See: Mortgage.
It was pretty shocking when our Aunt Maude was led away in handcuffs this morning after being arrested for mortgage fraud. It turns out that the only reason she got that awesome new house she’s been living in is because she falsified a bunch of documents to get approved for the big loan amount she needed. Since she’s been able to make the monthly payments, Aunt Maude didn’t really understand what the big deal was, but here’s the big deal: it’s fraud, Maude, and fraud is illegal.
“Mortgage fraud” involves profiting illegally from some aspect of the mortgage business, whether we’re a buyer like Aunt Maude, a lender like Aunt Maude’s bank, or anyone in between. And if we’re found guilty of mortgage fraud, we could be looking at ginormous fines and up to 30 years in jail.
So what exactly constitutes mortgage fraud? Basically...any lies we tell, any information we falsify, or any bribes we pay in the name of garnering illegal mortgage-related profits will qualify us for the slammer. Or at least some heavy fines. Like...maybe we fib about our income (like Aunt Maude) to get a loan, or maybe we say we own some assets that we don’t really own. Or maybe we bribe some folks to say the house we already own is worth way more than it is so we can get approved for a refi. Maybe we buy a house and say we’re going to rent it out (hello, tax benefits), but instead of renting it, we live in it with all of our cats. Maybe we charge some poor unsuspecting folks a ton of money to help them avoid getting their houses foreclosed on…but then we take the money and run away to Mexico and let their houses foreclose anyway.
Whatever it is, if it involves a mortgage and we’re lying or being otherwise shady about it, it just might be considered mortgage fraud.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is a Mortgage?345 Views
Finance allah shmoop shmoop What is a mortgage Well people
a mortgage is just dead it's alone but one with
special tax treatment For most people simply put Any interest
you pay on a mortgage to buy a home is
tax deductible Morty morton's inputs down a hundred thousand bucks
to buy a home that costs four hundred big ones
his mortgages three hundred grand at five percent interest per
year So that's fifteen thousand dollars a year he pays
to rent the money from the bank which he uses
to buy his dream home with the loop de loop
waterslide Morty earns one hundred grand a year and pays
tax on his last fifteen thousand of earnings soas faras
The irs is concerned since morty can deduct his fifteen
thousand dollars in interest against his earnings he does not
in fact earn taxable wages of one hundred grand annually
Instead he earns taxable wages of eighty five thousand dollars
a year Essentially with government is doing is sharing in
some of the cost of renting the money Taub i'm
ortiz home well why would the u s government be
so charitable Well because home ownership has been integral part
of the american dream since the u s of a
i po'ed in seventeen seventy six easy access to mortgages
and then home buying can be a hugely beneficial asset
In the vast majority of cases homes create family stability
a store of wealth and tax dollars for local schools
in the form of real estate taxes So don't feel
bad about splurging on that water slide there Morty Just 00:01:42.93 --> [endTime] remember you're doing it for the kids Hello
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