Fraud on a bank LOI by Broker

[Gary B.]

Hello Fellow investors, 

I am working with a broker for a loan on multi-family property. Broker photoshopped the Bank's original LOI to reflect higher origination fee. Later when he slipped through his fee, then he sends me back original Bank LOI.

Scenarios described below: 

Broker introduced me to a bank that can do deal at my LTV requirement. Before sharing bank lOI with me he did two things.

1. He made me sign an agreement with him, stating he will cover bank origination costs from the bank and banks is asking for 1%.

2. He photoshopped the bank LOI to reflect higher bank origination fee i.e. 1%.

3. Now he share with me original bank LOI with .25% origination fee that can be waived.

He is clearly trying to do fraud buyers for higher brokerage fee by manipulating bank's LOI document to his advantage. I do not mind paying broker fee but when someone tries to cheat I want to make sure person learns lesson.

Do you see this differently ? If not then, what do you suggest my options are in this situation?

thanks

[Evan Polaski]

@Gary B., I typically take the stance that most people are good and honest people. Of course, that is not always true, but with that viewpoint, I would talk to the broker first and ask him what is going on, why he presented a falsified LOI from the bank.

If it truly was something underhanded and/or fraudulent, then I would imagine you have an easy case to get out of any agreement you have. If he argues about letting you out of the agreement amicably, you can always let him know you want any future communications to go through your attorney and have your attorney's card ready to hand to him. That will stop most people in their tracks.  But when push comes to shove, if you really feel wronged, I would simply step back and find a different mortgage broker and/or lender.  It is likely not worth the headache to fight people like this.  At the end of the day, the broker will continue to operate how they wish, and you will spend a lot of time, money and stress trying to prove a point to someone that isn't going to hear it.