...“There is no simple definition of predatory lending. Predatory practices are not defined in federal law, and states differ in the way they define predatory lending practices.” However, there are some key indicators that are considered predatory. Some of these indicators include excessive interest rates, equity stripping, and credit insurance products that are financed upfront. One of the most commonly used predatory loan practices is loan flipping. Loan flipping occurs when a loan is frequently refinanced with new loan fees, continually adding to the loan amount despite a borrower’s payments on the loan. (Eggert, 2002) Financing companies use this technique to charge pre-payment penalties, along with new origination fees. It is advantageous to financing companies to use this technique when a borrower becomes delinquent on a home loan because they offer borrowers the opportunity to bring their loan current. (Eggert, 2002) However, they not only add a significant amount to the original loan amount, but also to the borrower’s currently monthly payment. This form of predatory lending may coincide with equity stripping, as every time a loan is “flipped” it continually strips borrowers of their equity, making it more difficult for them to pay their loan off, and essentially leading to inevitable foreclosure. With equity stripping and loan flipping, the practice of “packing” is coincidentally complementary in terms of predatory lending. Packing is...
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...Predatory lending is directed at borrowers in the subprime sector, who do not qualify for conventional loans. These loans have high interest rates and fees due to the higher risk to the lender. Predatory lenders target the financially vulnerable, specifically the elderly, the poor or racial minorities. Many of their targets could have qualified for a regular prime loan at much lower interest rates. This difference in interest rates would mean thousands of dollars saved by the homeowner. Predatory lending practices can leave victims homeless while the lenders make profits. (Pridgen, 2005) The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) defines predatory lending as transactions that contain terms and conditions that ultimately harm borrowers. (Bond, Musto, & Yilmaz, 2009) Determining who benefits in the financial transaction helps to determine whether or not a transaction can be labeled as predatory. When a borrower does not benefit, the mortgage is viewed as a predatory lending practice. Predatory lenders often use aggressive sales tactics to compel borrowers into refinancing when the financing terms are not in the borrower’s interest. They pack excessive fees into the transactions, such as insurances, prepayment penalties, and yield spread premiums. (Pridgen, 2005) A refinanced mortgage can be filled with excessive, unnecessary fees. A predatory lender typically adds them into the loan amount to disguise them. The most common extra charge is insurance, including mortgage...
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...Predatory Lending Practices Predatory lending was once a major problem in the United States. This was one of the reasons for the credit crisis in 2008. Unfortunately there were a few companies that were involved in these illegal practices which will be discussed in further detail later. There are different tactics used in predatory lending and several laws were developed to help prevent future predatory lending issues. What is predatory lending? Predatory lending is any lending practice that imposes unfair or abusive loan terms on a borrower. It is also any practice that convinces a borrower to accept unfair terms through coercive, deceptive, exploitative, or unscrupulous actions for a loan that a borrower can’t afford, doesn’t need, or doesn’t want. Predatory lending benefits the lender, not the borrower by ignoring or hindering the borrower’s ability to repay the debt. These lending tactics attempt to take advantage of a borrower’s lack of understanding about loans, terms, or finances in general (Krulick, 2014). Who can be targeted in these illegal practices? Predatory lenders typically target minorities, poor, elderly, and less educated people. People who need immediate cash are also targeted. For example people that need to pay medical bills, need to make a home repair, or someone that needs help making a car payment. People with credit issues or people who recently lost their jobs can be targets as well. The credit issues often disqualify borrowers from conventional loans...
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...Predatory Lending Practices The American dream is often coupled with the idea that success is achieved through home ownership. However, with changing times and changing economic status, it has been a dream far from tangible to many American citizens. With many people striving for a taste of prosperity, it has become apparent what some people are willing to do to achieve such a dream. It is also apparent that some people are willing to facilitate such achievements even through dishonest means. Predatory lending practices have appeared, enticing borrowers with loans to fund home purchases with the attachment of detrimental consequences. While convenient in the short run, borrowers are often left with no equity or prosperity due to predatory lending practices such as equity stripping, loan flipping, packing, and balloon payments. Some lenders have no expectations in their borrowers to repay a loan approved to them in a form of predatory lending called “equity stripping.” In this form of predatory lending, foreclosure on a home is inevitable, yet financing companies will approve these loans. Equity stripping also occurs when lenders charge excessive fees that include money collected in cash up-front, amounts financed into the loan at closing, and fees paid later. (Stein, 2001) The components that facilitate this practice of predatory lending include: 1) financed credit insurance, 2) exorbitant fees, and 3) pre-payment penalties on subprime loans. (Stein, 2001) If the borrower...
