HUD Mortgage Review Board Rebukes Seven Lenders

WASHINGTON, DC-In the most serious sanctions taken against lenders in three months, US Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo says HUD fined seven lending institutions $486,000 and restricted their dealings with the Federal Housing Administration up to five years for violating federal lending policies. In the past two years, the MRB has taken action against 98 lenders.

The MRB levied the sanctions against American Investment Mortgage Inc.,Dallas, TX; American SkyCorp Inc., Timonium, MD; Assurety MortgageGroup Inc., Decatur, GA; DMR Financial Services Inc., Farmington Hills, MI;National Charter Mortgage Corp., Gardena, CA; SMN Mortgage Corp., Rio Piedras,PR; and Twins Inc., Columbia, SC.

American Investment Mortgage lost its FHA approval authority for five years for operating branch offices under an improper branch network and allowing a branch office to submit loans before being approved to originate FHA loans.

American SkyCorp Inc. lost FHA approval authority for five years and was penalized $220,000 and for using falsified documents in originating loans and obtaining mortgage insurance, for approving loans with ratios that exceeded HUD established guidelines and for not ensuring that borrowers qualified for FHA-insured mortgages.

Assurety Mortgage Group Inc. was fined $150,000 and lost FHA approval for an additional five years because AMGI defied previous MRB sanctions and continued to participate in HUD/FHA programs after its authority was withdrawn in February.

National Charter Mortgage Corp. was fined $100,000 and it lost HUD/FHA approval for three years for failure to remit Up Front Mortgage Insurance Premiums within 15 days of loan closing.

SMN Mortgage Corp. lost its HUD/FHA approval authority for three years because it permitted mortgage brokers to originate and process HUD-insured mortgages before obtaining FHA approval.

DMR Financial Services Inc. lost HUD/FHA approval authority for three years because it failed to make timely Upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium payments on 30 loans.

Twins Inc. was penalized $16,000 and its HUD/FHA approval authority was withdrawn for three years because it maintained an office not clearly identified to the public and failed to maintain an adequate Quality Control Plan for originating HUD-insured mortgages.