Colorado AG Targeting Mortgage Brokers; Files Suit Against Firm Alleging Deception In "Teaser Rate" Ads

In Colorado, CBS4-TV reports:

• The Colorado Attorney General's Office is cracking down on mortgage fraud. The target: ads from mortgage brokers. The ads have been appearing in newspapers. The attorney general's office is investigating 13 companies. One investigation involves a mortgage broker in Arapahoe County that the attorney general claims deceived, misled and financially injured Colorado consumers. The case involves people seeking new mortgages and those who were re-financing at a lower rate. They saw ads in Denver newspapers and the rates were appealing -- promising fixed rate mortgages. One ad stated, "We ask that you refrain from kissing our loan officers."

• Attorney General John Suthers said such ads are often not what they seem. "If you look at them, you would be led to believe you could get a fixed rate loan at some extremely low rate," Suthers said. His lawsuit claims the advertised rates were not fixed, but rather teaser rates that would re-adjust in one to three months. The company being sued is Wholesale Mortgage Lending in Centennial. It also goes by Jupiter Lending and numerous other names.

For more, see Attorney General Cracks Down On Mortgage Fraud.