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...Journal of Business Case Studies – November/December 2009 Volume 5, Number 6 Payday Lending: Perfunctory Or Predatory? Annie Schafter, University of Minnesota, USA Shee Wong, University of Minnesota, USA Stephen B. Castleberry, University of Minnesota, USA ABSTRACT Payday lenders are becoming more common across America as they meet the unique needs of consumers unable or unwilling to use the services of more traditional lenders. But many have claimed that certain of their practices are unethical. Do payday lenders take advantage of those less fortunate in our society? Are their fees exorbitant, or are the fees merely a fair return given the risk the payday lenders are incurring? This case looks at these and other issues surrounding the payday lending industry. Keywords: payday lending, finance, interest rate, ethics INTRODUCTION I n the last 15 years, cities around America have seen a dramatic rise in the number of payday lending stores open for business. Today there are over 22,000 payday lenders operating in the 39 states where payday lending is legal. To put that number in perspective, there are 13,700 McDonald‟s and 7,300 Burger Kings in the U.S.—simply put, there are more payday lenders than McDonald‟s and Burger Kings combined (Weston). But why? As traditional financial institutions tighten up loan requirements and drop smaller, less profitable loans from their books, payday lenders feel they are filling a substantial need in the communities they serve. They make...
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...Payday Loans: Helpful or Hurtful Joseph Santini Monmouth University I. Introduction There is a new trend in lower income communities in the United States called payday loans. The popularity of getting payday loans to help to pay off utilities and short term debts. These loans have become controversial and brought on speculation of the ethics of the loans and their practices. There has been legislation brought through state senates on this issue but with heavy lobbying have not be able to see the light of day. The tactics of these lobbyists have also come into question. The overall question to be answered is if payday loans are good for this country. II. What are Payday Loans? Payday loans are defined on Investopedia as a short-term loan with a small borrowing amount and a high rate of interest. The way it works is the borrower writes a post-dated check for the borrowing amount plus a fee for immediate cash. The lender keeps the check until the agreed date which is normally the borrower’s next payday. These loans are also commonly called cash advance loans or check advance loans. (Investopedia) These are attractive to lower income community because the loans offer them money right away before they earn it. The feeling of having physical cash in their hands makes them confident in themselves. This system is great if you can pay the debt off quickly but if you take just a small amount of time to pay the loan the debt can pile up. This is because these loans have...
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...article, "Homes, Not Tents", a San Francisco neighborhood named Bernal Heights had occupants come together in solidarity to protest against the banks for lending predatory loans and subprime loans with high interests rates and high risk, which lead to the foreclosure homes in this area; this was known as the Occupy Bernal movement which took place in 2011. In the article, "Enginnering an Islamic Future" by Bill Maurer, we see an Islamic Banking system that differs from the U.S. capitalistic system. From an Islamic Banking perspective, the issues that would arise with this foreclosure crisis include unethical issues, issues of deregulation of the subprime loans, and the loss of the American dream and their identity to those who lost their homes in Bernal Heights. First, the groundwork of the Islamic Banking is that it is ethical, meaning that it takes the well being of their people into consideration. In Bernal Heights, the large banks, such as Well Fargo and Wachovia, became the primary lenders of money through subprime loans. Subprime loans are loans that are given to people who do not meet the requirements for a prime loans. These banks were constantly making loan contracts with individuals who they knew were not going to be able to pay back their interests with their current income. So basically, these banks were lending for their own self interests to make a profit for themselves, who are the lenders. The lenders did not seem to value the borrower's risk of losing their property...
