Embracing Illegals--Companies are getting hooked on the buying power of undocumented immigrants

I would suggest that - if you have time - read through all the reader comments at the end.

Then, before you cool off (if ever)

Reuters article dated February 13, 2007. It discusses plans by Bank of America to begin issuing credit cards to individuals without Social Security numbers, typically illegal aliens. Again, we wonder about the losses incurred if the nation begins to regard illegal aliens as a serious problem and requires their departures. (The Reuters article reports a Wall Street Journal article on the subject. We have not linked to the WSJ article because it requires a subscription to be viewed.)

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2007-02-13T053517Z_01_N13447905_RTRUKOC_0_US-BOFA-CARD.xml&src=rss&rpc=22 (article no longer available - maybe WSJ)

The bulk of immigrants, of course, are Mexicans who come from poor villages and who lack skills; their overall average family income is just $27,000 a year, vs. $46,000 for legal residents, according to Pew. But a growing number of the undocumented are upscale, too. Increasingly, upper-middle-class immigrants are entering the U.S. illegally from other Latin American countries as well as from places such as South Korea. Camila and Diego Sandoval (not their real names), walked off a plane from Lima, Peru, four years ago as tourists and never went back to their professional jobs. Diego, 33, got work parking cars but soon went into business for himself designing pools and processing construction permits. Camila, 29, joined him after a stint at a hotel. Together, the two now pull down $120,000 a year.

I wish I didn't have to pay taxes, either.

There are a lot of push carts and taco wagons in LA..most do not have permits or licenses to operate. But, somehow the authorities dont crack down on them. Health hazards and roach coaches..

Embracing Illegals--Companies are getting hooked on the buying power of undocumented immigrants

Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented immigrant" is like calling drug dealer an "undocumented pharmacist"

lol. Awesome!!!! :-D

What they are hooked on is the cheap labor of illegal aliens. No SS taxes to match, no unemployment insurance to pay, no records to keep.

Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented immigrant" is like calling drug dealer an "undocumented pharmacist"

A "murderer" is simply an "undocumented executioner". An "arsonist" is merely an "undocumented pyrotechnician". A "robber" is merely an "undocumented tax collector".

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2007-02-13T053517Z_01_N13447905_RTRUKOC_0_US-BOFA-CARD.xml&src=rss&rpc=22 (article no longer available - maybe WSJ)

Illegals don’t pay taxes either.

YOU get to support them via schools, health care etc. etc..

Quite the deal for the ILLEGAL.

If this article is suppose to make me feel OK about illegal aliens it fails miserably.

for the AFIRE ping list

If this article is suppose to make me feel OK about illegal aliens it fails miserably.

Article is not supposed to make you feel OK - it’s getting
to the bottom of the Mortgage crisis. Building has dropped
way off - economy shaky.

We always have had people with poor credit but nothing like
this ever happened. I’d like to know how many “illegals”
across the country have purchase property. AND, how is it
possible for an ILLEGAL to enter into a legal contract?

Then, just how many credit cards were issued to illegals?

All in all - the whole financial mess leaves we the citizens
to clean up and pay the bills.

Following is an article from July,2005 - I apologize I cannot find a link so here it is:

Banks help undocumented migrants buy homes
Companies tap into new market
Yvette Armendariz
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 24, 2005 12:00 AM
Undocumented immigrants now have a legal way of getting a home mortgage to buy into the American dream.

All they need is an individual taxpayer identification number issued by the Internal Revenue Service, a steady income for at least two years and a good credit rating.

Dozens of Valley immigrants already have been approved for these loans, often for up to $150,000. Their biggest challenge isn’t proving a steady income, but rather finding an affordable existing home in the Valley, where the median value is teetering on $250,000.

At least two out-of-state banks are offering these mortgages in Phoenix’s market. Others are likely to follow as they try to tap into an estimated $44 billion potential market, according to a recent report by the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.

The availability of these mortgages illustrates the growing interest by companies to tap into the immigrant market, including the estimated 11 million who are undocumented, to grow sales, said Derene Allen, a senior vice president at Santiago Solutions Group’s office in San Francisco. Despite the furor over illegal immigration, companies can’t ignore the potential of growing loyal, lifelong customers, she said.

That’s why grocery stores, clothing and furniture retailers, auto dealers and cellphone providers are making pitches in Spanish and hiring bilingual employees. But they also are stocking shelves with familiar food items from home, promoting in-store credit to folks who can’t get traditional credit, translating menus and signs and opening accounts by accepting matricula consular cards, which are identification cards issued by the Mexican Consulate.

