NEWS AND MEDIA
Exposing Fraud and
Damages in Home Mortgage Loans
Within the United States predatory lending has
grown substantially. What the industry fails to do is to make consumers
aware of lending institutions that have been found liable for violations of
Federal and State lending laws, such as, the Truth in Lending, Regulation Z;
Real Estate Settlement Procedure Act. Below are only a few articles that
have appeared in the news or media concerning predatory lending.
In a press release issued by the Department of
Law in New York, consumers where altered to check their mailboxes in a
landmark settlement in predatory lending against Household Finance.
Household Finance agreed to pay $484 million dollars in restitution to
consumers nationwide, including $37 million dollars to eligible New Yorkers.
In New York alone the settlement provided for the following regions to
receive:
-
Long Island and New York City: over 6,200
borrowers will share nearly $10.8 million;
-
Hudson Valley: nearly 2,500 borrowers will
share approximately $4.3 million;
-
Western New York: over 3,800 borrowers will
share nearly $6.7 million;
-
Central New York: nearly 2,450 borrowers will
share more than $4.2 million;
-
Rochester: nearly 2,100 borrowers will share
more than $3.6 million;
-
Capital Region: over 1,600 borrowers will
share nearly $2.8 million;
-
Binghamton area: more than 960 borrowers will
share nearly $1.67 million; and
- North Country: nearly 1,300 borrowers will share more than $2.2 million.
Restitution payments to New Yorkers will range
between $46 and $23,000. The average award New York consumers will receive
is $1,730. For more information see, Press Release, Office of New York
State Attorney General, December 2002.
State of
Alabama: $34,500,000 verdict involving “predatory lending”:
This case involved a
lenders fraudulent action dealing with a home mortgage. In this case, the
lender forged Plaintiff's name to mortgage documents. Even though the
company was made aware that the mortgage was forged, the company still
attempted to foreclose on the plaintiff's home. The jury found this was
fraudulent activity and awarded a substantial verdict to try to stop this
type conduct in the future. It should be noted that this does happen a lot
[emphasis added]
http://www.beasleyallen.com/verdicts_list.htm#
First Alliance
Mortgage Settles ‘Predatory Lending Charges’ for up to $60 million dollars.
See:
http://realtytimes.com/rtcpages/20020322_firstalliance.htm
Capital City
Mortgage settles a deceptive loan case which included Federal violations in
the amount of $75,000.00.
Associated Press,
February, 2005.
Ameriquest Accused
of Boiler Room Tactics: “Customers and former employees of
Ameriquest Capital Corp., the nation's largest sub-prime mortgage lender,
have claimed in court documents and interviews that the company has engaged
in improper practices ranging from forging documents to lying about
borrowers' income to qualify them for loans they can't afford.”
Associated Press, February, 2005.
This merely touches
the amount of news and media coverage that is available on this subject of
predatory lending and victims of predatory lending. See how you may qualify
for an audit to expose fraud and damages. For additional information
contact LAS.