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...are they ethical but misused in a way that created ethical issues? We believed subprime loans are ethical tools that were misused. Subprime loans involve “lending to borrowers, generally people who would not qualify for traditional loans, at a rate higher than the prime rate” (Ferrell et al 385) meaning that it is a financial instrument in which borrowers benefit from accessing capital that otherwise would have been denied to them, and financial institutions benefit from charging a higher interest. What made subprime loans so attractive was the fact that it enabled low-income individuals and minorities (no qualifies for regular loans) to have access to homeownership. In the right hands, in the right time, a subprime loan could signify an important tool for different minorities to improve the quality of their lives by obtaining financing for more than just home mortgages but also school tuition, for example (Iacono). However, as the Countrywide Financial case illustrates, there is wide misuse of this tool by institutions that engage in indiscriminate lending for the sake of short-term profits at the risk of major financial downturn, as in the 2008-2009 financial crisis. (Ferrell et al 388) Moreover, while lending money to low-income and minority families justifies a higher interest rate due to the risk of debt default, lending money to families that would very unlikely be in the capacity to fully repaytheir mortgage is a threat to both the financial institution - who would had lost...
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...investors to all over the world. Now went home owners pay their mortgages money goes to investors all over the world. The purpose of the Grading companies was to grade how good these investments were, but at the same time they were pay by the investment banks, creating a ticking time bomb. Lenders did not care whether the loan can be paid or not, so they started to make risky loans, investment banks did not care either because while they more CDO’s were sold, more profit they will make. During 2000 and 2004 mortgages quadruple. This risky loans known as subprime loans were preferred by banks because they carried higher interest, and their employees did not care of the well being of the institution. This led to a massive increase in predatory lending, borrowers were needlessly place in expensive subprime loans, and many loans were given to people who couldn’t repay...
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...The Banker And The Campus Uproar Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Discussion Questions * Why would a bank consider making a mortgage loan or home equity loan to a homeowner who could not make the scheduled loan payments--wouldn’t this end up hurting the bank? Answer: Before advancing loans to the potential customers the banks consider certain things with the help of documents and tools. The financial position to the best of knowledge is assessed. But there is always a risk of default at the debtor’s end. Therefore, the bank bears the risk. For the minimization of this risk, the banks secure themselves with the help of securities and collaterals. In term of house loans, the house which is for which loan is advanced is taken as the collateral. A charge of bank is created over that asset by the bank. In case of default in payments by the debtor, the bank acquires that house and recovers the money of loan and interest by selling the house in auction. Any residual value after paying the bank liabilities is returned to the debtor. Therefore, throughout the loan tenure, bank is secure and reduces its risk with the help of collaterals. * After considering Cristina’s likely motives, incentives and behavior, do you believe she had conflicts of interest that were so serious she would knowingly recommend loans that were harmful to her clients’ interests? Explain your answer. Answer: The motives of Cristina were own wealth maximization. She was offered benefits on selling...
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...Unit VII Case Study Columbia Southern University Citigroup and Subprime Lending 1. Are there moral concerns associated with subprime lending? Are those moral concerns based on utilitarianism, rights, or justice considerations? Sub-prime lending is a process of giving loans to those who otherwise would not qualify for conditional loan because of poor credit history. There is high risk involved in such loans and therefore, it is offered at high interest rates. It is risky both for the lender and the borrower. There's certainly a private responsibility with regards to a person taking on commitments that will require repaying money borrowed from a person or from an institution. A significant requirement for the borrowers’ part to understand what he or she is getting into to. However, sub-prime lending does have moral concerns. The borrowers are not qualified for regular loans, but they may need it. They are ready to take loans at higher interest rate because they need it and sub-prime lending seems to be a better option to them. The mortgage crisis in the United States was viewed as having good intended utilitarian motives by the corporate world and public policy makers to provide mortgage loans to at risk customers. Utilitarianism is defined by Velasquez (2006) as that initiative that place goodwill the behalf as many people possible. It does well to both lender and the borrower and consequently...
