MORTGAGE FRAUD EXAMINERS WARNS: BEWARE OF THE LATEST FORECLOSURE RESCUE SCAM—FORENSIC LOAN AUDITS

Mortgage Fraud Examiners, the investigative firm who warned the public about loan modification scams, the “criminal loan modification trap” and the Mortgage Elimination scam is now warning the public of this latest scam.

When the mortgage crisis hit American homeowners full-force, companies offering “foreclosure rescue” and “loan modification” companies sprouted like weeds. Most promised troubled homeowners quick fixes for high fees, and failed to deliver after collecting their money, leaving families poorer and closer to homelessness.

The new flood of loan audit companies is fueled by the spread of loan modification companies in an attempt to side step the upfront fees that the states have prohibited these companies from charging. They’re the proverbial “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Avoiding Fraud

Mortgage Fraud Examiners is a project of Lex Consulting, LLC www.instantlawpartner.com. For over 30 years, Lex Consulting has provided litigation support to attorneys, helping them break into new areas of practice, or providing specialized advice for complex cases requiring novel approaches to the law. Due to the recent housing crisis, Mortgage Fraud Examiners, a team of specially trained attorneys, was created to provide borrowers and the legal community with comprehensive assistance to help them keep them in their homes.

Mortgage Fraud Examiners Founder Storm Bradford explains: “Although forensic examinations of mortgage transactions can be of substantial value to a homeowner, regrettably, most companies providing these so-called ‘loan audits’ are nowhere near qualified to do so. They are performed and sold by persons with no legal training, such as, former real estate agents, mortgage brokers, or loan processors, who input data into some software program. The “audit” is a useless checklist of the documents provided to the “auditor,” with no information about the legal implications of the documents. It’s that old adage on computer software: ‘Garbage-in, garbage-out.’ We do our forensic examinations mostly for attorneys and their clients. Knowledgeable attorneys are going to spot a scam ‘audit’ a lot quicker than a layperson. We have to provide services that withstand the scrutiny and demands of a trained legal eye. You need a specific and unique legal knowledge to do a forensic examination of a mortgage transaction; a ten-minute software audit is no substitute for three years of law school. We’re legal professionals looking for things that software can’t find, besides, we know what to look for!”

“A true forensic examination inspects the homeowners’ appraisal, mortgage and supporting documents, in the context of the dealings surrounding the creation of those documents, so legal experts can discover legal defenses a homeowner can use to avoid foreclosure.

Jonathon Moseley, an attorney specializing in foreclosures, employs the services of Mortgage Fraud Examiners explains, “Mortgage Fraud Examiners helps me identify contract defenses, torts, regulatory violations and other types of legal anomalies. The value of a thorough examination of the mortgage transaction is that the examination is done right — with legal accuracy and depth. Unfortunately, cheap imitators must be avoided. A simplistic, software-based forensic audit by individuals with no legal training defeats the whole purpose: Careful analysis of the whole transaction, to include an analysis of the appraisal is needed to prepare a legal defense. The first step in any contract dispute is to see if the contract is legally valid. Too many lawyers never check whether the mortgage is even legally enforceable before rushing in to tackle a foreclosure. Spending money on one of these so-called forensic audits is entirely wasted because it takes a thinking legal professional to find defects in a mortgage transaction.”

How does a consumer spot a legitimate loan auditor from an untrained one? “Ask the right questions,” Bradford advises. “Ask how they do they conduct the audit- is it software, or are there specifically trained legal professionals spending real time examining the documents looking for contract defenses and tortious conduct? If they’re not performing a forensic appraisal that should be a clue. We find appraisal fraud in eight out of every ten-mortgage transactions we examine. Be wary of the scammers claiming to be ‘Attorney backed,’ or that they’re ‘certified loan auditors.’ Either legal professionals are performing the examinations, or not, and there is no schooling or certification process to becoming Joe the Auditor. Moreover, who certified the company providing the certification, and what are they certifying.

Be careful with a 100% guarantee. What are they REALLY guaranteeing, what are the loopholes? Be careful of the ones promoting TILA, RESPA violations most are useless. Ask for an actual redacted sample, if it has “Pass” or “Fail” answers in it you know it’s a worthless software audit.

“There really are many legal options available to homeowners facing foreclosure,” Bradford concludes. “But there are no shortcuts to finding them. Every claim has unique facts, every claim has different applicable law, and only a legal professional is going to find the answers to help each individual borrower stay in their home.”