Banco Popular North America, based in New York, began offering the home loans about three months ago through a few mortgage brokers. Earlier this month, Alabama-based New South Federal Savings Bank’s office in Mesa rolled out a similar program named La Ventana de Prosperida, the window of opportunity.

“It’s a market that has wrongfully been ignored for a long time,” said Chan Peterson, executive vice president and head of community banking for Banco Popular in Chicago. “There is a huge untapped reservoir of opportunity (with the immigrant market) here.”

Only scattered opposition has been directed to some of these lenders, primarily from illegal-immigration critics. No federal or Arizona laws prohibit such mortgages.

But state Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said he plans to introduce legislation to stop these mortgages.

“You’ve got to stop these rewards for people coming to this country illegally,” he said.

Building wealth
The availability of loans is helping immigrants such as Emma and Sergio Zarate, who arrived in Arizona five years ago, build financial wealth.

The Zarates just began looking for a home after learning they could get a mortgage so long as they had an individual taxpayer identification number, which they received years ago to pay taxes.

“In renting, you can’t save. You just pay,”’ Emma said. “You don’t receive anything.”

Right now, they rent a one-bedroom apartment for $550 a month with Sergio’s restaurant salary, but they hope to find a home for $140,000 to $170,000 that is big enough for their two young children to play, she said.

Jose Balderas, a chef who came to the Valley from Mexico eight years ago, also feels blessed that he can build a future.

“I came here with a plan to earn money to send back to (family in) Mexico,” he said. “I never thought I would stay and buy a house. I just thought I’d save money to live a bit better.”

But his family joined him, so it made sense to buy a home. He and his son combined their incomes to purchase a $170,000 home last month.

Big banks weigh risks
Larger banks are still on the sidelines. Wells Fargo, which has gone after business with new immigrants, is still examining the financial risks of making such loans. Others, such as JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, are waiting to see if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will step up and buy these loans on the secondary market.

Another issue: finding mortgage insurance companies willing to write policies. That means buyers have to come up with 20 percent down or a bank assumes the additional risk of a lower down payment.

Wisconsin-based MGIC Investment Corp., a leading national mortgage insurance issuer, is thought to be the first company offering mortgage insurance on these loans. Michael Zimmerman, vice president of investor relations for MGIC, said the company began insuring these mortgages on a pilot basis about a year ago in response to demand. Still, these policies make up just $25 million of the $62 billion on the books for the 12-month period ending March 31.

Banks have no obligation to check immigration status, said David Barr, spokesman for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in Washington, D.C.

“Why assume this person is not here legally?” he said.

But under the Patriot Act, consumers must have acceptable forms of identification to open an account. Allowable identification includes matricula cards.

Banco Popular’s Peterson is unsure how many of the ITIN loans are to undocumented workers and how many are to immigrants with work visas who also don’t have Social Security numbers.

He said his bank’s product is aimed at immigrants who don’t have a Social Security number.

IRS Commissioner Mark Everson told a House Ways and Means subcommittee last year that he is concerned the ITIN had become an acceptable form of identification similar to a Social Security number. However, he pointed out that the IRS has no authority to prevent others from using ITINs for non-tax purposes, nor does it enforce immigration laws.

Business dilemma
Companies marketing in Spanish to reach predominantly Spanish speakers don’t bother Rusty Childress, owner of Childress Auto Mall and a co-author of the anti-illegal-immigration Proposition 200. The voter-approved measure is designed to combat voting fraud, particularly among undocumented immigrants, and save the state millions annually by denying benefits to people in the country illegally.

Although he advertises in Spanish, he thinks taking another step to go after business with undocumented workers in essence supports illegal immigration.

“The laws on the books say it’s illegal to violate our federal immigration laws, (but) on the other hand both business and government look the other way once (immigrants) cross (the border),” Childress said.

Financial institutions started to tap into the undocumented-immigrant market a few years ago by opening checking and savings accounts using matricula cards and offering money-wiring services. A few community banks have gone a step further in offering loans and mortgages.

Chicanos Por La Causa Federal Credit Union in Phoenix, for example, offers signature and car loans with an ITIN rather than a Social Security number. Because there is no Social Security number for a credit check, the credit union looks at rent and utility payment histories.

The credit union is looking to offer a home-equity line using ITINs in the fall, said Miguel Avila, chief executive officer of CPLC credit union. He expects more financial institutions to follow with similar loans.

“They see the kind of money they can make,” said Avila, who estimates about 25 to 30 percent of the credit union’s loan portfolio used ITINs.

