Posted on 11/12/2006 4:52:44 PM PST by Sybeck1
Illegal immigrants meet little resistance getting home loans
Marleny Carranza's cell phone plays salsa music when a call comes in, and these days it rings often.
She and her sister Sandra Carranza are doing a brisk business selling homes to Hispanic immigrants, and they don't turn away people who may be in the country illegally.
The Carranza sisters work with Su Casa Realty, a Century 21 franchise with an office in Hickory Hill. They are among many real estate professionals and bankers nationwide willing to sell houses to illegal immigrants.
Giving home loans to illegal immigrants is a relatively safe bet because they usually earn steady incomes and because the federal government isn't trying hard to make them leave, some businesses executives say.
In fact, one group that criticizes the practice says the federal government makes it easy for illegal immigrants to establish a permanent home here.
Meanwhile, federal regulators permit the sale of homes to people here illegally and encourage banks to reach out to all immigrants.
Immigration enforcement has traditionally been light in non-border areas, and some business leaders believe illegal immigrants' integration in the national economy means the government won't drive them out.
"I don't think it's physically possible or fiscally possible to deport 12 million folks," said Bob Byrd, chairman and CEO of the Bank of Bartlett.
About 18 months ago, the community bank started a mortgage program for people without Social Security numbers.
While some people without Social Security numbers are here legally, many who don't have the numbers are illegal immigrants.
"We're doing this because we think it's right," Byrd said. "We're doing this because it's legal. And we're doing this because it's profitable."
Illegal immigrants represent a growing market: There are an estimated 12 million in the nation and between 100,000 and 150,000 in Tennessee, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research group.
Home sales to undocumented immigrants could be worth $60 billion, said Mary Mancera a spokeswoman for the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.
The Carranza sisters are tapping that pool. Originally from Honduras, a poor country in Central America, they landed in Memphis after doctors referred their teenage sister to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for cancer treatment. Their sister, Fanny Carranza, died in 1998.
Today, Marleny Carranza, 37, who studied law in Honduras, is part owner of Su Casa Realty.
The franchise opened in 2002 and anticipates selling its 1,500th house sometime next year, she said. It has 22 agents, most of them Spanish-speaking, and has sold homes throughout the area.
The sisters say about half their potential clients lack Social Security numbers. But they tell clients that they could sell the property if they're deported, and many clients have family members with legal status who could help pay loans if they were gone.
Many clients have substantial savings from blue collar jobs or small businesses. Some immigrants without Social Security numbers have paid as much as $100,000 up front, the sisters said.
"They save money, and that is power," said Sandra Carranza, who said she left the field she's trained in, electrical engineering, because selling houses to immigrants is more lucrative.
The sisters sometimes work with Bank of Bartlett, which accepts identification cards issued by foreign governments. The bank helps immigrants who lack Social Security cards obtain an individual tax identification number through the Internal Revenue Service, which doesn't share the information with immigration enforcement officers. The bank uses tax returns and other payment records to allow immigrants without a credit history to show their ability to pay the mortgage, Byrd said.
Byrd wouldn't say how many home loans the bank has given, but he said the total value is between $12 million and $14 million.
A private firm that Byrd wouldn't name backs the loans -- federally backed firms Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae don't support such loans.
The adjustable rate mortgages start at 7.65 percent, he said. The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate loan this week was 6.24 percent, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
He said none of the loan recipients has defaulted or been deported, and he considers it unlikely.
"For the life of me, I can't remember the report of a deportation in recent times," he said.
In recent years, federal immigration authorities have de-emphasized work site enforcement and gone after illegal immigrants who commit crimes. Work site arrests spiked this year, but the risk of deportation for illegal immigrants who stay out of trouble remains relatively small.
Temple Black, a spokesman for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that deports illegal immigrants, said the agency has no position on the mortgage loan programs.
But Steve Camarota with the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington group calling for tighter immigration restrictions, says firms like Bank of Bartlett are unethical.
"You have an institution in the community working to undermine U.S. immigration laws," he said.
But he also blames the federal government, saying it's not serious about immigration enforcement, despite dramatic moves like Congress' vote this fall to build 700 miles of fencing along the border.
"All the more mundane work of enforcing the law, like how you issue tax ID numbers, what instructions you give the bank, all those kinds of things they have no intention of doing," he said.
Byrd said the federal government gave him the idea of extending home loans to illegal immigrants. He said that in 2004 he attended a conference in Chicago at which officials from agencies, including the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., encouraged bankers to give services to illegal immigrants.
