Three Illinois Mortgage Lenders’ Practices Questioned
Three Illinois mortgage companies made more than $10 million worth of unlawful loans and hid their relationship to shoddy home-repair firms, state authorities said in a lawsuit filed Thursday.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Candice Company, Cadillac Properties and Payment Center have issued more than 200 mortgage loans since 2002 despite having no state license Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan’s office said.
The president of the home mortgage firms, Donna DiBrito, also failed to inform customers that she was president of two home-repair contractors, Father & Sons Contractors and Father & Sons Remodelers, according to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.
When contractors did shoddy or incomplete work, the home mortgage company continued to pressure customers to pay off their home loans, said Anshuman Vaidya, an assistant attorney general.
“They get stuck making a mortgage payment and they don’t see any benefit,” Vaidya said of the home loan lender’s many customers. “And they’re kind of stuck, because they’ve signed two contracts.”
If homeowners didn’t pay, the firms sued them, state officials said. They said the mortgage firms have filed foreclosure suits against more than 70 homeowners.
DiBrito and an attorney for the firms, Paul Arvites, could not be reached Thursday for comment. Madigan’s office has received 12 complaints about the mortgage firms.
In one case, a homeowner said he took out a $99,500 home improvement loan to pay for an addition to his home. But instead, the contractor removed part of his roof, destroyed electrical service to his garage and yelled and threw a glass at him when he complained, according to the lawsuit.
Madigan’s office, which is in the process of interviewing other customers to see if they’ve had similar problems, seeks restitution for customers, fines of $50,000 for each mortgage fraud violation and a court order to stop the companies from issuing mortgages while the lawsuit is pending.
A court date is set for Tuesday before Circuit Judge Mary Anne Mason. The D.A.’s office filed a mortgage fraud lawsuit in May against Father & Sons Contractors and company representative Ronald Kafka. That suit is pending.