Ameriquest

rimrocker · Oct 19, 2007

Document Dump: 40 Boxes of Ameriquest Mortgage Records Found in Dumpster

October 19, 2007 9:26 AM
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/10/document-dump-4.html

Joseph Rhee Reports:

Police are investigating how the personal files of 1,200 Ameriquest Mortgage customers turned up in a dumpster at an Atlanta apartment complex. Police say the 40 boxes of records contain sensitive financial information, including customers' credit histories, bank account information, tax and salary records and social security numbers.

Management of the Montego Apartments complex immediately alerted police after the abandoned boxes were discovered last month.

Deputy Chief Mike Burrows of the DeKalb County Police Department told the Blotter on ABCNews.com that the documents would have been a treasure trove to identity theft criminals.

According to Burrows, "If anyone finds it, they can delve into the files and assume people's identity and obviously open credit accounts and obtain loans on vehicles, mortgages -- the general financial identity fraud situation that the whole country's facing."

The police are now trying to get to the bottom of how the files ended up in the dumpster.

According to Burrows, the three Ameriquest offices in the Atlanta area closed in 2005, and none were in the immediate vicinity of the apartment complex.

Police say the case files involved mortgage customers from a number of different states, including Georgia, Florida and Mississippi. Authorities plan to alert customers identified from the documents so that they can check their records to confirm they were not fraud victims.

An Ameriquest representative has reviewed some of the documents, and spokesman Chris Orlando says the company believes they were stolen from Ameriquest in late 2002.

According to Orlando, "We take the security of our records very seriously...and have been working to locate the person or persons responsible for the theft. We are pleased that the files have now been secured by authorities in DeKalb County, and we are working with local law enforcement to determine what information is contained in the files and who stole them."

Deputy Chief Burrows says so far his department has uncovered no evidence that the files were stolen from Ameriquest.

As previously reported on ABC News, Ameriquest is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging the company misled and defrauded borrowers. Without admitting wrongdoing, the company agreed in 2006 to pay $325 million to settle a similar case brought by 49 state attorneys general.
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And who is the founder of this company? Why it's Roland Arnall... the single biggest contributor to the Bush-Cheney campaign and our Ambassador to the Netherlands.

Ameriquest in Shambles; Wealthy Founder Serves as U.S. Ambassador

October 15, 2007 12:15 PM
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/10/ameriquest-in-s.html

Brian Ross and Joseph Rhee Report:

While the mortgage company he founded is in shambles and many of its customers facing foreclosure, Roland Arnall continues to enjoy a life of prosperity as the United States ambassador to the Netherlands with an estimated fortune of $l.5 billion.

"If you're building a 'Mount Rushmore' of people who should be on the face of the mortgage lending crisis, I think Roland Arnall has a distinct place in that litany," said Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates.

Ameriquest has fired thousands of its employees and closed its sales offices after settling a lawsuit brought by 49 state attorneys general over alleged deceptive and predatory lending practices. The company has since been sold.

While admitting no wrongdoing, Ameriquest agreed to pay $325 million to resolve the legal action.

Thousands of Ameriquest customers are involved in a class-action lawsuit, alleging they were misled or deceived about the terms and rates of their mortgages. Many say they have lost their homes as a result.

"Mr. Arnall knew, or should have known, that the practices he put in place would result in this kind of conduct," said Jill Bowman, one of the attorneys in the lawsuit. "He just got to sit at the top and collect the profits," she said.

The profits were huge. At its height, Ameriquest bought the naming rights to the Texas Rangers baseball stadium, sponsored a Rolling Stones summer tour, and Arnall and his wife became the single biggest Republican contributors during the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2004.

Arnall was later appointed U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands.

At his confirmation hearing, Arnall denied being involved in the day-to-day operations at Ameriquest and said the problems were the result of "rogue" employees.

"When we found out, they were let go and action was taken so that it wouldn't happen again," Arnall testified.

"That's completely laughable," said consumer advocate Rheingold. "I mean I think what you had at Ameriquest was a corporate culture of corruption."

Many of Ameriquest's customers are being forced out of their homes, including the Anderson family of New Hampshire, stuck with monthly payments they cannot afford.

The Andersons say Ameriquest promised them a low, fixed-rate mortgage, never telling them the mortgage would be switched to an adjustable-rate mortgage two years later.

"The gentleman...promised me everything was going to be great," Doug Anderson told ABC News. "This is the best move."

But then the Andersons' house payments increased from $760 to $1400, and they were forced into default, becoming victims, they say, of Ameriquest's tactics and Arnall's greed.

"I can't even imagine being able to sleep at night with all that money, knowing where it came from," said Leighlon Anderson.

A number of former Ameriquest employees say that deceiving customers about their rates was a common practice, part of a culture to close the deal at any cost.

"It was to get the customer to feel comfortable with the fact that they were in a loan that they thought was going to be stable, but, in reality, it wasn't," Tyson Russum, a former Ameriquest employee who worked in a Florida office, told ABC News.

Russum says other loan officers would falsify customers' job or financial information so they could qualify for mortgages.

"The people that were doing stuff like that were doing it because they felt like it was okay," he said.

For example, Teresa McCulloch's mortgage application says she had a $45,000 retirement plan, making it appear she could afford her monthly payments.

But Teresa says she doesn't have a 401k plan and "never had a 401k plan at that time" and that the loan officer added it without her knowledge. She is now part of the class-action lawsuit against Ameriquest.
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