Nebraska sues mortgage broker for predatory lending
LINCOLN, Neb. -- The state of Nebraska has sued Advantage Mortgage Service, intending to revoke its license for what the state says were predatory lending practices.
On its website, the mortgage broker says it serves customers in Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, South Dakota, Minnesota and Florida and has offices in Omaha and Lincoln in Nebraska and in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
A news release from the state Attorney General's Office and Department of Banking and Finance said the actions were being taken against Advantage Mortgage Service and its owners.
Advantage Mortgage says it offers loans "for home purchases, refinancing, home equity allocation, debt consolidation and much more."
State investigators say Advantage Mortgage falsified closing documents, forged borrowers' signatures and charged borrowers hidden and excessive fees.
Bob Goldberg, president of the company, said he had not reviewed the state's allegations with his lawyer, so he wouldn't comment on them Friday. He did say, however, that "there's two sides to every story."
In the lawsuit filed in Lancaster County District Court, the state also said:
• Advantage Mortgage loan officers falsely represented costs and other information about refinancing mortgages and Advantage didn't disclose some of that information to customers before it refinanced their loans.
• The company used a deceptive promotional spreadsheet to convince customers that they would save money with Advantage. Instead, borrowers paid higher interest rates and as much or more each month to reduce their debt.
• The company knowingly hired a loan officer who had been convicted of felony financial crimes.
• That officer arranged more than $11 million in mortgage loans between January 2004 and January 2006 and the company "unjustly profited" from the loan officer's "fraudulent behavior."
• That loan officer was believed to have forged a customer's signature on a check and deposited the money in his own account.
• The company's various actions violated Nebraska's Mortgage Bankers Registration and Licensing Act, the Consumer Protection Act and the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
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