I do not think I can find a better word to describe what I have just experienced.
A good client of mine calls me in much distress and asks to come see me which of course I agreed.
My client (let's call her Mary) has relocated to another State about a year ago but her mom (let's call her Sally) still lives in Miami so Mary was in town for the long holiday when she was notified by Sally (who is 74) that she had arranged for her daughter to be in the meeting where she would apply for a reverse mortgage.
Sally had mentioned to Mary a few times that she was interested in a reverse mortgage but Mary was never sold on the idea, for various reasons, but she was thankful that she was in town to participate in the meeting.
It did not take Mary long to figure out there was something very wrong.
The man in the home claimed to be an independent loan officer who did not work for any company, (not a possibility in Florida, a loan officer must work for a bank or a correspondent lender), the loan application had 2 difference lenders and the man's business card showed a third, completely different company. Mary asked about the 2 lenders on the application, the man crossed out one of them and said " do not bother with that company" I will use the other one.
Mary, Sally and I gathered in my office and I started to do a little checking around and found that the man who claimed to be a loan officer had once applied for a mortgage broker license but he was denied. The company that he said he'd use is a corporation in Florida since 2003 but the State. Florida's Office of Financial Regulation has NEVER even received an application for this company. The company is not allowed to loan money in the State of Florida!!!!
This man has newspaper ads targeting old, vulnerable citizens, and have of course, been successful. Sally has neighbors who have gotten a reverse mortgage through this man. Who knows what these citizens have signed away!!!
Again, it is unbelievable to me that an unlicensed person and an unlicensed company are acting as lenders in my state and getting away with it!
I had been aware that the reverse mortgage business was one the fasting growing fraud sectors in our society but to see it happen in front of my me was truly eye opening.
I do not think there is enough awareness of the fraud that is being committed on our elderly citizens and those who are victims of reverse mortgage fraud are less likely to use the internet to share their bad experiences.
As a Licensed Mortgage Broker this pains me greatly and I can only hope that this article will help someone from becoming the next victim of fraud.
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