Common Predatory Lending Practices

By Nikki Vaughn

These days abusive practices conducted within the mortgage lending vertical have increased drastically along with the hefty growth of the subprime market. Listed below are seven common predatory practices that more and more home owners are realizing they too were treated unfairly and unlawfully.

1. Inclusion of excessive fees into loans. 2. Unrealistic and higher than warranted Interest Rates. 3. Ignoring the borrowers true ability to pay. 4. Loan to Value Issues. 5. Prepayment Penalties (most common in subprime loans). 6. Negative Amortization Loans. 7. Unfair Balloon Payments.

Inclusion of excessive fees into loans. Borrowers whose loans fall into the predatory lending category often have huge fees financed into the loan by digging into the equity of the property with future additional interest to come. The bank average to originate loans is 1%-2% and routinely those who are victim of predatory lending have fees in excess of 8%.

Unrealistic and higher than warranted Interest Rates. It makes sense that subprime lenders “should” charge a higher than normal rate because of the bigger credit risk that coincides with borrowers whose credit is anything other than excellent. However, as the subprime market exploded so did the number of borrowers who were unnecessarily slotted into a subprime loan. Higher interest rates means more money for the lending bank. Borrowers with perfect credit are regularly charged interest rates 3 to 6 points higher than the market rates; with some subprime lenders, there simply is no lower rate, no matter how good the credit.

Ignoring the borrowers true ability to pay. Some predatory lenders approve loans based on a few variables rather than the whole picture of the borrowers financial situation. For example, some loans get approved based solely on the homeowners equity even when its obvious the borrowers income can not accommodate the large monthly payment. You may wonder what the motivation would be for this instance and it really is no mystery. Mortgage brokers may be looking to make a quick buck and do not look into the future outcome. They may get commissions for number of loans closed in a certain time period and push this sort of loan through to the lender assuming the bank will oversee the true financial situation. It is also possible that some lenders recognize the borrower will soon be unsuccessful in making payments and when the home holds equity, the lender sees big dollar signs by foreclosing and reselling for a profit.

Loan to Value issues. Often loans are approved for a dollar amount higher than the home/properties actual value or what it is worth in the marketplace. The specific intent here would be that by trapping the borrower with the higher interest rate and larger than home valued loan amount, it maximizes their debt and “traps” them as customers for an extended period of time. Most of the time the borrower is totally unaware of this scam and even more unaware of the possible future consequences.

Prepayment Penalties (most common in subprime loans). It’s recorded that more than two thirds of subprime loans have prepayment penalties compared to a minimal 2 percent found with in conventional prime loans. The penalties arise when a borrower pays off their loan usually occurring in a refinance situation or the sale of the home. The time period for the penalties usually falls between the first two and five years of the loan and range between four to eight months interest on the loan. Some lenders will argue that prepayment penalties protect them from immediate and frequent turnover of loans and use it as a retention tool. Sadly, many borrowers are not even aware of the prepayment penalty and when they are stuck in an adjustable rate, the consequence is even more devastating.

Negative Amortization Loans. In a negatively amortized loan (aka; neg am) they payment does not cover all of the interest due and definitely does not dent the principal. By not covering the interest rate in the monthly payments, the loan balance increases and the home equity lessons as time moves on. The loan balance increases and the equity shrinks, often a very rude awakening for uneducated borrowers.

Unfair Balloon Payments. The definition of a balloon payment loan is as follows. After a contracted number of monthly loan payments have processed on the mortgage, the borrower must pay off the remaining loan balance in its entirety. It’s recorded that about 10 percent of the subprime loans have a contracted balloon payment. Sure that in some instances the balloon payment plan makes sense for those who are aware and financially capable, but for most borrowers in subprime loans they are extremely harmful. Equity is impossible to build even if home prices increase and borrowers are forced to refinance in order to make the final balloon payment.

About the Author: Nikki Vaughn is a seasoned professional concentrating her studies within finance and mortgage. She’s driven to alert and educate by delivering industry news and hot topics and currently writes for

consumerdebtadvocate.net

on consumer education pieces and freelance for client’s websites.

Source:

isnare.com

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