Posted by Christine Baker on July 28, 1997 at 17:19:33:
In Reply to: FICO Scoring -- A mortgage broker's nightmare posted by Christine Gibson on July 28, 1997 at 17:00:12:
Originally posted in Feb. 1997
First of all, I have to say that I rarely see Mortgage Brokers who have the brain and energy to put together the type of transaction Christine Gibson describes here. And to top it off, she even cares enough to search the web on FICO Scores for her Clients AND write E-mail trying to get more information.
Her mail definitely inspired me to finally create all those FICO pages, it sure was a lot more work than I had expected. I hope the information I provide will help understanding Scores. However, it won't get her Clients the loan they deserve.
There is only one thing to do:
Sue the second mortgage lender for slander they incorrectly reported late payments
and sue the declining new lender for refusing to look at the facts as they are and knowingly declining a loan based on incorrect credit reports.
I'm not a lawyer, but having been in business for 10 years, I know that nothing will change unless these unscrupulous lenders are sued and have to pay out big bucks. That's the ONLY way to change their business practices. Remember, this is a capitalistic country and money is all that counts for Corporate America.
They should have to pay for the borrowers' actual damages (expenses and higher interest rate) as well as EMOTIONAL DISTRESS.
How many hours do you think these borrowers talked about their declined new loan, not understanding a thing about Scoring, knowing that they had done nothing wrong?
I sure had my share of sleepless nights and headaches struggling with my credit problems and I was terrified when I had to sue Loan America and ITT Financial to have my credit restored.
And lets not forget about Christine Gibson and Apple Mortgage. They should also join the law suit and ask for reimbursement of their expenses.
Processing a loan is a lot of work! Christine spent a lot of time trying to get this loan approved, acquiring documentation, searching the net, writing letters and THINKING about how to get her Clients' loan approved. Having to tell a Client that their loan was declined even though they had provided all that documentation isn't exactly a fun job.
One of the reasons why I stopped brokering loans is that I just couldn't afford to work without pay. I did exactly what Christine Gibson did, and I found that I couldn't make a living working on my Clients' incorrect credit reports free of charge all the time. I've got numerous letters from GE Capital, Discover, etc., apologizing for their error on my clients' credit. But no, they did not feel that they should pay me for the many hours it took to correct their mistakes. So I quit.
I've known several brokers who cared. They all quit. Because once you have a reputation for working on difficult loans or purchases, you get all these referrals for more problems jobs. You can't charge the Client, the cash poor first-time buyer. And you can't charge the creditors who make your life miserable unless you sue. *I*, as the broker, couldn't sue. My Clients didn't want to sue. So now my Clients have to pay me by the hour to resolve their credit problems and I encourage them to sue at least for reimbursement of my fee, possibly in Small Claims Court. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any of my Clients having done that. "Life's too short ..." they say.
Hopefully by now Christine Gibson's Clients' credit has been corrected with the bureaus. Unfortunately, there is only one way to find out fast, and that's to check the credit again.
That might lower her Clients' Score! Is this absurd or what?
I hope Christine Gibson will keep up the good work, stay in the mortgage business and not give up. But she won't be able to stay in business with more loans like this one.
I don't know the law in Washington, but in California it's nearly impossible for mortgage brokers to get paid unless they close the loan. If laws are anything like here, she'll have to stay away from first-time buyers, immigrants and low income Clients. It may sound harsh, but that's the reality. There are too many loans like this one. Unless she can find a reasonable and competent lawyer and is willing to sue, she'll be earning negative income.