HOMEOWNERS AROUND OREGON who fall into foreclosure because of fine print and lost paperwork may be the victims of fraud. But misleading lenders can’t be prosecuted because a loophole in Oregon law exempts mortgage banks from the state’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act.
Fortunately, that might be about to change.
A mortgage broker for 15 years, Northeast Portland homeowner Anne McAvoy never dreamed she would face foreclosure. Mortgage lender Provident Funding repeatedly told McAvoy that her loan would stay at the same interest rate for 30 years, she says. But over the summer the interest rate jumped, and McAvoy had to bail on the house that was supposed to fund her retirement and her son’s college tuition.
“Now I don’t have either,” said McAvoy on Friday, January 15, the day her foreclosed home was set for sale.
The Bloebaums, a couple in their 60s who both still hold jobs to pay off their three-bedroom house in Lents, thought they bought a fixed-rate mortgage from Countrywide. But last July their interest jumped $500 a month, and now the couple can’t afford to pay. “I’m sick of the whole business. I think the bank committed fraud,” says Charlotte Bloebaum.
The Oregon Unlawful Trade Practices Act authorizes the attorney general to prosecute businesses for fraud based on citizen complaints. But mortgage banks and insurance companies receive a special exemption from that law.
That loophole allows lenders to engage in rampant irresponsible behavior with no punishment, says East Portland Representative Nick Kahl. Last week, Kahl introduced House Bill 3615, which would allow the attorney general, John Kroger, to prosecute citizen complaints about mortgage banks’ false or predatory lending. Kroger received 742 complaints about financial institutions last year and attorney generals of states ranging from Ohio and Illinois to Massachusetts and New York have filed suits against mortgage banks and lenders for fraud.
“Every other business in the state of Oregon, if they rip off the consumer, they’re going to be held accountable,” says Kahl.
Just in Multnomah County, 758 homes filed for foreclosure in December 2009. Nationwide, only 66,000 people out of the four million eligible Americans have been able to modify their home loans under President Obama’s much-lauded program meant to help homeowners into more affordable loans, according to a national report on the housing crash.
“I don’t know if it’s incompetence or if there’s something else behind it,” says Jon Bartholomew of consumer-advocacy group Oregon State Public Interest Research Group.
A Gresham family in Bartholomew’s files thought they were in a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage but when their interest unexpectedly jumped, Bartholomew helped them comb through stacks of paperwork. In fine print in parentheses on one page were the letters “ARM”—which stands for “adjustable-rate mortgage.”
“They were looking at losing their home because somewhere in the paperwork was this shady little deal that said their interest was going to go up,” says Bartholomew.
Consumer advocate Angela Martin, with Our Oregon, hears very similar complaints about lost paperwork, denied modifications, and sneaky fine print from the homeowners she works with. The Our Oregon office currently has four interns trying to call 2,000 people statewide who have gone into foreclosure and offer free counseling, she says.
The other side does not think letting the attorney general prosecute mortgage banks for fraud will do any good.
“I wouldn’t deny that there are problems but the lenders are working hard to fix those problems,” says Oregon Mortgage Lenders Association lobbyist Jim Markee, who argues that modifications are slow in coming because lenders are overwhelmed with requests.
Lobbyists from the Oregon Financial Services Association and insurance companies told the legislature in a hearing last week that Kahl’s proposed law is unnecessary since the state already has pages of laws regulating Oregon banks and insurance companies.
Back out in Lents, the Bloebaums say they left daily voicemails for Bank of America that went unreturned.
“Panic city set in,” says Charlotte Bloebaum, who was finally able to get through to her bank and work a temporary interest reduction with the help of a foreclosure counselor. When the temporary modification expires in three months, she and her husband don’t know what they’re going to do. But Bloebaum is sure about one thing.
“It’s going to take a bulldozer to move me out of my house,” she says.
I heard about your article on the Thom Hartman Show yesterday.We are going through the same as your article states.We filed Bankruptcy to stop the harrassment and threats,it was affecting our health and making ours lives hell.I have called every Senator and Congreeman in Oregon,we thought that the Attorney General’s Office would help us but they were very much on the side of the Mortgage Co.s I filed a complaint with the Dept of Commererce and Finance.They wrote us and said that they could find nothing that the Mortgage Co. did was wrong,that we were in the wrong.I finally called the Dept of Fraud at the F.BI. finally an Agent gave me some advice,he said that they were trying to take our equity,we have alot,to file Bankruptcy to stop the foreclosure and sale of our Home,that we would put in a ‘few’ calls to Their Office and check out other complaints.We did just that,but now the Litton and Bank of America(who nows owns the contract) is trying to retract the stay and have the Judge release the Home from Bankruptcy so they can default on us again,to a claim we owe them 19000.00 on late payment,payments and other stupid fees.I am going public with this because I would like a person of the press or media to be present a Hearing Feb.3-10;30 A.M. in the main Courthouse in Portland.We gave our Attorney the proof of six months payments they say we owe.If the judge favors their Attorney,we are sunk.I am hoping that it will go on to a trial and we finally can get our day in court!I do not know how many people have gotten as far as a Hearing in front of a Judge about these rotten Banks that are taking away a person’s security,shelter and dignity.This is a huge dis-placement of people,not since the Great Depression have so many lost Homes and Businesses.I am fighting for HB3615 and calling Mr.Kahl to see what I can do to help.This has to stopNOW!
