Consumer Law

Fraudsters Get $3.5M in Mortgages in Victim's Name!

By Kemnitzer, Anderson, Barron, Ogilvie & Brewer

In 2006, Benjamin Woods' personal identification documents were stolen by fraudsters. Using Woods' name and information, they obtained mortgages on houses in Concord and Oakland totaling $3.5 million. The fraudsters defaulted on the loans soon after the purchases were complete; months later the mortgage companies foreclosed.

The loans were held by Chase, Wells Fargo, GMAC Mortgage, Green Tree, American Home Mortgage and others and each reported to the credit reporting agencies that Woods was delinquent on the loans. After Woods discovering the problem, Woods sent letters to Experian, Trans Union, Equifax, and the mortgage companies explaining he did not take out the loans. Equifax deleted all but one of the inaccurate reports, but Experian, Trans Union and the mortgage companies refused to correct his credit reports.

In June 2010, we filed a complaint on Woods' behalf in the federal district court alleging that the defendants had violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act and state law in failing to delete the accounts that were created by the identity thieves. (Woods v Experian, Case No. 10-02669 CW, Northern District of California). The case is pending.

Full post as published by California Credit Law Blog on December 22, 2010 (boomark / email).