More On Florida's Favorable Business Climate For Mortgage Fraudsters

In Florida, The Miami Herald reports:

• Florida, now saddled with the nation's highest level of mortgage fraud, once offered a program to reimburse people scammed by rogue mortgage brokers -- the money coming from licensing fees. Today, those fees total $24.7 million -- but victims of mortgage fraud can't get a penny of it.

• State regulators killed the victim program with no public debate more than a decade ago -- despite warnings that mortgage fraud was on the rise -- leaving borrowers in Florida among the most vulnerable in the country, The Miami Herald found. While 47 states have protections for people who are scammed, including guaranty funds and insurance that covers fraud, Florida has no such provisions.

• That means thousands of people fleeced by mortgage brokers are left to fend for themselves, despite millions of dollars in the state's regulatory trust fund -- money that goes to cover salaries and benefits for regulators, including trips to conferences at five-star resorts.

For the rest of the story, see No help for mortgage fraud victims (Florida no longer reimburses consumers defrauded by mortgage brokers -- even though $24.7 million raised through licensing fees sits untapped).

For The Miami Herald's three part investigative report (published earlier this summer) on mortgage fraudsters running rampant in Florida, see Borrowers Betrayed.