TILA stands for Truth In Lending Act, and the mortgage companies were not disclosing everything they should have to you. Millions of Americans are currently losing their homes from the Sub-Prime Mortgage meltdown, the news is finally starting to talk about Predatory Lenders. The lender liability subject isn’t new, good laws have been passed for many years, but they have not usually been enforced much, because most people do not know about them. How do lenders fit into this sad story? They started the problem by forcing loans without regards to a borrower’s best interest. They did not just bend a few rules – they threw the normal rules out the window. Anyone with a house was fair prey.Some of those being foreclosed upon are elderly people, many of which owned their home free and clear before refinancing, many others were young first time home-buyers who were talked into borrowing more than they could actually afford, some just needed to borrow some money to do home improvements or for college or a wedding. If you look up the REO properties that lenders have foreclosed on, you see both million dollar properties and broken down old shacks.Today Very few people in society have resisted the lure of adjustable arm mortgages and the more dangerous option arm mortgages. Mortgage companies devised nice-sounding sales pitches and set up sham companies to receive kickbacks. The Lenders put together incentive plans like the YSP(Yield Spread Premium) to get brokers to shove borrowers into higher rates. Many lenders have their own reinsurance companies, title companies, management companies, and set up multiple affiliate business arrangements. Lenders often incorporate in different states and operate under more than one name, with often as many as 35 aliases. It seems OK, until you understand why they do it. They double, triple and sometimes quadruple their money at our expense.I have read that Mortgage companies have sold these mortgages primarily because Wall Street wanted them and would pay more for them. The Federal Reserve waited until over half of the US had taken out adjustable rate mortgages and started raising interest rates 17 sessions in a row, which caused a disaster. When the real estate market was at its peak, you could always refinance to borrow more or sell your house and take a profit and start over. Now millions are stuck with a lower housing market and difficulties in refinancing. The market is not going up, but homes are going down in value – depreciating. There is another avenue to pursue here, known as where is the note holder for your mortgage note. I will speak about this later in another article.What you need to look for in your mortgage contracts are: These are other examples of T.I.L.A. violations you will find on a lot of Mortgage contracts. There are a total of 58 (fifty eight) possible violations in quite a few cases.1. Over-escrowing.2. Junk charges.a: yield spread premiumsb: service release fees3. Payment of compensation to mortgage brokers and originators by lenders.4. Unauthorized servicing charges.5. Improper adjustments of interest on adjustable rate mortgages.6. Up selling.7. Overages.8. Referral fees to mortgage originators.9. Breach of Fiduciary Duty10. Failure to disclose the circumstances under which private mortgage insurance (PMI) may be terminated.11. Unauthorized servicing chargesa: The imposition of payoff and recording charges.12. Improper ARM adjustments13. Stated income, they said you have more money than you had.14. Failure to provide the husband and wife the booklet provided by the government (HUD)15. When they add up the mortgage cost to the borrower they put it in the loan and do not calculate the costs right, they only have the original amount calculated. In an article I read, I found this interesting ruling: In issuing Summary Judgment of liability in favor of the Plaintiff Class Members, the Judge ruled that Chevy Chase failed to properly disclose the payment schedule on the loans, failed to properly disclose the cost of the loans as an annual percentage rate, and failed to disclose the variable rate feature in the first 5 years of the loans. The Judge further ruled that the bank inserted in their disclosures misleading teaser rates that were only available for one month, and language suggesting the loans were 5 year fixed.16. When they pull the credit they should have a good faith estimate with in 72 hour.17. The appraisal is embellished and not the truth value. (RESPA violation) Real Estate Procedure Act, here is an example to the RESPA violation: I know square footage can be off somewhat, but 228 sq, ft.? I do not think so. Here is what happened: The appraisal was coming in too low, the letter from the broker to the State confirms that and she mentions the loan was impossible due to the “low” appraisal. Now, do not know if I mentioned this but she shared office space with the appraiser. All three parties (broker, lender and appraiser) knew the home would not appraise for $200,000as indicated in her letter. So what did they do? They used the gross square footage (not what is under heat and air) to beef up the appraisal and then, unbelievably, they ignored a comp in my own subdivision because it sold for only $172,000. Then, they went over a mile away and found a comp that sold for $205,000. If that is NOT fraud, I do not know what is. This explains the broker not answering the lawsuit; the appraiser calling me and threatening me and the lender doing the same.18. Pre-payment penalties Illegal, some of them are and some are not, you need to check with your state and see which ones apply.Do your research and find a good TILA auditor and a Good lawyer! You might have some money coming back and also your home is still occupied by you.