New York Times – Those who have issues with their mortgage lenders now have another place to take them: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which began accepting such complaints and inquiries this month.

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CNN Money – President Obama announced last week that he’s asked the Justice Department to create a special unit of prosecutors and state attorneys general to investigate abusive lending and packaging of risky mortgages that led to the housing crisis.

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When working with a client who is applying for a home loan, be on the lookout for falsified bank statements.  Freddie Mac is reporting an increase in phony bank statements being submitted with loan files.  By inserting a few digits, small monthly deposits can be turned into major deposits.

FICO has launched myFICO en Español, the first Spanish-language website where consumers can obtain their personal credit report, credit report analysis, FICO Score and FICO Score analysis in Spanish.

The new site enables users to toggle between Spanish and English, a format that is preferred by many bilingual speakers. More than 600 pages of Spanish-language consumer financial educational materials are available to visitors.

To access the site, visit http://espanol.myfico.com.  

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If you receive an unsolicited email that appears to be from the IRS requesting that you file a “tax refund request,” do not fall victim to this identity theft scheme.

Numerous people are receiving unsolicited email informing them that a $9,390.55 IRS tax refund is due to them if they complete a tax refund request form. The email code will be forged to appear as if it originated from a trusted source, usually the IRS or an IRS tax preparer, but viewing the “message header” or “message source” will reveal its origin to be something else, and the link will not lead to a trusted domain, but one controlled by identity theft criminals.

If you file a tax return and a refund is due, you will automatically receive your refund. You will never be contacted by the IRS, and there is no tax refund request form. Never disclose personal information to any unsolicited inquiry, as compelling as the story may be.

If you have questions or concerns about any IRS tax refund you may have due, you should access the official IRS “Where’s My Refund” online application at the following destination: http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96596,00.html.

Wall Street Journal – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Wednesday disclosed key details about how its examiners will size up mortgage companies that aren’t banks but still offer home loans to consumers.

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C.A.R.’s Legal Dept. has created a new chart summarizing new laws passed by the California Legislature and the U.S. Congress that may affect REALTORS® in 2012.  For the full text of a law, click onto the legislative number or go to www.leginfo.ca.gov for California laws or http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ for federal laws. A legislative bill may be referenced in more than one section.

View the chart at http://www.car.org/legal/2012-new-laws/.

Late last year, C.A.R. launched Sucasa.net, a Spanish-language property search website that offers Spanish-speaking home buyers MLS listings based on the California Living Network’s database.   Powered by NAR’s REALTOR.com® (www.realtor.com/california), home buyers can search for California homes using common sorting characteristics such as city, price range, and number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Results appear in a list or on a map, and driving directions are available in Spanish. The website also is a useful tool for REALTORS®, allowing agents to forward their clients a link to a specific property in Spanish. To view the site, please visit www.sucasa.net.

The California Dept. of Real Estate recently issued the following practical advice to prevent consumers from falling victim to a scam:

• Never pay an upfront fee for loan modification services. Such fees are illegal.
• Watch out for promises of guaranteed success. No one can promise that a loan modification will be successful.
• Ask questions, get referrals from people you know and trust, and always remember the following: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is not true.
• Contact a HUD-approved counseling agency that can provide loan modification services for free.
• If you have been a victim of a loan modification scam, report it to the DRE, the FTC and the Attorney General.

Instances of financial abuse and fraud against the elderly increased from November 2010 to January 2011, according to a recent report from MetLife, which found overall investment fraud targeted towards older Americans is on the rise.

Americans over the age of 65 lost nearly $3 billion to financial abuse from April to June 2010, up 12 percent from the same period in 2008, according to the report. During that time, 51 percent of the fraud cases reported were perpetrated by strangers, 34 percent by family, friends, and neighbors and 12 percent by businesses.  In a separate look at the holidays, MetLife reports fraud by family and friends increased to 45 percent.