If I had gotten my mortgage just six months earlier than I did, maybe I could have been given a bunch of free money for being a moron, too. Anyway, follow the bouncing litigation ball...
A Silver Spring woman who defaulted on a subprime loan has been awarded $1.25 million in damages from her lender, Wells Fargo Bank N.A. The borrower, Kimberly Thomas, was awarded $250,000 in damages and $1 million in punitive damages in Montgomery County Circuit Court July 31. A six-member jury convicted Wells Fargo of fraud, negligence and other charges for inflating Thomas’ income and assets on her mortgage application, and locking her into a bigger loan than she had applied for — one she couldn’t afford.
Right, right. Ok... so the jury decided that Wells Fargo was guilty of these things and is therefore at fault. I mean, they do point that gun at your head when you go to sign the closing documents... oh, wait, no they don't.
How did this all happen?
Thomas’ case dates back to June 2006. At the time she was considering separating from her husband, so Thomas, a mother of two, decided to leave Silver Spring and buy a $505,000 house in Burtonsville. Her sister referred her to a Wells Fargo Home Mortgage office in Westminster, Md., where Thomas applied for a $535,000 loan, with a 7.13 percent interest rate.
Right then... getting a divorce (or maybe not, as it is described only as "considering a separation"), so why not go out and buy one-half million dollars worth of home? Divorces never cost anything anyway, right?
Roughly two to three weeks later, her loan agent submitted the application with a string of incorrect information, according to court documents. This included the Social Security number of Thomas’ sister, who had a higher credit rating; a monthly income of $14,000, which was nearly double Thomas’ actual income; and assets that included $30,000 cash at Constellation Federal Credit Union. According to the suit, Thomas never claimed to have this much money socked away, at Constellation or elsewhere.
So you've got the wrong social, twice your actual monthly income (which brings to mind a good question: how does someone this dumb make $7,000 a month?), and an "inflated" asset statement of $30,000 (again, with that kind of monthly income, why is this amount "inflated"? Was all of that income going to crack or what?!). Anyway...
Thomas soon learned that her loan was at 10.625 percent interest, with a monthly payment of roughly $4,600, well above the $3,000 she was expecting. She signed the contract anyway, at the urging of her attorney at the time, figuring it was an honest mistake and Wells Fargo would correct it.
"Thomas soon learned"... Red flag! Red flag!
If you've ever signed mortgage paperwork, you know that everything about the loan is stated and requires that you sign off on it! You can turn it down right there at the closing table if you don't like the terms. In fact, you have a period of a few days after signing to change your mind!
But Thomas apparently did know what she was signing and did so willingly. Why do I say that? Because she signed anyway with her lawyer's encouragement. The "honest mistake" part? Bunch of crap. If there's a mistake in your closing documents, you make them fix it BEFORE you sign! Not after!
My guess is that her and her lawyer were figuring on a big payoff from divorce proceedings, so they said "screw it!" and spent the loot before it was in their hands. Dumb! Dumb! DUMB! You know that saying, "don't count your chickens before they've hatched"? Yeah.
So for being a moron and knowingly committing fraud, Thomas will get $1.25 million dollars. This for buying a $500,000 house that she couldn't afford, willfully, which she'll now have enough money for and then some.
WHAT A FREAKIN' JOKE! Because six loons on a jury decided that it really is all the bank's fault (even though the other party was in COMPLETE control), stupidity gets rewarded. Know what this means for the rest of us?
We get to pay more to make up the losses caused by the dumb people.
Unbelievable.
Wells Fargo - APPEAL!
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