Posted on 11/20/2005 6:23:27 AM PST by John Jorsett
For many, it's the American dream: owning a home. With the recent spike in housing costs, it's become more difficult for many Valley families to qualify for a home loan. But some local banks are giving out loans, and they don't even require a social security number.
David seems like your typical first-time homeowner. The house is small, money's tight. But his family is happy. "It was our dream." he said. "So it was like our dream became true, finally."
But getting a loan from the bank almost didn't happen. An employee from the bank called and said it seemed they had a problem.
The problem was David's social security number ... it's a fake.
He is undocumented, an illegal immigrant. David thought it was a dead end, but not in California. It's among a few states where banks are offering mortgages to people who they know are illegal.
"He gave us good news, saying, 'oh, you have good credit, you've been good on your payments. Sure, we can help you out!,'" he recalls.
David got a 30-year, $135,000 loan. He pays $950 a month for his house in the South Valley.
The Valley non-profit group Acorn is helping people like David. They set him up with Citibank in Fresno, where a social security number is not required.
Instead, it asks for an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or I-TIN. It proves they pay taxes to the IRS. Applicants also have to have a bank account, proof of US residency for two years, and two years of credit references.
"The banks wanna get bigger, wanna give mortgages to people and they see this is a tremendous money making opportunity," says Diana Hull, an illegal immigrant opponent.
Hull is the president of a group called Californians For Population Stabilization, based in Santa Barbara. Hull says the exact numbers are tough to gauge, but one estimate identifies 250,000 undocumented immigrants in the US who make enough money to be eligible for a home loan.
That equals $60 billion in potential mortgages.
But Hull says the big business is not just a bad idea ... she insists it's also against the law. "There is a law against aiding and abetting illegal aliens to continue to live in the United States. Issuing a mortgage to an illegal alien is helping him establish himself and remain the United States, which is clearly illegal. It's a felony," she says.
Hall says the problem goes all the way to the top, and she pins much of the blame on the largest of government institutions, like the FDIC, the IRS and the Social Security Administration.
For David, the immigration debate is not nearly so complicated. He came to California at the age of 13 on a passport, but he never went back to Mexico. Instead, he went to high school, learned English, and eventually got a job as an electrician.
David says he still thinks about the possibility of getting caught and being deported, but he says it's all worth the risk.
When asked how he feels when he hears a lot of people wish he were never able to do this, he says, "I work hard like any other citizen and I try to live just like a normal citizen. And I have everything, I think I still have my rights."
And he says that includes the right to own a piece of the American dream.
Despite the accusations that what they're doing is illegal, Citigroup and Acorn stand by the program.
Acorn issued a statement saying everything about their program is legal. They say in the United States, it is perfectly legal for non-citizens to own property.
When asked about its opinion on whether the program is indeed legal, or unlawfully entices illegal immigrants to stay, the U.S. Attorney's office refused an answer.
This is called artificially propping up the housing market. 1 out of 5 residents of the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex are immigrants. Most are illegals. If they didn't continue flooding the area, the housing market would collapse.
Moral of the story.....CRIME DOES PAY!
I don't know who Acorn is; but I have heard Citigroup has some problems regarding honesty.
Sweet.............and I can't finance a stick of Juicy Fruit right now..........
No, this shows just how bad a judge of character of government is.
This guy comes here, works hard, is responsible with his money, pays his bills on time, yet still doesn't get documented while some other character, made legal, is living for free in Federal subsidized housing because he was made a citizen.
Our government should be doing everything it can to get the responsible guy to stay legally while avoiding granting citizenship to the leaches.
Why should someone that works hard and can buy a house still feel like it's a problem to get naturalized? That makes me think the problem is with the government and not him.
I suppose it's kind of like speed limits. Sure, exceeding the limit is breaking the law, but most people do it because the government is so poor at setting reasonable limits.
In this case our government handles naturalization so poorly that otherwise hardworking, responsible people, still don't feel like going through the process.
No. This is an example of the private sector being a more efficient and better judge of character than the government.
Hope her tax returns are in order. She's just begging for an audit.
Overwhelmed by debt? Why pay your bills? Why go through bankruptcy? Why lose your home? Simply dye your hair black, learn Spanish, say "My name Jose Jimenez", get a Matricula Consular, and wipe your credit slate clean! Even buy your own house at a foreclosure auction!
You miss the point.
The point should be that hard work and responsibility with money are rewarded.
The point is that our immigration system is so screwed up that a mostly good man still feels he has to hide from the government.
The point isn't the crime pays. Hard work pays. Banks don't often lend large sums of money to criminals.
Nope. Mortgage industry is propped up by the government. Like the S&L bailout, they know that the government won't let the house of cards collapse despite shaky lending practices. That is why we're seeing equity loans that are up to 125% of equity based on shoddy appraisals of the real estate's value. Appraisals are designed these days to make more loans as opposed to securing the loans with real equity.
Even with the influx of immigrants (and Hurricana Katrina evacuees), the market is still having a tough time staying at inflated levels. Fort Worth foreclosures last month exceeded for the first time the record set back in the late '80s during the S&L bust.
YOU MISSSED My point
see post 10
I will cross Citbank off my stock watch investment list.
Which banks will lend to illegal's?
Clearly they do. What part of the simple term "illegal immigrant" do you not understand? This guy is, by definition, a criminal by having broken our immigration laws.
So - who gets stuck holding the tab when the illegals decide it's time to disappear/get deported (don't hold your breath) or something else happens?
So - there are consumers who have a hard time getting a mortgage - and they are US Citizens, who pay taxes, contribute to society, etc. Yet illegals are getting an express ride through the mortgage process?
Mexico won't have to have a military takeover of the SW US, they can just buy it, with mortgage money put up by US banks...
Wow - the story actually documents an illegal in the US, documents that he committed fraud in trying to obtain a loan with a fake SS#, and now is happily living in the home he bought?
And why the hell isn't the INS knocking on his door?
Oh - I forgot, we have taken a lesson from the French and have already surrendered to Mexico...my bad.
The ITIN does not prove "they pay taxes to the IRS". It only proves that someone has an ITIN. Do they even ask to see an actual tax return?
Applicants also have to have a bank account,
A Matricula Consular ID gets you one of those.
proof of US residency for two years,
Two years of rent receipts will suffice.
and two years of credit references.
Paid utility bills. (They will waive doing actual credit checks.)
How did they check his credit? Did they really mean the true holder of the SS# has good credit and they extended it to "David"?
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