|
Predatory Lending
Everything you need to know to get lowest rate.
Avoid mistakes for more savings.
Find the Best Mortgage. |
|
|
DON’T BE TAKEN IN BY GLIB TALK AND ADVERTISEMENTS.
Want to buy a home, but hampered by bad credit, an empty bank account or no job? No problem!
That may sound like an exaggeration of a late-night infomercial. But it is, in effect, the pitch that a number of Web sites are making to consumers, saying insolvent home shoppers can be made to look more attractive to lenders.
The sites, for example, offer better credit scores by hitching customers to a stranger’s credit card, or providing them pay stubs from a bogus company. One has even offered a well-stocked bank account to rent for a month or two.
Industry experts say these sites, which are relatively new, played a role in fueling the rampant mortgage fraud that has caused a huge spike in loan defaults in recent months because people bought homes they could not afford.
There is a whole underground world — an online cottage industry — that has grown up that allows anyone to commit mortgage fraud.
Regulators and the mortgage industry are now vowing to crack down on aggressive lending practices that have led to a rising number of foreclosures. But that greater scrutiny, including mortgage lenders requiring more documentation than they have in the past, may actually increase demand for some of the services that these Web sites offer.
|
