We received a call from my SIL#1 about my BIL#2 last night. BIL#2 notices a storage unit being delivered to his Detroit home one morning (last week). He runs out to ask why was this storage unit being delivered in front of his yard. He was told by a bank representative that the storage unit was for my BIL#2 personal belongings. His house was being foreclosed. This was a major shock because he pays his mortgage with an extra principal payment a month ahead!
He contacted his church's lawyer who investigated the foreclosure. The lawyer with a church member who is realtor pulled up information on the home. It was found that the house had a $120,000.00 equity line of credit fraudently taken out in 2006 with a second financial institution (Wells Fargo)! Someone or a group of theives (mortgage officer, finance company, title company and financial institution) stole his wife's identity! (The house is in her name.) She and he are of course are angry, violated and totally devasted!
They went to court yesterday and the judge gave them two weeks to prove that this was an identity theft case. BIL#2 has reported this to the police, FBI, his original mortgage company, Wells Fargo, and all 3 credit bureaus. This is a financial nightmare with the potential of losing their home!! They owned their home for over 10 years.
I did some investigation and found that this is the common incident in Detroit. It is also spreading throughout the United States. This is an easy white collar crime with minimal sentencing of 3 years maximum jail time. This is why so many criminals are switching from selling drugs because of the easy money without the lengthy jail time if they get caught. It is very easy to be a mortgage officer in Michigan. This is due to no state or federal oversight of the lending industry. There are no criminal background checks conducted on Michigan's lenders.
Yes, I know that they could have avoided this disaster early if they were vigilantly checking their credit histories with all three credit bureaus. But, they are like a majority of Americans who are God fearing, hard working, pay their bills on time and trying to better their lives for their two young sons. My BIL#2 and wife didn't deserve this. My DH's family are pooling their money together to help them pay for a lawyer to get them out of this mess.
The positive side of this was that my DH finally acknowledged that my persistent checking our credit histories (even our sons) was not a waste of money. He gave me a hug and thanked me! I am really so sad and angry this happened to my BIL#2.
Identity Theft!!!!!!
April 10th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
April 10th, 2008 at 11:17 pm 1207869424
April 10th, 2008 at 11:51 pm 1207871486
would there not be a paper trail showing where things were mailed they could informaiton on?
who ordered the storage unit?
where is the orginal loan officer?
this is just horrible and i hope they are able to rectify the situation.
April 11th, 2008 at 01:19 am 1207876788
April 11th, 2008 at 01:20 am 1207876818
Anyway, thank you for sharing. Makes me want to be all the more vigilant.
April 11th, 2008 at 01:40 am 1207878031
April 11th, 2008 at 02:23 am 1207880590
April 11th, 2008 at 12:17 pm 1207916260
April 11th, 2008 at 02:59 pm 1207925974
No one seems to really give a crap about tracking down who did this to me. The credit card companies don't care. For them, it's the cost of doing business. I doubt the lending industry feels much different. Of course it's the "perfect crime." So that aspect is frustrating.