Spokesmen for the banking regulators say the agencies are urging lenders to extend services to immigrants and others likely to be outside the mainstream financial system. But they say they take no position on lending to illegal immigrants.
"We have neither encouraged or discouraged lending on the basis of immigration status," said Robert Mooney, an FDIC official in Washington.
Other businesses are entering the market.
First Tennessee Bank brokers loans for people without Social Security numbers through Banco Popular, a Puerto Rican firm. National banks, including Wells Fargo & Co. and Citibank, are testing similar programs.
The Memphis Area Teachers' Credit Union offers home loans to people without Social Security numbers, but a spokeswoman said the bank requires proof of legal immigration status.
People selling houses in two new subdivisions in Raleigh, Cedar Ridge and Ridgemont Trails, said they're marketing to immigrants and won't turn away those here illegally.
And immigrants' heavy demand for housing is drawing more agents to the business.
Yeska Castillo, the Carranza sisters' cousin, joined the firm a few months ago. She drives an SUV with an advertising pitch written in Spanish on the back windshield: "Do you want a house? No money? No Social Security? No credit? Yes, it's possible!"
Juan Romo, a part owner in Su Casa, said he's seen the number of Spanish-speaking real estate agents in the Memphis area jump from two or three in 1999 to about 50 today. He said that when people without Social Security numbers buy homes, they help develop the economy.
"They integrate more into Memphis, too," he said. "I don't see any wrong in doing that, really."
-- Daniel Connolly: 529-5296
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Mortgage loans to illegal immigrants
Several local and national banks make home loans to people without Social Security numbers. While some people without Social Security numbers are here legally, many who don't have the numbers are illegal immigrants.
The Bank of Bartlett and other firms offer loans to people without Social Security numbers. First Tennessee Bank brokers similar loans through Banco Popular, a Puerto Rican bank. The Memphis Area Teachers' Credit Union offers loans to people without Social Security numbers, but a spokeswoman said they must have legal status.
Federal banking regulators encourage banks to reach out to the "unbanked," and permit home sales to illegal immigrants, officials with the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said.
Copyright 2006, commercialappeal.com - Memphis, TN. All Rights Reserved.
I'm sorry about the injustice of it all. And it is only going to get worse. The Republicans see cheap labor for big business and the Democrats see easy votes. Both parties are basically run by criminals. The Republicans are at least dimly aware that some people want to kill us. However, they have mismanaged things. That is not as bad as the Democrats, who want to grant American civil liberties to foreign terrorists. I don't know what to say. At some level, a large percentage of Americans really don't care if another 9/11 or worse happens. God bless you. Take care. Survive this mess.
ping
Nothing is going to change until a POTUS is elected who will enforce the immigration laws.
Thanks GWB.
Exactly....did you know that there is a group out in California that is already filing RICO suits?
http://www.illegalemployers.org/index2.html
I believe that this group is affiliated with Howard Foster, Esq., who is currently handling the Tyson and Mohawk RICO cases. Right now the focus is on employers, but should be applied to any institution, city, or private citizen who, for financial gain, is encouraging illegal immigration by providing services to aliens.
So, it is my opinion, that the "in order to secure the borders, we MUST have 'comprehensive immigration reform' mantra (blackmail), the whole push to pass laws that will include amnesty for employers, is a timely and hurried effort by the bipartisan OBL to prevent judgement on these RICO suits and trebel damages, especially against Tyson, who has been a major contributor to both Clinton and Bush.
Republicans must unite immediately, despite Bush, to stop the OBL and it's North American Union agenda. RICO prosecutions is a great tool that should be used by any American citizen who wishes to protect the sovereignty and security of our country.
hmmmm...
Affiliate brokers for Century 21...
I wonder if our US AG (Gonzales) is looking into (or away from) this???
If Century 21 is doing this, I wonder if other Real Estate companies are???
"It is also why many groups and the government will not allow muncipalities to make it illegal to hire or rent to illegals."
What you are describing is the bipartisan OBL (Open Borders Lobby) and their North American Union agenda is MUCH broader and more dispicable than you've described. A red flag......one of the very first meetings Bush held following the election was with Calderone:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/artman/publish/article_4213.shtml
The bipartisan OBL must be stopped. Republicans must unite, despite Bush and all supporters, to stop them.
