ContentDesk) April 10, 2006 — The Homeowner’s Consumer Center and its partner the National Mortgage Complaint Center have just released the results of their survey of common mortgage fee overcharges/mortgage lender abuse for 2006. The survey includes mortgage transactions in every state and region of the United States. This survey was compliled as a resource for consumers wondering what mortgage fees are appropriate, and what fees are not.

The top ten areas of overcharging or mortgage borrower abuse are as follows:1. Yield Spread Premiums. By far the most abusive or the most poorly understood mortgage fee in the United States is the “yield spread premium”, also called a “YSP”. A “yield spread premium” should not be confused with “points” or other fees a mortgage lender might charge a consumer. This charge or fee is a “rebate”, or a kickback the mortgage firm or lender receives for increasing a borrowers interest rate over the best rate available for the borrower.

Banks and or mortgage bankers have no federal requirement to disclose “yield spread premiums” to borrowers, even though they are geting them too. Based on our interviews, over 85%+ of all Americans pay a higher monthly mortgage payment because a bank or mortgage broker failed to explain yield spreads or rebate pricing to an unsuspecting consumer/borrower. 2. This year over 1,000,000+ US homeowners will be forced to use the over priced mortgage product of a homebuilder. Seeing it as a way to make more money, regional and national homebuilders have become “mortgage bankers”.

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