I Helped Cause the Financial Crisis, and I’m Sorry
The perception among the general public is that mortgage salespeople were sleazy, greedy and immoral. This was partly true. I worked with some people who would have sold their own mother to make a buck. I literally knew of drug dealers who had gone into mortgages because it was less risky and more profitable than selling cocaine. But there were plenty of decent people in the industry as well. The problems mostly came down from the top. Regional managers had a no-holds barred mentality. You had to do anything to make the sale, no excuses. This meant working late, lying to people, and committing fraud. I once walked into the copy room and saw someone cutting out a signature and copying it onto another document. Stories circulated about other branches staying up late and manufacturing fake asset documents to qualify borrowers for loans. On one of my loans, a regional manager turned a 2/28 year adjustable loan into a 6 month adjustable because it made $500 more for the company. I had to explain to the borrower that it was the best we could do. She signed on the loan because the needed the 15k cash out in equity for accumulating bills.
There are few things that I regret in my life. Among those regrets are a handful of loans that I should never have agreed to make. I would have lost my job, but it wasn’t worth the money I made from them. I never committed fraud, but that’s only because most of it was legal at the time. I don’t regret the experience. It taught me about what kind of a person I didn’t want to be, and what money can make you do. I helped cause the financial collapse, and I’m sorry. No one has apologized to you, and we all should. We hurt people who were much more honest and hardworking than we ever will be, only for money. I am truly sorry, and I will never hurt people for money again.
Check out the whole post here…
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As a mortgage broker and in the industry for well over 33 years now I would have to say it took a lot of guts for this person to come forward on an open forum. During this boom time I discouraged buyers from entering these types of mortgages. I lost Realtors b/c I would not do them and tried to counsel borrowers that this was not a “deal” for them. Consequently, I lost a lot (and I mean a lot) of income b/c those Realtors then refused to send any business my way! And even if I did put them in a normal program it was usually killed when the appraisal came in as I used an honest appraiser (back when the broker controlled the ordering of them) and justified what the true value of a property should be. Like so many others that entered the business from a rush to make the almighty dollar, literally bilking the consumer of hard-earned monies, this does not excuse his behavior based on ignorance. There was and still are many avenues to pursue in educating oneself with mortgage lending and now requirements to do so. On the other hand, it is because of the acts of these greed mongers that such stringent and cost related regulations have been imposed upon us (the broker arm of the industry) that even many of the good ones have fallen by the wayside. Here in Florida you will pay upwards of $2K to be licensed and required education and yet there are now even more restrictions on the amount of pay we can receive as justified by the federal gov’t. The banks loan officers on the retail side are not subject to the same rules of the game. There is light, however, at the end of the tunnel as the system weeds out the good, the bad and the ugly and that goes for the Realtor market as well. I’m hopeful for brighter days ahead and I hope to see proper punishment for those banking crimminals in a ponzi scheme that brought the entire market crashing and devouring money out of the consumers.
This story speaks of the year 2006/2007..but this whole set up started back years before… fraud found in the mid 90’s..In the Clinton years, the government wanted anyone and everyone to be able to own a house…so the plan grew thicker and deeper…the ARM’s optional… Spring of 2003..to boost the ‘plan’ into faster speed ..speed to get to the results of the balloon burst. Regulators saw the fraud but turned their heads. FBI reported the frauds in 2004 to the Justice Dept..again heads turned the other way. The U.S. Attorney General in 2004, Gonzales, was asked the other day about the reported frauds in 2004…and with a dumb look on his face, remarked.. HE DID NOT REMEMBER that report from the FBI. Has dementia set in or what…How could a U.S. Attorney General NOT remember AN ISSUE OF FRAUD WITH THE BANKS? How could regulators get paid a salary and not do their job? How could fraud be a ‘technicality’….Why have we not heard from the CONgress and the President….from anyone in Washington on this foreclosure and fraud set up that has put America in ruins? NOTHING FROM ANYONE… Is it the quiet before the storm? The fact of playing around with the health care issue ( now going into the 3rd year) is a cop-out to ignore the facts of what really is the culprit behind this whole scene of fraud on the citizens. We have the right to ‘police’ the Laws of the Land, the Constitutional rights for all citizens and the right for government to speak to the citizens the truth…the truth in this matter of the cause or means of destroying our country. Is this not a form of terrorism…a plan to destroy ? Terrorism done on our own land and Home Land Security sits back watching as citizens fight to save their country…is something wrong with this picture? WAKE UP AMERICA
I don’t think that if I saw people cutting and copying signatures, that I would have thought I was in a good industry, or one that followed ethics (I love to argue but will never become an attorney). I hate that this person says they have no regrets but learned from it. Sorry. I dispise that logic. You should regret not getting out of that situation sooner, so you don’t have to think that you had to screw over people to keep a paycheck coming (they must not be smart of any kind, can’t get a job except format selling?)
