The Department of Housing and Urban Development fined two Texas lenders for charging bogus fees to borrowers purchasing manufactured housing.
American Home Free Mortgage in Prosper, Texas, was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $169,419 and agreed to the permanent withdrawal of its Federal Housing Administration lender approval.
HUD's Mortgagee Review Board determined that American Home Free artificially increased the cost of its mortgages by an average of $12,000 per loan through the bogus fees.
American Home Free did not admit or deny wrongdoing.
In a separate case, the Mortgagee Review Board ordered R.H. Lending in Colleyville, Texas, to pay $300,000 in civil penalties and it also permanently withdrew its FHA approval. R.H. Lending disguised fees charged to borrowers as legitimate construction fees; however, no work was performed.
HUD also banned two principal actors in the scheme from doing work for the federal government for seven years.
R.H. Lending did not admit or deny any wrongdoing.
