Ameriquest
Settlement Provisions
Under this agreement, Ameriquest is required to:
- Provide full disclosure regarding interest rates, discount
points, prepayment penalties, and other loan or refinancing
terms. The agreement provides for both written and oral
disclosures.
- Ensure that employees do not defeat the purpose of these
disclosures by criticizing or playing down the accuracy
or importance of the disclosures.
- Provide the same interest rates and discount points for
similarly-situated consumers.
- Ensure that every loan benefits not only Ameriquest and
its commissioned employees but the borrower as well.
- Substantially revise their employee compensation system to eliminate
certain incentives. This new
system may not provide incentives to include prepayment
penalties or any other fees or charges in the mortgages.
- Retrain their employees to comply with the terms of the
settlement agreement.
- Monitor their employees more closely to ensure they comply
with the settlement agreement.
- Overhaul the company’s appraisal practices by removing
branch offices and sales personnel from the appraiser selection
process, prohibiting them from pressuring appraisers for
higher values and instituting a system of periodic review
to ensure the independence of appraisers and the accuracy
and integrity of the appraisals.
- Limit prepayment penalty periods on certain variable rate
mortgages.
- Not solicit their borrowers to refinance during the first
24 months of their loan, unless the borrower initiates it.
- Use independent loan closers.
- Adopt policies to protect whistle-blowers and facilitate
reporting of improper conduct.
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