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Summary of New Michigan Loan Officer Licensing Requirements

For a summary of the new Michigan loan officer licensing requirements for broker owners and loan officers, including important deadline dates, click here.

NEW! Michigan Mortgage Loan Officers Now Have to be Licensed

I made a post back at the end of January about the emergence of new legislation in Michigan that would require mortgage loan originators to be licensed.

You can read that post here.

Well, now it's official!

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has signed off on the legislation and now it is officially a law.

Michigan mortgage loan officers will have to licensed.

The new mortgage loan officer law calls for the registration of loan officers, mandatory background checks, and continuing education requirements.

Governor Granholm said...

"This legislation will help us to protect consumers against unfair lending practices, mortgage fraud, and unlicensed mortgage activity. Effective regulation of loan officers is critical in our effort to protect citizens from abusive lending practices by unethical individuals."

Michigan loan officers with less than 4.5 years of experience will have to:

• undergo a background check
• take 24 hours of pre-registration course work
• pass a proficiency exam
• register with the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation

Michigan loan officers with more than 4.5 years of experience will have to:

• undergo a background check
• pass a proficiency exam
• register with the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation

This type of law in Michigan has been long overdue.

Michigan consumers should be very happy that this law is now in place. Hopefully, this will help greatly reduce the fraudulent and abusive lending practices that have been so rampant in this state for so long.

List of Mortgage Lenders Partnered with FHA to Assist Homeowners Facing Foreclosure

For information on how to avoid foreclosure and save your home, visit the Federal Housing Administration's website by clicking here.

This site outlines steps distressed home owners should take if unable to pay their mortgage, typical workout solutions available, and information for disaster area victims and military personnel and their spouses.

You will also find a list of mortgage lenders who have voluntarily joined forces with the FHA to assist home owners with their mortgage concerns.

And also as stated on this site, if you have an FHA-insured mortgage and your lender is not responsive or cooperative in assisting you with a workout solution to avoid foreclosure, you should contact and notify the FHA National Servicing Center at (888) 297-8685 right away.

If you are experiencing a financial hardship and are having trouble making your mortgage payments, DO NOT delay in taking some sort of action immediately!

Ignoring the problem will not make it go away.

The sooner you take action, the more options you will have available to you to save your home from foreclosure and quite possibly save your credit too.

California Mortgage Scam Ring Shut Down by AG

Just this week, several mortgage-related lending operations were shut down by California Attorney General Edmund Brown, Jr. for committing many egregious offenses related to a big predatory lending mortgage scam.

The corporate culprits that were shut down are:

• Lifetime Financial
• Nations Mortgage
• Greenleaf Lending
• Virtual Escrow
• Olympic Escrow
• Direct Credit Solutions

The individual culprits named so far, to be brought up on civil and criminal charges, are:

• Eric Pony a.k.a. "Oren", the 25 year old primary ring-leader
• Paulette Pony (Eric's sister)
• Wilma Pony (Eric's mother)
• Eli Hassine
• John D H N Nielsen a.k.a. Doo Hyun No
• Carol Pencille
• Sibpun Ampornpet
• Dean Storm

Their mortgage scam tactics included:

• luring unsuspecting borrowers into high-cost loans after initially promising a much more attractive and favorable set of loan terms

• arranging loans with excessive hidden fees as high as $20,000, and worse financial terms than the borrower's original mortgage, which sometimes left the borrowers with monthly mortgage payments that exceeded their entire monthly income

• offering thousands of dollars in cash back without disclosing that the money would be used to cover the high, excessive fees

• falsely promising to reimburse the borrower for pre-payment penalties that would be assessed by their current lender

• falsifying loan documents, including income information, and creating fake references

• using appraisal reports with grossly inflated home values, copies of which were never given to the borrowers

• pressuring borrowers to sign incorrect loan documents by promising to correct excessive fees

• promising to waive thousands of dollars in fees if a borrower threatened to back out of a loan, and then present a "corrected" set of documents to the borrower, but actually use the original set of documents with the same high, excessive fees to complete the transaction

• forging the names and signatures of borrowers on loan application and closing documents - even sometimes misspelling their names!

