You would have thought these kind of activities would have already been against the law.

Good job closing the barn door after a lot of mischief.

What about the victims of this fraudulent state? Shouldn't all mortgage fraud contracts be invalidated if it was done fraudlently? Utah is alwasy eager to pass laws for after the fact crimes but nothing for the victims of these coslty and drastic crimes. The Utah legislators love to leave the victims hanging and suffer the financial destruction of consumers lives and its time laws were enacted for victims rights and security. With no consumer protection laws in Utah fraud is always going to find a safe haven here. What are the chances of even catching and prosecuting criminal fraud? Almost zilch, that's a zero-1 to those that get caught, and it will have no affect in the reduction of fraud. Utah needs laws in the licensing of businesses is what Utah needs, especially in construction, home building, developement, and zoning laws and enforcement of laws. We need consumer lending laws to prevent licensed loan sharking backed with state support in our courts. We need fraud prevention laws that keep fraud out of the state to stop the constant victimizing of the consumers in Utah. Fraud is legal in this state with little to no enforcement or effort in prevention.

Not to defend bad actors in the mortgage industry, but the Mortgage Bakers report is the worst information to base any decision on. Utah is ranked fifth only because the powers that be did not lobby the MBA successfully. The report is based on perceived fraud, not on anything that actually happens, like mortgage loan defaults, court cases or civil or criminal convictions. If based on actual incidents, Utah would rank near the bottom - look at the report and see for yourself.

The problem with mortgage fraud is that when the real estate market is good, both sides are complicit in it. Lenders look the other way as borrowers exaggerate their incomes to the moon; they're happy to make the loan and collect the fees. Wall Street is happy to buy the tainted loans -- no questions asked -- and make its share of money securitizing the mortgages and selling them off. And the investors who buy the mortgage bonds are happy to collect the elevated yields.

Until, of course, the market turns, and then everybody starts pointing fingers. Nobody involved in this whole sordid process is innocent. It's very hard to cheat an honest man.

Amen to Thomas, The biggest problem with the people in Utah is they are all trying to get ahead of the Jones. It's time people take responsibility for their own stupidity & greed. Wake up people & know what you can afford to buy before you leap into a contest with your neighbor. And listen to the prophet's council on how to manage you money.

If the mortgage lender uses fraud in any way in the execution of a mortgage loan, that loan should be deemed null and void.

Title to the property should be imediately given to the mortagee and all fees reversed. The mortgage loan should be cancelled and recorded as paid in full. Only the home owner comes out ahead.

It should be the responsibility of the Investor to guarentee the honosty and legality of the transaction. Investors who fail to practice good principals should be heavily fined and removed from the mortgage market.

The most common action associated with mortgage fraud is that of inflated appraisals. That is not the mortgage broker.

With mortgage brokers/loan officers, you find that the only way that they can commit fraud is not by lying on the loan but by creating the documents to support that lie. That happens but nowhere near what is perceived. Out of several thousand loan officers in the state maybe a hundred plus do something like this. That means 97%+ are completely on the up and up.

And besides for a few years there was a loan called a No Doc loan. No documentation, proof of income, bank statements, W-2s, tax returns reviewed. Nothing! The only thing they do is look at your credit. If they think your credit supports the income you claim, and the income you claim is in line with reasonable industry earnings, you get the loan. Basically no questions asked beyond credit and type of job. And they don't even verify that you have the job.

Why would a loan officer commit fraud when they can do a No Doc loan?

Obviously the state is way too late. The market is now self correcting except for pending govt interference. The mortgage mess was caused by excess money creation by the republicon controlled govt which in turn encouraged the wall street houses to make idiotic types of securities based on overpriced property (loans) to reap glutonous compensation. It is nothing more than the old asset valuation scheme. When rates are low assets increase in value and when rates are high assets fall in value (due to competition and alternate use of funds). The republicons and Greenspam deserve total blame. And just where is all this fraud. I see nothing reported in any large numbers.

Well, they should go after Dave Ormsbee. Remember him? (search 'dave ormsbee housing bubble shame')
The Mortgage Mistake in Utah
Dave thought he was becoming a real estate investor. “Good credit was a curse,” he says. Dave says it was his good credit alone that bought a home in Draper and a house in St. George, both with no money out of his pocket. Now at the age of 27, Dave owes more than a million dollars in mortgage loans.

Sounds like he makes a lot of money, but quite the opposite is true. Dave is a college student and waits tables after school. He makes maybe $11,000 a year, yet he bought the Draper house for more than $700,000.“