Seattle-based mortgage broker fined $1 million-plus for fraud violations in Idaho

An Ada County, Idaho judge has ordered more than $1 million in penalties and restitution against Access Mortgage Company Inc. (Access Mortgage), a Seattle-based mortgage broker, for violating Idaho laws relating to mortgage and financial fraud. The district judge found that Access Mortgage had engaged in numerous violations of law, to include submitting a false mortgage loan application to a lender, violating an order previously issued against the company by the Idaho Department of Finance, misrepresenting information the company provided to the department, refusing to provide the department with information requested during an investigation of the company’s activities in Idaho, originating mortgage loans in Idaho through unlicensed mortgage loan originators on 405 occasions throughout the state with concentrations in Boise and northern Idaho, and failing to provide an elderly Idaho couple with required notices concerning closing costs the couple would be incurring on a mortgage loan obtained for them by Access Mortgage. In a related order, the district judge found that the company’s violations were “aggravated and serious.” The judgment included a permanent injunction against further violations of the Idaho Residential Mortgage Practices Act and the Idaho Financial Fraud Prevention Act. Moreover, the judgment included a penalty amount of $1,055,000 entered against Access Mortgage, and ordered the company to pay restitution in the amount of $27,322.18 on behalf of the Idaho couple injured by the company’s violations. “The court’s findings and entry of a million dollar plus money judgment against Access Mortgage sends a clear message to the mortgage industry that financial fraud and unlawful practices will not be tolerated in Idaho,” said Gavin Gee, Director of the Idaho Department of Finance.  For more information, visit http://finance.idaho.gov.