There are some terrible mortgage brokers – here’s proof

Some of you know that I am a mortgage industry outsider. I didn’t come in to the industry as a loan officer, I came in as a marketing person with a bit of an entrepreneurial bent. I’ve never worked at a company other than the one I own. I didn’t "see how it was done" elsewhere, or learn "bad habits" from some other company. I only know how business should be done from what I think is the right way to do it – no other way.

So my indoctrination in to the mortgage world has sometimes had the feeling of being jumped in by a gang. I get a hard time for not laughing, for not high fiving, for not participating in the depravity of ripping people off left and right. I hear these disgusting stories that are appalling and true, from people I have met in the industry that crystallize the reason people hate mortgage brokers so much. And YOU should. There are some good ones, but not nearly enough. The good ones are hard to find.

So here is a quick story to illustrate how messed up the mortgage industry can be. Do you know that at some mortgage companies they have a position called "The Doctor"? The Doctor sits in a room all by him or herself with a Macintosh, a copy of Adobe Photoshop, scanner and laser printer. The doctor gets files that need income documentation to make them "work" (approved by the banks).

The doctor returns the file with a beautiful W2 or tax return or 1099 or bank statement or award letter or whatever was needed for the file. It looks like a dead-on ringer for an actual document. These guys have done so many forgeries that they look perfect.

They go to the bank who approves the loan. The Doctor has another satisfied loan officer. His broker pays him a huge salary – usually one of the highest in the company. The Doctor position exists in so many different shops it is scary. If anyone tells you not to worry about "making the income work" they are probably shipping your file to The Doctor.

What’s even scarier is if you’ve signed a 1003 with false income documented on it then you are swearing under penalty that you make that amount of money. The documents in the file will be used against you in any fraud cases (that are sure to be cropping up in the near future) even if you never knew about the document’s existence.

The Doctor is in far too many houses and is far too commonly accepted in this industry.