I promised, in a post earlier this week, to re-blog the first featured post of anyone who sent me the link.
Several people sent me the link, but not all of them had the re-blog button available. Stacey-Ann did make it available for a re-blog, and I'm happy to share this with you. It's easy to see why this post got featured - it's a very timely topic for both consumers and real estate professionals.
Enjoy!
I recently began working with a client who had recevied a pre-approval from her mortgage broker who she had been working with for several months. I had never worked with him before but she was pleased with the work he had done to help her repair her credit.
We met at his "home office" to get the pre-approval letter to submit with an offer. When I met him I thought he was very strange. He kept yelling at his wife and ordering her to do things. Something about him did not feel right and I even asked my client if she had given him any money upfront. She indicated that she had not paid him anything.
He provided us with a mortgage comittment letter, not a pre-approval, that was signed by someone else. He explained that it was the owner of the company who signed all the committment letters. I have to admit that I did not follow my instincts which were that something was very wrong with the picture.
The buyer had been working with him to repair her credit but instead of going up her credit score actually went down. He told her that she owed him $270 for the rapid credit rescore. He indicated that he had put it on his personal credit card and that he needed her to repay him immediately. Since her credit score had not improved and she had not been informed that there would be any up-front charges she indicated that she did not know what she was paying for and asked that he provide an invoice as to the charges. This mortgage person sends her a letter indicating that he was going to call the police if she did not pay him and that she authorized him to make the charges by signing the universal loan application.
Upon investigation, it turns out that this man is NOT a licensed mortgage banker as he indicated (it's even listed that way on his email signature). I spoke to the owner of the company with whom he is supposedly affiliated. This gentleman indicated that this "mortgage banker" is simply a referral source. When he meets buyers he is supposed to funnel them to the company and was certainly not in a position to issue loan comittment letters. In the meantime, this non-licensed professional has all of my buyer's personal and sensitive information, social security number, pay stubs, bank statements, etc.
We are in the process of filing complaints against him with the regulatory board here in Maryland.
What's even more frightening, is that this mortgage "professional" was recommended to the buyer by the real estate agent she was using before she came to me.
My poor buyer is just grateful that we found this out BEFORE we had a ratified contract.
I have also learned an important lesson that you cannot assume people are telling the truth and I need to do careful research on the other "professionals" with whom I am not familiar.
If you or someone you know would like information about buying, selling, or renting a home in Prince George's, Montgomery, Charles, Anne Arundel, Howard, and/or Baltimore Counties please contact Dr. Stacey-Ann Baugh of EOP Real Estate, LLC.
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Now that is scary, I missed this one. I would think that with all the scrutiny mortgages are under, this would never have happened.
Wow - this could have ended much, much worse for your client! I'm sure your client is grateful you were there to help her. Good luck and I hope the regulatory board nails his ass.
Margaret,
Not sure I nderstand the part about re-blogging, but the situation with the guy pretending to be legit is not pleasant.
I was thinking that I usually do not checking this sort of info, maybe was just lucky that it did nto happen to us. Good warning
Margaret,,, wow, thanks for reblogging this... I have heard some weird and bad stories before... but this one cuts the cake easily.. OMG... and the owner of the company should be shot also.. idiot... thanks for sharing.
Margaret,,, one more thing,,, And yes, borrowers need to beware... and this is a good example of those that even give referrals. You just don't always know how good or bad someone is, no matter who referred them. just food for thought...