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...skimming: An investor obtains a mortgage by falsifying income documents and credit reports of a straw buyer (someone who falsely represents themselves). After closing, the straw buyer signs the property over to the investor in a quit claim deed. The investor does not make any mortgage payments and rents the property until foreclosure takes place. * Property flipping: Property flipping in itself is legal. Where the mortgage fraud comes into play is through falsely appraising the property for a high value and then quickly selling it, often multiple times. This scheme usually involves fraudulent appraisals, doctored loan documentation, and kickbacks to buyers or others involved. * Predatory lending: This typically affects senior citizens, lower-income individuals, and credit-challenged borrowers. Predatory lenders charge borrowers exorbitant fees or higher interest rates, which often result in the borrower defaulting on the mortgage payment and ending up in foreclosure. * Foreclosure rescue: Criminals target homeowners who are facing or are already in foreclosure and then offer “foreclosure prevention services.” In these mortgage scams, perpetrators promise to prevent foreclosure in exchange for up-front fees or a transfer of the property’s deed, usually in the form of a...
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...Communities Creating OPPORTUNITY NOW Agenda—October 18th, 2011, 6:30pm to 8:15pm Yellow highlight=needs revision or update Magenta highlight=program team help cue the audience to participate through applause, sign waving, cheers, standing Red means this is a pin question—commitment question we are asking to those present in the audience or our elected officials or civic leaders. Green highlight means we will reinforce this point with a power point slide or graph. 6:00 pm God's Power Band will provide transition music. They will also perform one solo song midway during the program. 6:10 pm Come Together Choirs Start: 1. Congregation/Choir name: Our Lady of Peace Catholic Song selection: "Con Fe" (5min) Number of people in choir: 12-15 2. Congregation/Choir name: St. Peter CME - Song selection: "Let the Glory of the Lord Rise Among Us" (5min) Number of people in choir: 12-15 3. Congregation/Choir name: Ander's Choir Song selection: "STILL NEED SONG TITLE"? (5min) Number of people in choir: 6 6:30pm Logistics & Recognition of I AM exhibit: (Co-Chairs) * REV. JOHNSON: Welcome, as you are finding your seats, please make sure you have signed in, have an Opportunity Now sticker! Restrooms can be found in the main lobby to the right. Make sure to turn your cell phones off. Translation headsets are available. * ORLANDO GALLARD0: Tenemos equipos de traduccion en la mesa de registracion...
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...Research in Higher Education Journal Centering the business capstone course on the banking crisis: concrete integrated pedagogy Khalid A. Razaki Dominican University Wayne Koprowski Dominican University Peter Alonzi Dominican University Robert Irons Dominican University Abstract The recent financial crisis offers instructors rich material for business programs regarding the relations between accounting, business law, economics, and finance, as well as ethical issues. This paper offers a concrete approach to developing a business capstone course built around the financial crisis and the lessons it offers business students. Complete pedagogical modules are offered for each discipline, including suggestions for specific assignments in each discipline. Key Words: Capstone Course, Banking Crisis, Pedagogy Centering the Business Capstone Course, Pate 1 Research in Higher Education Journal INTRODUCTION A capstone course is essential in the business school curriculum. It provides each student the time to refresh their grasp of and to hone their ability to apply the principles, tools, and methods of the fields comprising the business curriculum. Further, it gives students the opportunity to integrate the insights of the various fields. The effectiveness of the capstone course can be enhanced by centering the capstone course on the 2008 financial crisis. All students share the common experience of the 2008 crisis’s violent shaking of the economy. It immediately affected each...
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...skimming: An investor obtains a mortgage by falsifying income documents and credit reports of a straw buyer (someone who falsely represents themselves). After closing, the straw buyer signs the property over to the investor in a quit claim deed. The investor does not make any mortgage payments and rents the property until foreclosure takes place. * Property flipping: Property flipping in itself is legal. Where the mortgage fraud comes into play is through falsely appraising the property for a high value and then quickly selling it, often multiple times. This scheme usually involves fraudulent appraisals, doctored loan documentation, and kickbacks to buyers or others involved. * Predatory lending: This typically affects senior citizens, lower-income individuals, and credit-challenged borrowers. Predatory lenders charge borrowers exorbitant fees or higher interest rates, which often result in the borrower defaulting on the mortgage payment and ending up in foreclosure. * Foreclosure rescue: Criminals target homeowners who are facing or are already in foreclosure and then offer “foreclosure prevention services.” In these mortgage scams, perpetrators promise to prevent foreclosure in exchange for up-front fees or a transfer of the property’s deed, usually in the form of a...
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