Bigger Picture anyone? Think that 'open borders' OBL agenda is just a Dim agenda rather than a bipartisan one ? Read Pastor's testimony on the creation of a North American Union given to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee:
http://www.senate.gov/~foreign/testimony/2005/PastorTestimony050609.pdf
Nothing but conspiracy, you say? Does this agenda fit into the bipartisan scheme for a NWO..... Watch these:
Clinton:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x9g3xVyJFc&mode=related&search=
GHWB:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCwZNGwUbp4
I'm game for forming the basis of a RICO suit ... I live in an area where Banco Popular processes loans for illegals on a regular basis (FL) ... I am a citizen with credit problems due to a medical related BK ... If I was an illegal I would be welcomed with a new home loan at a good rate despite having no credit history as my ssn would be made-up/stolen/missing ... I am currently looking for a Home Equity Loan and am having problems despite good income, good history (last 3 years) and 200K+ in equity (even at todays lower home prices)...
If it would be a better suit I can find dozens of tradesmen who can't find work in construction because they don't sprechen de Espanol , this would be all of the homebuilders, the ones who can get hired are paid about 2/3rds of what the prevailing wage was 15 years ago.
If this isn't illegal, it is bad business. Why would you loan monet to someone that you know may be rounded up and sent home at a moments notice?
Of course, no one does round up and send anyone home very often.
It looks like they are doing whatever it takes to sell houses and illegal aliens are on their radar screen.
Realtors project housing boom if alternate credit scores adopted
No law requires that buyers be in the country legally in order to purchase real estate. Citibank, for instance, doesn't require that borrowers be citizens or legal residents of the United States, Citigroup spokeswoman Janis Tarter said. As with many other minority and immigrant communities, bringing Hispanic families into the mortgage market is a continuing challenge, say officials at Federal Reserve Banks across the country.
snip
Creditors like Citigroup Inc.'s Citibank see recent immigrants as a growing market niche, but those who lack Social Security numbers or legal status in the U.S. are often rejected by the three major credit bureaus.
A handful of new credit reporting systems already used by 200 real estate brokers, community groups and mortgage counselors nationwide allows them to calculate risk by evaluating a prospective client's utility bills and rent checks.
Should the new reporting methods gain wider acceptance on Wall Street and among secondary mortgage lenders like Fannie Mae, housing markets in places like California's Central Valley would stand to gain the most...
snip
"I'm not certain what you mean..."
I thought I was very clear. Long quotes are too much to read. It would be more helpful to take the highlights and then post where to find the information. Thanks for putting up the post. I'd just do the cliff notes version.
Wonder if there is a law organization or elected official with the guts that would take a case to end this practice.
How about "cracker"?
The point is that they use derogatory terms against other people, but are given a pass. And it's right out in the open.
I smell discrimination law suit! BTW, have you tried Skyline Financial? Hugh Hewitt recommends them. You might want to check his website. Good luck!
Where do we sign up to become illegal's?
I'm just waiting for someone to ask me for information so I can tell them that it's not germane since they don't require it from illegals. One of my favorites is the free wire transfers to Mexico. Try sending money anywhere in the US for free and they will laugh at you. They don't see the problem! Try it at a bank branch that isn't yours just for fun. Or ask them for english only deposit slips! That's another one!
Great point... I'll have to remember that.
"...those who lack Social Security numbers or legal status in the U.S. are often rejected by the three major credit bureaus."
It is outrageous that they don't track the illegals! The next time one of the financial institutions uses my credit score for anything, I'm going to go ballistic.
Aiding and abetting the commision of a crime.
A felony in almost all jurisdiction.
The banks are basically telling the feds "Screw you. We're onna do what we want no matter what the law is"
And the pols, who have allowed the country to be pledged into perpetual debt (which is no different from infinite debt) have no choice but to go along.
If the banks don't like what the pols do, then they can just wait till grandma walks in with her SS check and say "We can't cash it."
Face it, they got us by the short hairs.
"Juan Romo, a part owner in Su Casa, said he's seen the number of Spanish-speaking real estate agents in the Memphis area jump from two or three in 1999 to about 50 today. He said that when people without Social Security numbers buy homes, they help develop the economy."
"They integrate more into Memphis, too," he said. "I don't see any wrong in doing that, really." "
He doesn't see anything wrong with it? They help develop the economy? The number of real estate agents has jumped to 50 in about 7 years! And this is Memphis, not a border state! They are even having problems in Maine! Listen up people, if you don't stand up now, you're going to be speaking espanol! Just say NO!
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