
  • loan modification rip-offs
  • issues with short-sales
  • mortgage "elimination"
  • straw buyers
  • investors receiving cash back after closing
  • predatory lending
  • equity skimming or stripping
  • bad appraisals
  • false downpayments
  • down payment assistance programs
  • is it legal to include a car with the house loan (no)
  • property flipping
  • fraud indictments

This is the place to start your research.  Welcome to real estate and mortgage fraud information.

 

Loan Modification - Short-Sale - Foreclosure Assistance Scams

People and companies offering "loan modification" Short-Sale or Foreclosure "Assistance" for money are often not providing help at all.  Of the dozens upon dozens of companies we have looked at, fewer than 1% are legitimate all of the rest ranged from outright scams to illegal operations due to company ignorance about the laws.  So the majority of "services" providers range from felony level scammers to people "without a clue" and a few, very few that actually offered help at a reasonable price.

This link provides a list of people issued ceast and desist letters by the State of California: Link Here

Do you need help?  Start off by going to this government site:  HUD

Hud offers FREE assistance, which is usually better than the for-profit-companies.  While not perfect, and operating slow, HUD assistance may be better than paying a scammer.

HOPE for Homeowners is another HUD site:  Link Here