Disreputable mortgage service

A: Unfortunately there is nothing that a borrower can do to prevent their mortgage loan from being sent to a disreputable service agency. Any mortgage lender is free to sell its loans to investors like Merrill Lynch. The borrower has no power to control what company the investor uses to service the loans. These companies have a financial incentive to prevent you from refinancing your loan by making false credit reports to the credit reporting bureaus. Since publishing an exposé on Wilshire Credit Corporation last month, many readers across the country have responded with similar stories. Apparently Wilshire Credit is the evil cousin of other giant well-known financial companies. Merrill Lynch has been named as the "silent" owner of the loans, but this is the first time that a reader mentioned Wells Fargo as an affiliate in this scam. Wilshire Credit is known for taking over the mortgage service on loans issued by other reputable lenders without the borrowers' knowledge or power to affect the change. Then they create havoc through a variety of shady tactics that can damage a borrower's credit rating and prevent the borrower from refinancing at lower rates. Several states have open investigations of Wilshire Credit complaints so if you have problems make sure that you have filed a complaint with your Attorney Generals' office. But in the bigger picture, it seems that this issue could only be resolved with additional consumer protection legislation at the national level.