Letters to Mortgage Companies II

[Lion]

Oh, Yes

Oh, yes, I definitely asked the mortgage company to send me the signed authorization for me to release information to them before I even spoke to them. (They'd collected it from the client when the process began and he signed a lot of paperwork; sure wish it'd been dated then so I'd know how long it had been going on before they thought to request a letter from me!) They sent it along with a copy of the letter I'd written a year or two ago when our mutual client bought the house he's selling to buy this new house. They wanted a letter just like it with the dates brought current. I did that back in January, and then in February they asked me to add three new statements and fax them the revised letter. That's when I balked and called my manager.

[Lion]

St

Well, now that I'm catching up on reading this board, I see that the poster I wanted to thank for posting some good sites with her information was ST. Thank you, Sandy. I should've remembered it was you, because you do lots of good, thorough research for our questions. Thanx.

[S T]

Lion You are Not Alone

Lion,
You are welcome! Just know that you are not alone. As the lending restrictions become more difficult, there is that "loan broker" that shops to sub standard markets and then is when it seems we have the these "horrible" requests come in.

I have had three of them in the last year, both requesting my "CPA" license which I am not, I am also an "EA", along with verification of revenue, etc. You would think by now that the lending institutions or underwriters would be aware that there are other professionals besides "CPA's" preparing tax returns.

One client and loan broker asked me to lie, which I did not, so I no longer have that client, and the other two managed to get the loans with the simple, condensed statement of verifying that I prepared the returns with the Schedule C and no license #.

Sandy

[Jiggers]

...and you billed the client....

...your top rate for doing this, in advance?

For all the P*I*T*A stuff you have to go through, I would hope that you will/did.

[Lion]

Jiggers

Now, that's the really depressing part, Jiggers. I work at an H&R Block Premium office, and HRB provides mortgage letters FREE as a courtesy to their clients, even though not a part of their service per my district manager. So, working on this during tax season means I do get my hourly rate but lower my ultimate bonus. And, fielding his calls to my home telephone, gets me no pay, either, since I can't work for Block clients on my own. During the offseason, I do get a big $12 per hour IF I'm in the office. Again, this character got my home telephone number somehow. I think his girlfriend has my cell number, but she's been surprisingly quiet on this current issue. Maybe, just nudging him from behind the scenes. So, you can see why I'm so upset that this client for more than a decade, who's getting free services from me as a personal favor, repays me with vitriolic tirades. I don't think I ever used vitriolic in a sentence before!

[Jiggers]

Just turned client down

Ex-client just called asking for a letter to the mortgage company and that he has been self-employed.

I have only done his bookkeeping for his S-Corporation. I did not do the tax return.

I have never done his personal tax return.

I explained that I couldn't do it.