Step toward acculturation
Peterson said Banco Popular has been making the mortgage loans to immigrants in Texas for about seven years with no hitches. Most are loans of $80,000 to $130,000. He estimates the Arizona portfolio is valued at $2 million to $3 million.

“They perform as well as other loans,” he said. “To this particular borrower, a house is a huge accomplishment in acculturation. . . . They hold the home pretty dear.”

New South Federal’s Arizona office referred calls about its program to the Alabama office, which did not return calls.

The bank, whose program initially was called Casa Mia, told BusinessWeek that it had received negative calls and e-mail about its 20-year mortgage product aimed at immigrants.

Jim McGuire, president of AmeriCasa Mortgage, is concerned about similar negatives. His company has brokered about 10 ITIN loans through Banco Popular.

“We might be putting ourselves in the bull’s eye of the anti-immigration folks, but AmeriCasa is committed to helping this underserved market,” he said. “By bringing new immigrants into the credit system, we could create a huge economic boom for Arizona.”

The loans aimed at immigrants generally don’t include mortgage insurance costs and tend to charge a slightly higher interest rate than market because of the added risk involved, said Rogelio Inzunza, manager of CPLC Mortgage, which has brokered about 30 of these ITIN home loans through Banco Popular. But that isn’t a deal killer because the rate can be as low as 7.25 percent, he said. These loans also call for at least a 5 percent down payment and closing costs. But that’s usually not a problem, either.

“Everyone has their mattress money,” Inzunza said. “Finding a home is the problem.”

Most applicants are qualifying for homes under $150,000. But the median price for a resale home in the Valley is now just shy of $250,000.

Instability a worry
Immigration attorney Marshall Whitehead sees these loans as helping credit-worthy immigrants. But he also worries about the potential for problems.

“If you were in the lending business, would you feel fairly secure about lending to people whose future in this country is unstable?” Whitehead asked. One possibility is defaults on loans. Another is unscrupulous lenders coming in, seeking a hot real estate market and hoping undocumented buyers can’t make the payments so that the lenders then can flip the homes for a nice profit, he said. Whitehead said if lenders really wanted to make a go of this market, they would be vocally supporting a guest-worker program. With permits for work in the United States, that would lessen the risk of the worker losing the home because he or she was deported and defaulted on the payments.

“We’re talking about a huge segment of the market that has previously been untapped,” he said.

But the ability to buy a home is nothing new for undocumented immigrants, nor has been the possibility of getting ripped off, said Edmundo Hidalgo, chief operating officer of Chicanos Por La Causa.

For years, immigrants have bought homes via contracts to purchase, which also are known as contracts for deed or carrybacks. In essence, the seller is willing to finance the home and doesn’t generally give title to the buyer before the loan is paid off.

The option, however, has long been a gamble for the buyer, who risks not getting the title once it is paid off.

“At times the seller is not on the up and up,” Hidalgo said.

I apologize again for not having a link but, in checking some old files I am finding more and more related material.

Here is one more. Is this enough or should I keep digging
and posting?

7NEWS Investigates Mortgage Loans Issued To Illegal Immigrants

Justin Goodman’s Family Says He Would Be Alive If Not For Loans

POSTED: 7:38 pm MST November 28, 2006

UPDATED: 11:50 am MST November 29, 2006

DENVER — Colorado’s housing foreclosures are nearing a record, driving down prices and damaging neighborhoods and one reason is mortgage fraud.

A hit-and-run death has led 7NEWS investigator John Ferrugia on a trail to what may be a ring involved in setting up illegal immigrants with fraudulent mortgages.

Daniel Martinez-Ruiz is an illegal immigrant charged this month with using phony documents to purchase property. His wife Conception Hernandez is charged with similar crimes and is out on bail.

7NEWS Investigators first learned about them and the questionable loans after they began investigating the death of Justin Goodman, who was killed in 2004 by a hit-and-run driver at 88th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard.

The man who killed him and who is now serving time in prison is Roberto Martinez-Ruiz, another member of the same immigrant family.

So, how could he and his family get mortgages to buy homes?

“There’s lenders out there that will do a completely fraudulent loan to get them a house so that they can stay here,” said John Vizzi.

Vizzi is in the real estate and mortgage lending business and he is the uncle of Goodman.

7NEWS’ investigation has found that the immigrant family used phony documents, and in apparent collusion with realtors and lenders, received fraudulent loans to buy two homes in Thornton which were backed by F.H.A. loans.

“My nephew would definitely have been alive today if they hadn’t made those loans,” said Vizzi.

The immigrant family applied for a loan to buy a house on East 77th Avenue in Thornton. Records show that Martinez-Ruiz and Hernandez made the application.

