BOA Alleged Equator Fraud
I was recently advised that BOA recently restricted all agents of a large brokerage because one short sale file allegedly contained fraudulent document(s). Furthermore, when any of these agents jumped ship to another brokerage because of their inability to utilize Equator their accounts remained restricted based on their prior involvement with the original brokerage. If any document(s) were fraudulent they would have been provided by the Seller, not the listing agent. However, BOA appears to be holding the brokerage and all of their associates responsible. This has presented further problems in that this restriction applies to all other lenders utilizing Equator.
The question for this discussion is has this occurred to anyone that you have heard about? NAR is currently working to resolve this issue and we would like to know if this is wide spread or just an isolated situation.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Payne on
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Stephen, any idea what the alleged fraudulent documents refer to? Was it the infamous arms length transaction? We are meeting with Bank of America in a few months and the question that I would like to pose to them is. " Do you realize that even though we may work in the same brokerage as another agent, it does not mean that we know that agent or have a relationship with them?"
Strange that agents thought that if they jumped ship their equator access would change. I don't remember my equator account having anything to really do with my brokerage other than the broker information that I input.
As far as NAR is concerned, they are so out of touch with what is happening on the short sale front that I would be surprised if they do anything.
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Permalink Reply by Josh M. Boggs on
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If I were that broker, I may seriously consider having a VERY direct conversation with BAC about this.. to lose all of their agents bc of a complete misunderstanding of our business would certainly be upsetting and ridiculous.
This action by BAC still wouldn't shock me though if it is in deed true sadly.
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Permalink Reply by Trina Gonzales on
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This is the first time I've heard of anything like it. I'm in California.
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Permalink Reply by Smitty on
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My issue with this is did BOA ASSUME there was fraud or was it PROVEN to be fraud??? I mean did the FBI get involved or did BOA's legal team bring this group of agents to courts? I can say hey Stephen, you are committing fraud but wouldn't I have to PROVE it in some manner? I don't mean to sound like I'm off my rocker, but I'm going through something with Chase right now where they believe my homeowner (not me) committed fraud, and all that happened was some middleman Chase negotiator ASSUMED something to be true that wasn't, so now my whole sale is being held up. I can assume away but until it's PROVED then jeez, we can all say anyone committed fraud. It's getting ridiculous.
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Smitty, I have searched all over the internet and have asked a large short sale group that I belong to and can not find anything online about this. I suspect it is an urban legend.
The banks should be on the lookout for fraud but first they need to understand what would constitute fraud. A front line negotiator probably only knows what they have heard and have no experience with it whatsoever....
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Permalink Reply by Bryant Tutas on
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Maybe one of our Bank of America reps that belong to this sire will chime in and clarify for us.
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Permalink Reply by Stephen B. McWilliam on
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This is not an urban legend. In fact, yesterday afternoon I received a phone call from a BOA Social Media Monitoring representative based in Dallas. She was exceptionally concerned and had confirmed before her call to me that BOA did in fact restrict 1 brokerage for alleged fraud in short sale processing via Equator. Furthermore, the problems with the agents transferring to other brokerages may be caused unintentionally and that she was working with those BOA representative responsible to prevent such ancillary problems. I have put her in contact with executives at Florida REALTORS and NAR who were working on this problem earlier in the week. I will keep all updated as to the progress but it currently appears that BOA is working to fix this situation ASAP. Obviously, BOA and I would suspect other such banks are paying very close attention to our blog posts. Cudos to Bryant and Wendy for creating such a valuable communication vehicle. Thanks to all for their post in this thread.
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Thanks Stephen. I know the lenders monitor this site. I get calls from the all of the time asking me to remove personal phone numbers. Let us know how this plays out.
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Stephen, thanks for posting this... I also talked to a high level exec at Bank of America that we meet with on a regular basis and she told me that if this did happen, she has not heard of it and she works in the loss mitigation department.
It would be interesting to hear what becomes of this with Bank of America and Equator.
We can only wish NAR and FAR would take action, but we have been wishing that for some time now.
Please give us some updates when you get them.
BTW, you are correct, I have talked to many high level execs at the banks and they do monitor Short Sale Superstars. Actually alot of negotiators that I have come in contact with know the site well, one actually told me to go to this site to get a short sale package :)
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Permalink Reply by Scott Korbin on
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If we don't do a better job of policing our activities as brokers, including being accutely aware of when a client is committing fraud, our industry will no doubt end up with a fate similar to the Securities and Mortgage industries, with levels of Regulatory compliance never before imagined.
I recommend that all banks require brokers representing clients in a short sale transaction to take a fraud detection class and to certify they have done so.
More importantly, If we as Realtors™ can proactively minimize fraud, we can protect our credibility with the banks. Why don't we make this recommendation to the banks, and cut this off before it becomes pervasive.
Scott Korbin, MBA, Broker in Charge
Triangle Home Masters
An Affiliate of Coldwell Banker, HPW
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Permalink Reply by Tni LeBlanc (805) 878-9879 on
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Very curious to know the details of the alleged fraud and what documents were allegedly fraudulent.
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Permalink Reply by Scott Godzyk on
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I think BOA would have to prove the agent knew there was fraud or "should have known" it was fraud before uploading an offer. I work alot of short sales and often get called to assist in such situations where the owner wants to sell to a child or parent. I tell each and every seller this is not allowed and I can not assist them with it but can assist them in selling it legally. As a listing agent I find it important to educate the owner/seller about the process and what is allowed and what is not up front so these problems do not happen. All agentgs in the company should not be held liable but the company is resposnible for that agent.
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