Anyone hear of this mortgage scam?

[Rick Lee]

Got a frantic call from my mom last night about my grandmother getting swindled. Someone claiming to be from Chase called my GM out of the blue and offered a lower rate to refi her house, no closing costs at all, nothing rolled into the loan, just a lower rate to keep her from leaving them. Nevermind that she hadn't been rate shopping or triggered the call with a payoff request.

GM said ok and waited for the stuff to arrive by mail. Yesterday someone claiming to be from Chase showed up on her doorstep, unannounced, in a snowstorm and said she was there to do the closing and notarize everything. She said she needed a check for $4k right then and there! Thank God, my GM refused....but the lady offered to go through with the closing anyway and notarized it all. Unfortunately, my GM lives two hrs. away from my folks and my folks couldn't get there yesterday because of the snow. NJ has a three-day right of recision, so there's time to fix all this and no money changed hands.

I told my mom:

1) Why the hell is an old lady letting ANY unannounced/uninvited stranger into her house? I'm armed and ready for a real fight and I don't even do this.
2) Make sure the payoff and new loan amounts are the same, otherwise, they rolled closing costs into the new loan.
3) Get the name of the title/closing agent, call and raise hell with them, even it's totally on the up and up.
4) If it's not on the up and up, rescind the deal and call HUD and/or FBI.
5) Get power of atty. from ASAP so this BS can't happen again.

[kaisen]

That doesn't sound good

[drcoastline]

Did the person provide credentials? Did anyone call Chase to verify? I am more then a little concerned about someone showing up at the door. I hope you notified the local PD and neighbors in case this person comes back or her friends? What was the Chase persons approximate age?

[RANDY P]

No initial disclosures in the mail Rick?

These days thanks to GFE reform if there is a significant / material change in fees between initial app and closing there needs to me new disclosures drawn and new waiting period before docs can be issued.

I'll be willing to bet GM has just applied for an FHA streamline- which would explain the $4k costs. No appraisal, all 3rd party and closing costs paid up front by borrower so the loan amt. isn't increased.

Deal can't close if she doesn't produce a check.... Still check everything out to make sure it isn't some sophisticated scam to get asset info or something.

My folks are in their 70's and I can't believe how many medicaid / healthcare / finance swindles they get in the mail and on the telephone. It's pretty bad- they prey on the elderly

rjp

[stomachmonkey]

This does not sound good.

[Rick Lee]

Yes, but GM does not have an FHA loan. AFAIK, she put 20% down, it's a conventional loan and she bought the place about seven yrs. ago. I've done FHA streamlines before, but never one that started out as a conventional loan. My GM is really not competent to fend off all the con artists out there and I suspect my folks only hear about half the attempts, always after the fact. What the hell else can we do? Until my mom is ready to get power of atty. and really get tough, she's an inviting target.

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Yes, but GM does not have an FHA loan. AFAIK, she put 20% down, it's a conventional loan and she bought the place about seven yrs. ago. I've done FHA streamlines before, but never one that started out as a conventional loan. My GM is really not competent to fend off all the con artists out there and I suspect my folks only hear about half the attempts, always after the fact. What the hell else can we do? Until my mom is ready to get power of atty. and really get tough, she's an inviting target.

uh oh...

who was the check to be made out too?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

She should have said, "sure wait here while I call my bank" (then gone and called 911).
Is she in AZ?

I know AZ has laws protecting elderly persons from getting abused and taken advantage of (they consider scamming to be a form of "abuse"). I have some (limited) experience with this which I don't want to get into too much here, but it involves how my now-deceased grandmother (who lived in AZ) was literally bled dry of her entire retirement fund (50+ years with the phone company, died without a penny to her name) by my criminal-record-holding cousin and her equally-scumbag husband. If you get a hold of the right people in L.E., they do take it seriously, but it's a very long process and there's a lot of legal wrangling. Very tough to get a conviction, much less recover anything. In your case I'd definitely notify the authorities IMMEDIATELY. And tell your grandma to be a little bit more careful! How does she know there weren't two big dudes packin' heat standing off to the side when she opened the door for the "agent" that would have liberated her of her posessions and possibly her life?

People that prey on the elderly are (IMHO) right down there with pedophiles and similar scum who prey on children. Both take advantage of those who are many times helpless and/or unable to comprehend what's happening.

[Rick Lee]

I don't know. I'm hearing all this third hand. But my mom is on the checking account with GM, so she could get that stopped, had it been written. What authority handles this kind of stuff? HUD, state or local popo?

[Rick Lee]

This is in NJ.

[drcoastline]

Licensing is handled by the NJ depart of banking and insurance. fraud/scams by NJ consumer affairs.

Have the checking account changed to require two signatures. This way even if your GM writes a check it must be counter signed by your mother or it is invalid. Of course a scammer would still have the account number.

website is NJDOBI

[Rick Lee]

I'm still skeptical, but it's looking better now. My mom called Chase and they said my GM had made an appt. (but apparently forgotten about it) for a closing agent to come visit. The reason for the $4k was because of escrows, but my GM pays her taxes and insurance herself, which is why they let it go without her paying. I told my mom to Google that phone number to make sure she was really talking with Chase. More to come.

[azasadny]

Unbelieveable....

[MRM]

Of course they were talking to Chase (kind of) but it still could have been a scam.

All that happened was that GM was cold called by a mortgage broker. The mortgage broker must have some affiliation with Chase, but is almost certainly an independent contractor. GM hears that she can get a lower rate at no cost to her, so she says yes. Mortgage broker who gets paid a commission on the sale drives out to GM's house and does the deal right then and there.

It could be completely legit and could be a scam, we just don't know. What fees and interest rate she signed up for determine whether it was a scam or legit.

[regency]

I hate these scammers..........Your GM should hire Chuck Norris to guard the door.

Steve

73 911T MFI Coupe, Aubergine