Consumer Alert: Home Builders Create Mortgage Monopoly. Building Standards Also Questioned.
In order to increase profitability, many regional and most national home builders are now offering their own mortgage products. By offering "incentives," the unsuspecting new home owner gets lured into a trap where they actually think they are getting a good or fair deal on their mortgage. In reality they are not. These same builders frequently look the other way on non- english speaking, illegal workers being the core of the work force related to a substantial portion of residential contruction activities in many states.
(PRWEB) June 30, 2005 -- According to Thomas Martin, President of the
National Mortgage Complaint Center, "millions of new home purchasers have been
overcharged after they felt like they felt like they were forced into using the
mortgage product of a regional or national home builder". According to Martin,
"the reason most national and many regional home builders have become mortgage
lenders can be summed up in two words....More Profits". Martin explained, "by
offering "incentives" such as "bonus" construction features, or a portion of the
closing costs to be paid, the home builder lures the unsuspecting new homeowner
into a trap, where the home purchaser ends up with an interest rate/monthly
mortgage payment that could be much higher than the best possible interest
rate/mortgage payment available for their credit". "Or the potential new
homeowner might get stuck with junk mortgage fees that even the most crooked
mortgage lender would think twice about ever charging a consumer".
Martin
says "what makes things worse, is that frequently these same builders have shell
title or escrow firms that in no possible way can act as a disinterested third
party with respect to closing, or the issuance of title insurance to the
consumer". "By controlling the entire transaction there are little to no safety
nets for the consumer, because the builder typically will say "take it or leave
it," or "if you don't use our mortgage product the house costs $10,000 more".
What the new home owner does not understand is that by accepting the
builders mortgage program in 90+% of the cases examined by The National Mortgage
Complaint Center, the consumer never knew the builder was receiving an
undisclosed kick-back called a "yield spread premium" for increasing the
consumers interest rate/monthly mortgage payment. This is because the builder
could/can hide behind a double standard (in federal banking laws & HUD's
RESPA) that allows for banks or mortgage bankers to avoid disclosure of this
kick back scheme also known as back loading or back ending the deal. As a result
tens of millions of home owners are now paying a much higher monthly mortgage
payment than anything close to what they deserved or could have received on the
open market.
Martin said, "to make matters even worse from a consumer
standpoint; much of the new home construction in the United States is the result
of the toil of illegal aliens, who in many cases cannot understand or read
English. In the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Utah,
Texas, Georgia, North & South Carolina, Florida and Colorado it appears like
the majority of residential sub contractors use these types of workers." Martin
went onto say; "this instantly calls into question; if the worker cannot read or
understand the English language, how does he/she understand a set of blue-prints
or the instructions of a construction manager, whose only language is English"?
Martin concludes, "this could translate into construction defects on a scale
this nation has never seen before."
Martin is also very concerned about
the treatment of these illegal or undocumented construction workers in relation
to forced overtime without extra compensation and or forced 6 day a week work
schedules. Martin would like to know, "just exactly how do these workers get
paid without a valid social security number in a post 9-11 world?" According to
Martin, "the reason the regional or national home builder allows its sub
contractors to use this type of labor force is simple .......cheap labor equals
more profits for almost everyone." "The exceptions to profits for almost
everyone could be the consumer, who paid too much for their mortgage product
from the builder, the consumer who purchased a poorly built home and or the
undocumented worker" who according to Martin " was either paid under the table
(with no tax) or was over-worked and underpaid compared to US citizens
performing the same type of construction tasks."
If you are a purchaser
of a new home you should contact the National Mortgage Complaint Center at http://nationalmortgagecomplaintcenter.com/ for an inexpensive
examination of your mortgage documents. The National Mortgage Complaint Center
would also be very interested in learning about construction defects, leaking
roofs, mold, failed windows, foundation cracks or any other problem involved in
any new home, sub division or condominium nationwide. If you have information
related to national or regional homebuilders using or allowing undocumented or
illegal aliens to perform construction duties at residential subdivisions or
developments of any type you should contact the National Mortgage Complaint
Center immediately. If you are an employee or former employee of a regional or
national home builder or an industry insider with specific information about
wrong doing on the part of national or regional homebuilders you should report
your information to The National Mortgage Complaint Center or its sister
organization The Corporate Whistleblower Center at http://Americaswatchdog.Com/
immediately.
Contact:
Thomas Martin
866-714-6466
e-mail
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THE JUSTICE & INTEGRITY PROJECT
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb255756.htm