Letter: Many got away with mortgage fraud

Homes in new foreclosure cases were 682 last month on... — Homes in new foreclosure cases were 682 last month on Long Island, down from 720 in June and 808 from a year earlier. The total number of cases — new and ongoing — added up to 773 in July. Credit: AP File

August 13, 2011

Regarding Anne Michaud's column "Mortgage schemers' luck may be running out" [Opinion, Aug. 11], I applaud the prosecution of mortgage fraud involving straw buyers, but it's the tip of the iceberg.

Most of us know that the vast majority of mortgage fraud was handled by Main Street brokers who solicited unsuspecting lower-income and elderly people for adjustable-rate, no-money-down deals. These brokers, most of whom have closed shop and kept their "winnings," would coach the applicants on the income requirements, and look the other way as the applicant listed incomes that were five times or more their actual earnings. Of course, no documents required.

This, in the name of earning commissions for them and financial disaster for the applicant and the economy.

Richard Weiss, East Moriches

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