Mortgage Refinancing

Mortgage financing and refinancing can be fraught with traps for the consumer. Fees charged upfront for alleged settlement costs can be stolen by unscrupulous brokers, unauthorized costs and charges can be passed on to the borrower as a way for the lender or broker to increase its profit on a particular loan, illegal discrimination in rates can occur without the borrower even being aware that it has occurred and lenders can fail to properly disclose all costs and charges at closing. Even after the loan has closed, lenders can engage in unscrupulous activities such as failing to properly credit payments made, refusing to eliminate "PMI" when loan to value ratios no longer require it, and collecting unreasonably large escrow payments for taxes and insurance.

Predatory Lending

Although not yet precisely defined, "Predatory Lending" is understood to encompass a series of unfair credit practices. Such practices can typically include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following mortgage activities:

• Asset-based lending, making unafforable loans to consumers based on their assets rather than their ability to pay.
   

• Loan flipping, enticing a consumer to refinance a loan repeatedly in order to charge points and fees on each new loan.
   

• Credit insurance packing, adding credit insurance to your loan, regarding of whether the borrower needs it or not.
   

• Bait and switch, pressuring a borrower to accept higher fees at the completion of a loan that were offered initially.
   

• Deceptive lending, actively concealing the specifics of a loan obligation from a borrower.
   

• Excessive fee charging, charging illegal or excessive fees or points.
   

• Falsifying documentation, including appraisals and credit information