http://www.cnbc.com/id/34877347You Guys are indeed Too Big To Fail!! How about Too Shameless and Greedy! There is no stopping you guys is there? How we all would love the FBI and DOJ hang you SOB's giving Banking and more importantly CAPITALISM a big BLACK EYE!!
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I sent this email to Diana Olick the articles author......
Hi Diana,
My name is Jesse Gonzalez and I am the owner creator of REOPro. REOPro is the nations fastest growing professional / social network dedicated strictly to the default real estate industry. We have over 3700 agents nationwide and grow by 5 agents per day.
As you can imagine, I hear a lot and your recent article, “Big Banks Accused of Short Sale Fraud” published Friday 1/15/2010 @ 12:13pm ET struck a nerve with me.
I want to dissect your article a bit and share my opinion which, you might find very interesting.
Your Article….
“Since many second lien holders are getting very little, they are now allegedly requesting money on the side from either real estate agents or the buyers in the short sale. When I say "on the side," I mean in cash, off the HUD settlement statements, so the first lien holder doesn't see it.
This illegal, unethical practice, which is wide spread, didn’t originate with the banks. In fact, it’s nothing more than a hybrid practice of a legal tool agents and banks use to evict homeowners from foreclosed properties, called the Cash for Keys Negotiation. Once a home has been foreclosed however, the homeowner has not vacated the property, the new owners…typically the servicer, will have their agent offer a cash payment in return for the homeowner vacating the property in good condition and by a set deadline. Nothing illegal here…..commonly used practice and accepted in the industry.
The most memorable time in recent history the CFK (Cash for Keys) practice morphed was in ’08 when we saw unscrupulous scam artist offering similar deals to homeowners however, in return they would ask the homeowner to quit claim their deed to them with the promise the homeowner could live in the home and the scammer would make their payments and put them on his own “payment plan” until they were caught up and able to sustain again. The homeowner didn’t realize he was signing over his house, breaking his deed of trust and was still responsible for the home before the scammer had already re-sold it sign unseen and walked away with free money. Of course it wasn’t called CFK …..it was called, “Theft by Quit Claim” and is Mortgage Fraud but, heavily modeled after the CFK.
Now, the CFK seems to be going through another morphing but, it’s not really anything new.
Your Article….
“I think it’s wrong, and I think somebody needs to hold them accountable, and every time I lose a house in foreclosure because of this, it hurts my client, “says Gentry matter-of-factly. “Aside from being illegal and a violation of RESPA, it’s immoral and truly it’s just sad for the client that it’s hurting.” Gentry says she has had the request made three times and claims she lost one sale because of it. “The big banks that have recently made this request, specifically payments outside of the closing statement have been Citi Mortgage and JP Morgan Chase.”
Of course this practice is wrong and guess what, we do have people holding these banks and everyone else accountable……the AGENT and CLIENT! I am sure Kayte Gentry is a fine person and a good agent however, if she is waiting around for some government regulation or oversight to come down the pike, she maybe waiting a hell of a long time and by then, many people who she was helping maybe suffering. The FBI researches and prosecutes Mortgage Fraud so, if this is happening to any of her clients or if she has had the conversations she claims to have had, she has a responsibility to alert the proper authorities and hold these people accountable! Telling the media about her experience and accusing 2 banks of an illegal unethical practice may have just black balled her in this industry. Not a smart move on her part.
Let me be clear, I am not saying this practice doesn’t happen….it does and, much more often than one would suspect however, in my opinion, this is a matter handled best through the FBI with the homeowner and their agent following the instructions of a Mortgage Fraud Investigator vs. airing it out in a news article.
As for contacting the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), Treasury Department, HUD and FINCEN….well, I am not sure they were the right people to ask, it’s the FBI that researches Mortgage Fraud, check out their site at http://www.fbi.gov/hq/mortgage_fraud.htm
Thanks and I hope this sheds some light. Let me know if you have any questions, I would be happy to elaborate.
Replies
Hi Diana,
My name is Jesse Gonzalez and I am the owner creator of REOPro. REOPro is the nations fastest growing professional / social network dedicated strictly to the default real estate industry. We have over 3700 agents nationwide and grow by 5 agents per day.
As you can imagine, I hear a lot and your recent article, “Big Banks Accused of Short Sale Fraud” published Friday 1/15/2010 @ 12:13pm ET struck a nerve with me.
I want to dissect your article a bit and share my opinion which, you might find very interesting.
Your Article….
“Since many second lien holders are getting very little, they are now allegedly requesting money on the side from either real estate agents or the buyers in the short sale. When I say "on the side," I mean in cash, off the HUD settlement statements, so the first lien holder doesn't see it.
This illegal, unethical practice, which is wide spread, didn’t originate with the banks. In fact, it’s nothing more than a hybrid practice of a legal tool agents and banks use to evict homeowners from foreclosed properties, called the Cash for Keys Negotiation. Once a home has been foreclosed however, the homeowner has not vacated the property, the new owners…typically the servicer, will have their agent offer a cash payment in return for the homeowner vacating the property in good condition and by a set deadline. Nothing illegal here…..commonly used practice and accepted in the industry.
The most memorable time in recent history the CFK (Cash for Keys) practice morphed was in ’08 when we saw unscrupulous scam artist offering similar deals to homeowners however, in return they would ask the homeowner to quit claim their deed to them with the promise the homeowner could live in the home and the scammer would make their payments and put them on his own “payment plan” until they were caught up and able to sustain again. The homeowner didn’t realize he was signing over his house, breaking his deed of trust and was still responsible for the home before the scammer had already re-sold it sign unseen and walked away with free money. Of course it wasn’t called CFK …..it was called, “Theft by Quit Claim” and is Mortgage Fraud but, heavily modeled after the CFK.
Now, the CFK seems to be going through another morphing but, it’s not really anything new.
Your Article….
“I think it’s wrong, and I think somebody needs to hold them accountable, and every time I lose a house in foreclosure because of this, it hurts my client, “says Gentry matter-of-factly. “Aside from being illegal and a violation of RESPA, it’s immoral and truly it’s just sad for the client that it’s hurting.” Gentry says she has had the request made three times and claims she lost one sale because of it. “The big banks that have recently made this request, specifically payments outside of the closing statement have been Citi Mortgage and JP Morgan Chase.”
Of course this practice is wrong and guess what, we do have people holding these banks and everyone else accountable……the AGENT and CLIENT! I am sure Kayte Gentry is a fine person and a good agent however, if she is waiting around for some government regulation or oversight to come down the pike, she maybe waiting a hell of a long time and by then, many people who she was helping maybe suffering. The FBI researches and prosecutes Mortgage Fraud so, if this is happening to any of her clients or if she has had the conversations she claims to have had, she has a responsibility to alert the proper authorities and hold these people accountable! Telling the media about her experience and accusing 2 banks of an illegal unethical practice may have just black balled her in this industry. Not a smart move on her part.
Let me be clear, I am not saying this practice doesn’t happen….it does and, much more often than one would suspect however, in my opinion, this is a matter handled best through the FBI with the homeowner and their agent following the instructions of a Mortgage Fraud Investigator vs. airing it out in a news article.
As for contacting the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), Treasury Department, HUD and FINCEN….well, I am not sure they were the right people to ask, it’s the FBI that researches Mortgage Fraud, check out their site at http://www.fbi.gov/hq/mortgage_fraud.htm
Thanks and I hope this sheds some light. Let me know if you have any questions, I would be happy to elaborate.