Marie Strasbaugh
Milwaukie,Or
Predatory Lending is a major contributor to the economic turmoil we are currently experiencing.
Here is an example of what I am talking about:
Scott Veerkamp / Predatory Lending (Franklin Township School Board Member.)
Please review this information from U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley regarding deceptive lending practices:
“Steering payments were made to brokers who enticed unsuspecting homeowners into deceptive and expensive mortgages. These secret bonus payments, often called Yield Spread Premiums, turned home mortgages into a SCAM.”
The Center for Responsible Lending says YSP “steals equity from struggling families.”
1. Scott collected nearly $10,000 on two separate mortgages using YSP and junk fees. 2. This is an average of $5,000 per loan. 3. The median value of the properties was $135,000. 4. Clearly, this type of lending represents a major ripoff for consumers.
http://merkley.senate.gov/newsroom/press/r…
This is a national crises that desperately needs a one year moratorium on foreclosures, not for homeowners, but so the legal systems can catch up. This is a new area of the law that is being invented and learned ‘on the fly’. One of the biggest challenges attorneys have in court is educating the judges, but willing judges are listening, and responding for the homeowners, more and more. Go to ‘ground central’ in the fight against criminal lenders: ‘pretender lenders’, as some call them. Here’s ground central:
http://livinglies.wordpress.com/
….everyone needs to practice living with-in their means…that also means only buying a house that you can afford when times are lean….this debt to income ratio that has been used is a joke…and people feel as if they are worth more then they are….bottom line, if you spend half of your take home pay on the house and utilities….you are in over your head…and if you think that these houses your buying in Oregon and up and down the west coast are REALLY worth what you pay…then you are set up to fail…just cause some over credited 30ish couple buys a house for 350k doesnt actually mean that they can afford it and it most certainly doesnt mean that they are successful, it means that they are trying to pose as something they are not, which is a respectable, resposible contributer to the growth of the community. The same goes for anyone who is in over their heads…..this is a sign that you are not as capable as the bank tricked you into believing you were. you should have stayed in the 120k range so you could actually get some equity built up….oh, I know, there is no 120k good homes….exactly…so market demand will bring the price back down, when no one can afford the stupid prices that Oregonians have falsly inflated to satisfy their EGO’s that they “are rich” some how because they got approved for a 170k house (actual value) but since the jones got it for 350k it must be worth it and now we are part of the middle class elite with a big house and 2 car payments and look how people look up to us…WRONG!! now your homeless and deservingly so…YOU knew you couldn’t afford 2500 a month especially if bif loses his bonus for pretending to be important at Intel….all BS and I hope that it all crashes soon so we can get our real value back and posers will go back to where ever they moved here from…..buy buy…thanks for playing…you LOSE!
…but seriously….didnt everyone have a 2nd party attorny look at the documentation for just these kinds of “hidden” loop holes? 500 bucks seems a small price to pay for REAL piece of mind…and then if you dont like it, couldn’t you just reject the deal and move on? ..or, are people so desperate to get a home that they are blinded by all the dreams they have and their new status as home howners…(actually rent payers to the bank for 30 years) I mean everyone acts like they didnt see it coming…the day you got the documentation with the amount due every month for your (rent) payment and you thought “gee thats a lot, what if something happens and we cant make it” the day you thought that is the day you should have said NO deal…..I cant believe the amount of people who are shocked that this could happen…If you have nothing to put into a purchase then you have nothing to contribute…your just moving money around on the poker table..but no one is bring in new money just shifting it to other players…still the same money … so let your houses go, you never owned them anyway…next time buy well with-in your means…so if you have to flip burgers at least you can pay for your house….easier said then done…but the banks dont care about your problems….this is 2010…your are a numbered contributer, there is no personal care….all the douche bags in the bank are in the same boat….you gotta be a part of the 1% that owns the wealth of this country to get some thing done…other wise its all just smoke and mirrors….too bad really…I love my country…so if you love it too…stop playing their game and move on and regroup with a stronger more sustainable exsistence….screw cable TV, and DSL, that aint gonna put a roof over your head and feed your kids. yadda yadda
The solution is to “get out” and dont look back…let them have it all back…dont waste anymore time trying to save yourself…what happens in 6 months when you lose your job? or some other unforseen issue? your at square on again. your at square one right now….if everyone just stopped playing the game for 6 moths where do you think these companies would be? Im not saying that we should default and be irresponsible…Im saying we should force their hand and make them come to us and say” we cant survive unless you pay” and we say ” we cant survive and pay unless you make it RIGHT” your pride and towing the maintream consensus” is only going to go so far…there is 20% unemployment and rampent decay in our country….6 months from now nobodys gonna care that you fought the sysyem and lost…their gonna be wondering why your pushing a target shopping cart around in designer clothes……..dump the money pit, downsize your ego’s, live well with-in your means and you will be one of the survivors….so thats my take…its worked for us…we moved to AR. still make 130k between us but our house payment is 600.00 a month…so we can SURVIVE if one or both lose our good jobs and have to turn to dead in service jobs….600.00 is a lot less daunting then 2000-3000 a month. just saying folks, get a clue and fight for your lives and screw the bank that is screwing you!
This article is quite interesting having the brief description about loopholes and the mortgage issues, but I was just wondering that how could be an individual make some quick relief from these issues.
portland mortgage rates