Is this mortgage fraud or conspiracy to fraud?

kempstar · 14 June 2017 at 10:34AM

Hello

I am in the middle of a dispute with a mortgage broker. Part of what they have done was that they asked me to not disclose incentives to my mortgage lender. I refused this, and told my Solicitor straight away. They still very much intended to hide these incentives. The incentives included - stamp duty paid, free legals, rental guarantee for six months, free property management for six months and interest on exchange deposits.

Here is the relevant email from the broker-

Please note that the developer contributions being offered can affect the lending (the value of the contributions would be seen as cash incentives and as such would be taken off the purchase price) so we would have to ensure they werent made known to the valuer. Ive made XXXXX aware of this, so that he is up to speed and we would ensure that the developer didn’t disclose this on his paperwork too.

(XXXXX is a broker in the firm)

I have contacted ActionFraud and also the Property Ombudsman Service, and they have both been no help whatsoever. I want to make a serious complaint against the firm, and want to know how much leverage this gives me.

glosoli · 14 June 2017 at 10:42AM

Has your application actually completed yet or are you still going through the process? To my understanding intentionally withholding information from the lender which could influence their decision to lend would be mortgage fraud yes.

If your going to persue it to the degree as mentioned in your post then he will have a major headache on his hands.

ACG · 14 June 2017 at 10:46AM

A broker has a responsibility to make the lender aware of anything they ask for. Personally I try to make them aware of anything that could be an issue that they do not ask for so as to avoid issues down the line.

If the broker is going out of their way to colude and keep something like that away from the lender, then it is fraud in my opinion.

If you are concerned about this, then you can let the lender know. They will take it seriously I am sure.

kingstreet · 14 June 2017 at 10:54AM

Is this a newbuild?

If so, is it HTB?

Which lender is it?

rtho782 · 14 June 2017 at 1:29PM

Sounds like you are using the developers appointed mortgage broker on a newbuild?

This is probably a bad idea...

amnblog · 14 June 2017 at 2:27PM

Pretty amazed that a regulated broker firm would:

1. Suggest this

2. Put it in an email

Your post, however, suggests that the dispute is wider than this?

Lilla_D · 14 June 2017 at 2:39PM

ActionFraud and the Ombudsman would be no help at this stage due to the complaint procedure you have to follow. In the first instance you'd have to make a complaint to the brokerage itself who will be obliged to acknowledge it, investigate it and come back to you and potentially offer a resolution of the problem. If you are not happy with the outcome, that's when you can take it further.

The broker should have sent you a disclosure form about who to contact in case of a complaint. It's normally an appointed complaints handling officer, but if you contact someone above the broker (by the sound of it, you're not talking about a sole broker company), then they should be able to help.

What the broker said about the incentives potentially influencing your borrowing amount is true, but a suitable lender has to be chosen in view of the incentives. Actively hiding it from the lender is not the solution and you're right, it could be classified as fraud as per ACG's reply.

Contacting the lender may also be a good idea, because if they think that you were part of the cover-up attempt in any way, they may put you on a fraud list that could prevent you from getting a mortgage anywhere.

dunstonh · 14 June 2017 at 2:40PM

I have contacted ActionFraud and also the Property Ombudsman Service, and they have both been no help whatsoever.

That is because it is not within their remit.

I want to make a serious complaint against the firm, and want to know how much leverage this gives me.

And that is what you should do. Mortgage brokers are regulated and there is a defined complaints process and access to the FOS at the end (if you dont get an outcome you are happy with).

The broker should have supplied you with an initial disclosure document that has the address or telephone number or email to use for complaints.

kingstreet · 14 June 2017 at 2:42PM

Is the broker directly authorised, or an appointed representative of a network?

amnblog · 14 June 2017 at 3:04PM

dunstonh wrote: »

The broker should have supplied you with an initial disclosure document that has the address or telephone number or email to use for complaints.

Good luck with that one Dunston if they are happy to falsify CML Decs.

davidmcn · 14 June 2017 at 3:09PM

Hmm. It doesn't sound like mortgage fraud (because you disclosed the relevant info to the lender), and it's not conspiracy to commit fraud (because that takes two people planning to do it, not one person suggesting it and the other rejecting it). But it's certainly worthy of complaint/reporting to the regulators at the very least.

Is this mortgage fraud or conspiracy to fraud?

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