I commend you my broker has never told me that she was sorry. Saying that you are sorry is a good start for borrowers who are trying to climb back onto the horse Thank You I forgive you I wish you had been my rep
Who are the banksters working for? Blaming the banks alone for the financial rape and pillage of America and it’s people is very deceptive. Who put the banks up to the crimes (and still are) that caused the financial crisis? CONgress put forth the plan. The Banks and Wall Street did not act alone. The facts tell a different story about the PONZI SCHEME.. The FBI blew the whistle on the mortgage fraud in 2004 and warned of the impending doom and that it was certain to cause a giant financial crisis. The Government IGNORED the warnings. We need to look at the facts and not have Selective Amnesia about what has occurred here in America. Remember that if a lie is told often enough and the people BELIEVE IT, it can be used to control their destiny. Those living a lie can easily be controlled through that lie. I would like to thank the banks for selling me my home for a nominal fee. Seems the BANKS wanted to share the FREE MARKET CAPITALISM WEALTH that they created up in Wall Street by selling us our homes for a nominal fee and then proceeded to use OUR COLLATERAL to create hundreds of trillions in wealth with it up on Wall Street. THE BANKS WANTED TO SPREAD THE WEALTH AROUND. The top 1% stole our wealth in the INTENTIONAL FINANCIAL CRISIS and now are trying to make the BANKS look llike the greedy ones by FORCING FRAUDCLOSURES and FAKE LOAN MODS. Our homes are PAID FOR FREE AND CLEAR THANKS TO THE BANKS. HOW AMERICAN OF THE BANKS. GOD BLESS AMERICA.
they only wanted to spread the wealth around? reprehensible.
The deceit involved was reprehensible. But free market capitalism is not supposed to benefit only the richest !% of the population. The fact that the banks sold us our homes for a nominal fee at Origination and then covered-up the fact that our homes were paid for free and clear is by all means decietful. But the fact remains our homes are paid for free and clear. The banks were not so greedy as to assign or secure a debt to our deeds and that was not because they were to greedy to do so,someone in the banking system knew of the BIGGEST PONZI SCHEME IN HISTORY that was going to result ing the ROBERRY OF OUR WEALTH AND THEN OUR HOMES, VIA AN INTENTIONAL FINANCIAL COLLAPSE BY THE ILLUMINATI. DON’T BELIEVE IT? Go to you tube and search for CNBC ILLUMINATI and WATCH THE VIDEO. the Government cabal and CONgress WHO IMPLEMENTED THE PONZI WEALTH STEALING SCHEME, and also are still trying to FORCE THE BANKS to give FAKE LOAN MODS for a NON-EXISTANT MORTGAGE DEBT or FRAUDCLOSE or DEED-IN-LIEU or CASH FOR KEYS,ETC. You need to do your homework about this scheme. You should watch the movie Capitalism a Love Story by Michael Moore or pick up the book The Great Stick-up of America by Robert Shear. The banks are greedy but our Government is greedier. If this was not the case, the banks would have sealed the deal and followed the law in recording and assigning. No one anywhere is ever going to make me believe that the banks were just being sloppy or greedy, If they were THAT GREEDY, THEY WOULD HAVE DONE IT ALL RIGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE AND THERE WOULD BE NO ORIGINATION FRAUD OR FRAUDCLOSUREGATE AND THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN LOAN MODS BUT THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO THE BANKS FOR SELLING ME MY HOME FOR A NOMINAL FEE AT ORIGINATION BECA– USE NOW I OWN MY HOME FREE AND CLEAR. MY COUNTY RECORDER’S OFFICE TOLD ME THIS IS TRUE, THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS HAS RUN OUT ON THE BANKS TO ASSIGN A DEBT TO MY DEED.. LOL Don’t be believin the lies.
You need to think outside of the box. They are using Selective Amnesia on you.