“If I have one piece of advice to give your audience, it is to impress upon them the importance of maintaining and safeguarding a complete mortgage file in two parts: 1st) a permanent archive of the mortgage loan documents they received from and supplied to the lender from application to closing (i.e., the inactive file); and 2nd) an annual file containing their monthly mortgage statements, real estate tax bills, homeowners insurance premiums, year-end 1098 mortgage interest statement, annual escrow account disclosure statement, correspondence, etc. (i.e., the active file). They should retain these documents until, at least, one year after they have paid off their mortgage loan.” ~ Marie McDonnell
By Catherine Austin Fitts
Entering into a home mortgage is a major legal and financial undertaking. It quite literally “pays” to take the time to understand your options and to ensure that application and closing process are correctly done. After closing, you must ensure that all terms and conditions that were agreed are maintained. It will be your responsibility to make sure this enforcement is the case.
To help you do so, I invited Marie McDonnell, President of McDonnell Property Analytics, to join me this week on the Solari Report. Marie is a Mortgage Fraud and Forensic Analyst™, a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and a Master Analyst In Financial Forensics (MAFF) with significant experience in transactional analysis, mortgage auditing, and mortgage fraud investigation. Her firm provides a variety of analytical services to individual clients and offers litigation support, mortgage-backed securities research and foreclosure forensics to attorneys nationwide. McDonnell Property Analytics also advises and performs services for county registers of deeds, attorneys general, courts and other governmental agencies.
Because mortgage finance is a complex affair, Marie has generously prepared and provided supporting documents. Please login to find handouts, including:
- The Mortgage Loan Origination Process and Pitfalls How to Recognize the Red Flags of Fraud
- Document Custodian Checklist
- Glossary of Terms
One point you will hear emphasized repeatedly – it is essential that you understand the documents that you are supposed to have and that you sign and that you maintain all copies. Unfortunately, horror stories abound of what can go wrong. However, if you take care to manage your origination, closing and payment of your mortgage and do a good job of archiving your documents, you should be able to avoid potential pitfalls and present your proofs if things outside of your control go wrong – such as your mortgage being transferred to a sloppy or fraudulent servicer.
Marie McDonnell is our Solari hero this week. She and I have been in communication for more than a year, hoping that she could join me on the Solari Report. It takes hard work, intelligence and grit to represent consumers in the mortgage process and mortgage litigation – courage too!
Once you make sure the legal and financial aspects of your home are well organized, there is no sense in stopping there! In Lets Go to the Movies, I will review the new series Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, the Japanese tidying guru whose goal is to “spark joy” in your home.
My all time favorite pro for making your home beautiful inside and out is Eunice Boston who joined me on the Solari Report for Coming Clean: Transforming Lives through the Power of Cleaning with Eunice Boston.” If you have not listened to this interview, please do check it out. Eunice produces miracles – indeed, as described in our discussion, one of them saved my life when it was threatened by one of the worst perpetrators of mortgage fraud in the world.
E-mail or post your questions for Ask Catherine at the Money & Markets commentary here.
Talk to you Thursday!
Hi Catherine, Does Marie review Mortgage documents when in process? Meaning during the origination and purchasing process?
Hello Mary,
The answer to your question is “Yes” we can assist you at any step in the process and, most importantly, before you sign the mortgage loan documents.
Please feel free to call my office at 774-323-0892.
All best,
Marie
Yes. If using her review is of interest, just call her and see if what you need is a good fit.
Catherine,
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the Solari Report subscribers. I am eager to know what people are most concerned about and to learn from their suggestions.
Appreciatively,
Marie
Hi Catherine, Does Marie review Mortgage documents when in process? Meaning during the origination and purchasing process?
Hello Mary,
The answer to your question is “Yes” we can assist you at any step in the process and, most importantly, before you sign the mortgage loan documents.
Please feel free to call my office at 774-323-0892.
All best,
Marie
Yes. If using her review is of interest, just call her and see if what you need is a good fit.
Catherine,
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the Solari Report subscribers. I am eager to know what people are most concerned about and to learn from their suggestions.
Appreciatively,
Marie
Excellent resources – live in Australia and I am sure there are many similarities here
Hello Timothy, thank you for your comment.
I visited your beautiful country last year when I joined Catherine on a Solari Event in Uluru. I would love to go back there, so please give me an excuse!
Australians are experiencing the same problems as Americans. Your loans have been securitized then leveraged to the hilt.
Not long ago, I was contacted by an Australian farmer and learned about the dire problems farmers are having with the Australian banks.
I don’t know if there is anyone in Australia who is doing the type of work I do here in the U.S., but if you know of anyone, I would be happy to consult and share what I know.
Payla!
Marie
Very good to know! Thanks.
Excellent resources – live in Australia and I am sure there are many similarities here
Hello Timothy, thank you for your comment.
I visited your beautiful country last year when I joined Catherine on a Solari Event in Uluru. I would love to go back there, so please give me an excuse!
Australians are experiencing the same problems as Americans. Your loans have been securitized then leveraged to the hilt.
Not long ago, I was contacted by an Australian farmer and learned about the dire problems farmers are having with the Australian banks.
I don’t know if there is anyone in Australia who is doing the type of work I do here in the U.S., but if you know of anyone, I would be happy to consult and share what I know.
Payla!
Marie
Very good to know! Thanks.
What do you think about bringing your own Security Paper (that won’t work on scanners or copiers) to the closing signing and demanding the use of it just for your signature pages? There may be a bargaining process to get them to use it, like demanding to see their policies of data security, etc. You then establish a procedural record that you don’t sign without security paper or a embossing stamp for when fraudulent loans are taken out in your name, they are fraud or new servicing companies don’t have your signature. How can you apply this with services like DocuSign or other e-signature methods other than never use them for originating documents?
Hello Jeffrey, what a brilliant idea! A week ago, I would not have known how best to answer your question…but I do now.
I am in Destin, Florida this week to give a deposition on a case I am working on locally. I have spent the past two days with a Paper Scientist and Forensic Document Examiner by the name of Doug Cobb. Doug has developed a number of technologies to evaluate and test paper, and to encrypt paper with fool-proof technology to prevent forgery.
I spent two days with Doug watching him as he used his instruments to evaluate whether a mortgage note deposited with the court is, in fact, the original. Doug has yet to analyze the data and write a report but we pretty much knew the results immediately.
Now, I have the knowledge I need to challenge defects in the court documents as we move on to trial. I am so impressed that I want to bring Doug into every expert case I have. The science is irrefutable!
Doug has also developed what he calls SecureDoc 5 Fingerprint Technology which he describes as follows:
>>Our SecureDoc5 Fingerprint Technology is a legal document security printing service integrates a 5-layer anti-fraud protection process that places hidden encrypted codes within your legal document, permanently protecting it from fraudulent activity.
>>Every page of your document is given its own unique fingerprint.
Every page is uniquely encrypted, tamperproof and can be verified.
>>Lifetime Encrypted Cloud Storage so a copy of your document is always protected and can be re-certified and re-produced if your original is ever lost or destroyed through our Re-Certification Process.
You can learn more about Doug Cobb and his amazing technology at: https://www.paperforensics.com/.
I hope this helps.
Marie
Have asked Marie to jump in….