But 7NEWS investigators have learned Martinez used a phony name on a fraudulent alien card because he had no credit and documents show that Hernandez used a fraudulent Colorado driver’s license.

“John, the reason this case got brought to our attention is because of you and the family of the hit-and-run case,” Adams County district attorney Don Quick told John Ferrugia.

Quick has now charged three members of the family and a realtor with several felonies.

“In this case, the buyers themselves are charged as being part of the scheme,” said Quick.

7NEWS has learned that part of the scheme also involves phony W-2 forms and pay stubs from a Colorado cleaning service.

Golden Eagle Cleaning was set up by Daniel Martinez, again with fraudulent documents, as income verification to obtain the loan, Ferrugia said.

But Hernandez claims it wasn’t the family who produced the fraudulent financial documents, but the realtor and lender.

The lender’s name is William Romano.

7NEWS investigators learned it is Romano whose name appears on the loan application and who accepted the fraudulent documents.

But was it Romano who actually produced the phony W-2s and check stubs?

When approached by 7NEWS investigators, Romano said he didn’t know anything and he was clearly not anxious to discuss his work. Romano said he did not make loans to illegal immigrants.

“The lender’s responsibility at the end of the day is to make sure the underlying documents are sufficient and accurate,” said Quick.

Because of 7NEWS’ investigation, Quick is now investigating Romano and the realtors he has dealt with.

“In this case, we know a number of people who were involved in those documents. We’re still pending the investigation to determine if it’s a broader net than that,” said Quick.

Vizzi said this case is about a lot more than just questionable loans.

“That to me is part of the reason why Justin Goodman today is dead,” said Vizzi.

Romano is only under investigation. He has not been charged with a crime, although the real estate agent who dealt with the illegal immigrants has been charged.

The point is how mortgage involving illegal immigrants works, Ferrugia said. It is clear that everyone in the chain of illegal activity gets paid and there’s no law that makes anyone in the chain — the realtor, the lenders, the FHA, directly responsible for insuring documents used in the transaction are legitimate.

In this case, foreclosures on these houses cost taxpayers a total of about $140,000 because the FHA protected the lenders.

This is only one of thousands of such cases costing taxpayers millions in the state of Colorado alone. Most of it simply goes unnoticed because no government agency has time or the mandate to investigate.

Ditto what you said.

Have you noticed more and more spanish showing up on product labels you buy, under the english for now, but for how long?

Its like a brown plague that has descended upon our country.

This is a ping list promoting Immigration Enforcement and Congressional Reform.
If you wish to be added or removed from this ping list, please contact me.

Lots to catch up on this morning...

FReep This Poll! Do You Support The Proposed Dream Act?

Army-Drug Gang Shootout Leaves 15 Dead in Mexico (NO U.S Media reports)

Bush, Texas at Odds Over Death Case

Illegal Immigration - Death to a Nation

The Impact of Illegal and Legal Immigration on Congressional Apportionment*

It's The Law

PEOPLE WHO NEED REMINDING

Some activists criticize 'Dream Act' as a draft for illegal immigrants

Kucinich-Sponsored Resolution Approved at National Latino Congreso

Activist plans protest march in Irving (ILLEGALS TX)

U.S. lets in more immigrants for farms

Study: illegal alien population may be as high as 38 million

Feds move to ease guest-worker rules

US to Track Mexican Trucks with Satellite - Will It Matter?

Immigrants eager to pay it forward for Schuyler schools

Crackdown on employers isn't deterring border crossers

Mark Steyn: Political Pieties - PC immigration policies endanger western democracies

Suspected illegal alien mistakenly released on bond (in GA)

More Hispanic (illegal) immigrants arrested (in TN)

WASHINGTON COUNTY:Task force arrest nets charge in U.S. court (Illegal Alien rapist in Arkansas)

Latino Congreso focuses on voting power (Protest Pics!!)

Lawsuit seeks halt to construction of border

ABC Frets: Local Governments Going 'Too Far' Against Illegals?

Students protest 'violent speech' at MSU- Latino group wants ban on certain speakers

Poll shows Mexicans believe they own U.S. Southwest, should be free to enter U.S.

Mexican Consulates to Enter Fray

They are not undocumented immigrants. They are illegal aliens, criminals with a slew of documents.

They are not undocumented immigrants. They are illegal aliens, criminals with a slew of documents.

Many have more documents than we have - they're using OUR social security numbers for one. This is costing more and more Americans money and misery having to deal with the IRS each more for 'earnings' that taxes weren't paid on.

I think some of us should try to get the Matricular Consular cards.

We’d never get one - even with a Spanish sounding name.