• failing to provide copies of signed documents

• refusing to honor written demands to cancel loans

These con-artists purposely sought out vulnerable, unsuspecting borrowers, including the elderly and disabled, with reckless abandon.

And unfortunately, this scam has caused thousands of California residents to either face foreclosure or lose their homes to foreclosure all together.

Attorney General Edmund Brown was quoted as saying, "The illegal sales practices of these companies, run by Eric Pony and his family, included psychological pressure, forgery and outright lies."

AG Brown has taken action to have the companies' bank accounts seized, along with 16 separate private and commercial real estate properties valued at about $6 million, plus personal property - especially luxury cars.

He is currently seeking in excess of $20 million in full restitution and penalties.

You can view the 46-page lawsuit filed by the State of California here.

In the face of the current mortgage foreclosure crisis, where the lending market is under such tight scrutiny and countless Americans are losing their homes because of low-lifes like this, these people have to be some straight-up, bona fied idiots to think they would not get caught!

And what devil ate their souls for them to think it was OK to create a business model based on victimizing innocent, unsuspecting consumers - turning their lives upside down with financial ruin and causing them to lose their homes - all while stacking their pockets with stolen money and buying fancy cars and homes?

They are such scum-bags!

I hope the California Attorney General nails their tails to the wall!

And especially, ESPECIALLY, for messing with elderly and disabled!

Ohio Foreclosure Prevention Website

The State of Ohio has a new informative foreclosure prevention website to assist their consumers with locating resources to help them with their mortgage and home ownership concerns.

The site offers info on the foreclosure process, contacting your mortgage lender or servicer, predatory lending, scams, informational videos and more.

You can access Ohio's Save the Dream website here: http://www.com.ohio.gov/SavetheDream.

FREE Michigan Foreclosure Forum: 2/14 in Grand Rapids

REMINDER...

The last of 3 free "Avoid Foreclosure" forums sponsored by the office of Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox is being held tomorrow, Thursday, February 14th, in Grand Rapids.

Avoid Foreclosure Forum
Thursday, February 14th
12:00 pm - 7:00 pm
The DeltaPlex Entertainment and Expo Center
2500 Turner Ave. NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49544

This forum is for Michigan consumers that are having trouble making their mortgage payments, have adjustable rate mortgages that are due to adjust soon, or are facing foreclosure.

The forum is FREE and open to the public.

Michigan home owners will have the opportunity to meet directly with lenders, servicers, and independent loan counselors to help them find a solution to their mortgage problems.

For more information on the lenders and servicers that will be present at the forum, what to bring with you, and a flyer for FREE parking, click here.

Or you can call 877-765-8388.

If interested, you can also read this post from January 23rd about these foreclosure forums.

FYI, solicitors are NOT welcome!

FREE Michigan Foreclosure Forum: 2/13 in Saginaw

REMINDER...

The 2nd of 3 free "Avoid Foreclosure" forums sponsored by the office of Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox is being held tomorrow, Wednesday, February 13th, in Saginaw.

Avoid Foreclosure Forum
Wednesday, February 13th
12:00 pm - 7:00 pm
The Dow Event Center
303 Johnson St.
Saginaw, MI 48607

This forum is for Michigan consumers that are having trouble making their mortgage payments, have adjustable rate mortgages that are due to adjust soon, or are facing foreclosure.

The forum is FREE and open to the public.

Michigan home owners will have the opportunity to meet directly with lenders, servicers, and independent loan counselors to help them find a solution to their mortgage problems.

One more "Avoid Foreclosure" forum will take place as follows:

Grand Rapids on Thursday, February 14th
12:00 pm - 7:00 pm
The DeltaPlex Entertainment and Expo Center
2500 Turner Ave. NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49544

For more information on the lenders and servicers that will be present at the forum, what to bring with you, and a flyer for FREE parking, click here.

Or you can call 877-765-8388.

If interested, you can also read this post from January 23rd about these foreclosure forums.

FYI, solicitors are NOT welcome!