Predatory Lending
Practices – There are many forms of predatory lending.
Several such practices are described below.
Did you know Your Foreclosure Rights Can be Extended.
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Potential borrowers
are pressured into including false information on
loan applications or are asked to leave signature
lines or other lines blank.
Did you sign many copies of document that
appeared to be the same? |
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The lender or Mortgage
broker alters information entered by the borrower on
the loan application. Was your loan
application altered? |
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Excessive fees are
financed into the loan. Banks generally charge 1-2%
of the loan amount in fees to originate the loan.
Predatory lenders often finance fees around 8% into
a loan.
Where your closing fees excessive?
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Borrowers pay interest
rates which are higher than their credit warrants. |
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Loans are made based
on equity without regard to borrower’s ability to
pay.
Did your loan get approved for more that it
should have? |
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A loan has prepayment
penalties. These penalties negatively affect a
borrower’s ability to pay off a loan early and can
impact the ability to refinance.
Do you have a 2 or 4 year Prepayment penalty and
where you give option not to have this? |
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Loans are made for
considerably more than the property is worth.
Refinancing is generally not possible if a borrower
owes more than the property is worth.
Do you question the value of the appraisal at
time of purchased? |
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Balloon payments make
sense for some borrowers but can be extremely
harmful to others. Balloon payment mortgages
require borrowers to pay off the entire loan balance
in one large (balloon) payment after some number of
regular payments. Borrowers must often refinance to
make the balloon payment.
Do you have a hidden balloon payment? |
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Borrowers are sold
loans with negative amortization, wherein the
regular payment does not cover the principal and
interest on the loan. Despite making regular
payments, the loan balance increases.
Where you offered 3 different payment, and did
you understand what this means? |
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Loan flipping occurs
when lenders encourage or pressure borrowers into
frequent refinancing. Benefits are often not
sufficient to cover the fees charged for each
refinance. Did your mortgage broker or Lender
encourage you to refinance over and over? |
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Lenders place
pre-dispute mandatory binding arbitration clauses in
loan contracts. These clauses limit the borrower’s
access to injunctive relief for abuses and borrowers
can be required to pay arbitration costs and travel
long distances.
Can you resolve your loan issue in a local court?
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