Willie Sutton, one of the FBI’s most-wanted bank robbers back in the 30′s, once answered the question of why he robbed banks by saying, “That’s where the money is.”
Over the last several years in this state, as home prices surged and the family home became the single largest asset most Florida families owned, more and more modern-day Willie Suttons took notice. Where was the money? In homes and home loans. And so that’s where the criminals went.
Mortgage brokers – the people who introduce borrowers and lenders to each other – must be licensed by the state of Florida. In theory, felons should not to be able to get mortgage broker licenses. But as the Miami Herald found out, in far too many cases, they do.
When Scott Almeida walked out of federal prison and into the mortgage business, he took a gamble. He admitted on his license application that he had been convicted of cocaine trafficking.
Florida regulators — responsible for protecting borrowers from predatory brokers — could have rejected him on the spot.
Instead, they asked for a character reference: He gave them a note from his mom. They said he needed a reputable supervisor for his practice: He chose a guy he met in the prison visitor room.
…Over the next three years, in a crime spree that stretched from Tampa to Miami, Almeida arranged nearly $3 million in fraudulent loans and fleeced 30 people — many of them elderly and disabled.
Mortgage brokers with history of criminal activity are a serious threat to borrowers because of the size on the complexity of most home loan transactions. It is far too easy for an unscupulous mortage broker to slip in unfair or illegal fees and kickbacks, or use bait-and-switch tactics that unsophistcated borrowers have trouble detecting. The character of a mortgage broker is probably the greatest safegaurd against consumer rip-offs, and it may be difficult to police, but when people with proven character flaws get licenses on the flimsiest of character investigations, the state just isn’t trying hard enough.
The lesson for consumers? Choose very carefully when picking a mortgage broker. Make sure their background checks out, and make sure it’s someone you can trust completely. If you don’t, you could lose everything. I’ll give some specific tips in a future post on how to pick a mortgage broker.
You must log in to post a comment.
{ 2 trackbacks }