[Antonello]

So a non-profit org is providing counseling, free administrative prep work, and underwriting guarantees for, as they put it, people with low and 'nontraditional' sources of income. The bank is happy to grant them loans with more favorable rates and conditions since there is a guarantor assuming the risk.

Neither are the immigration police. And I'm not so sure I'd like to set the precedent of banks and private groups being saddled with the duties of actively investigating possible illegal activity beyond the mandatory reporting of financial data already required by law.

The banks have to abide by equal housing laws when determining the creditworthiness of an applicant. But a private advocacy group has every right to choose who they are willing to throw their money at without being required to share their funds in a nondiscriminatory fashion. Otherwise it would be like saying if you want to contribute to the Boy Scouts then you have to give some money to NAMBLA too.

[american spirit]

The potential for massive fraud in these types of deals is phenomenal......I'm sure the scams are already on the drawing board.....flipping properties, fraudulent ID's, kickbacks to bank insiders, etc. The fin'l downside to US taxpayers who will ultimately "tote the note" will be critical unless this idiocy is stopped.