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Health & Fitness

Are Mortgage Audits for Real?

There has been an increase in mailings promoting mortgage auditing services. These companies claim to be able to find mistakes in your mortgage loan worth thousands. Are these for real?

Are Mortgage Audits for Real?

Have you received a letter in the mail about a mortgage audit? Many people have received a letter saying how they may be eligible for a refund from their mortgage lender. At first I wondered how they knew my purchase date and price and remembered its all public record.

Call to 800 Number

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The woman who answered the phone sounded legit and proceeded to explain that my original mortgage may have been miscalculated and my mortgage company may owe me money. I asked her to tell me more about her company and she explained that they are division of CRM Ventures (no mention of CRM Ventures on the letter). The explanation came with the declaration of a “top rating” from the Better Business Bureau. Unfortunately, this means nothing since she said they have been open for less than a year. I decided to inquiry further about how this actually works. It would cost me $250 to have the audit done. What if they don’t find anything wrong with my loan? I would get my money back.

To Google

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A quick search of CRM Ventures doesn’t bring up much info. Their Better Business Bureau profile shows up but not much else. I then search “Mortgage Audit Notice” and bingo. A lot of info about this possible “scam.” I should have checked Google first. However, it seems as though there are indeed minor errors in loans. The problem is that even if you (or these auditing companies) find mistakes the mortgage lenders do not just cut you a check based on this finding. The best you can do is use the audit as a negotiating tool to get your money from the lender. You will most likely have to hire an attorney which is not cheap. There appears to be some auditing companies that also provide the legal services as well (I am not sharing them here because I honestly don’t know if they are legit either).

My Decision

First, even if the mortgage company miscalculated something and technically owes me the $7,500 maximum, legal costs and time may not be worth trying to claim the money. Second, I don’t like the fact that these auditing companies ask for money upfront (via credit card). I would think a more legitimate business model would be for them to take a fee or a % of what I actually get back from the mortgage company. In theory, they could find a mistake, take my $250 and then I end up getting nothing back. The onus is on me to actually get the money back from the lender. All my research is showing this is highly unlikely. Even the “good stories” I found online could easily be fake.

Has anyone received a similar notice? Anyone move forward with it?

This post originally appeared here

Matthew B. Brock, CFP®
Senior Partner, Owner
Divergent Planning, LLC
matt@divergentplanning.com


Securities and Investment Advisory Services Offered through H. Beck, Inc., Member FINRA, SIPC.H. Beck Inc. and Divergent Planning are not affiliated.

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