The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has filed a lawsuit against Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance, claiming the company was “setting families up to fail when they borrowed money to buy a manufactured home.”
Maryville, Tennessee-based Vanderbilt originates loans for manufactured homes. The company is a unit of the manufactured home builder Clayton Homes Inc. and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSEL BRK).
The CFPB alleged Vanderbilt “often disregarded evidence that borrowers did not have sufficient income or assets (other than the value of their home) to pay their mortgage and cover recurring obligations and basic living expenses, like food and health care.” The lawsuit also claimed the company “fabricated unrealistic estimates of living expenses” and originated mortgages to borrowers despite determining they could not repay their loans. The CFPB alleges that Vanderbilt violated the Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z.
“Vanderbilt knowingly traps people in risky loans in order to close the deal on selling a manufactured home,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “The CFPB’s lawsuit seeks to not only protect homebuyers, but also honest lenders helping people to finance the purchase of an affordable home.”
Vanderbilt did not immediately comment on the lawsuit.
Interesting, as this would be the same agency that files complaints and charges about lenders not making loans to lower income communities. Damned if you do….and Damned if you don’t. My suggestion…..Do away with this very politically charged federal government agency.
Well said Rick!
That’s exactly what I was thinking. Along with – When do full grown adults in this country become fully responsible for their own financial decisions?
This is laughable. The DTI is what determines a purchaser’s ability. It is not a mortgage lender’s responsibility to educate people on what food & insurance will cost them as that is not debt. Let’s talk about how manufactured homes don’t appreciate in value like stick built homes. No one was set up to fail. These are consenting adults who have every resource available to use to gather information to make an educated decision.
This gets more absurd every single day.
Mortgage Bankers should educate the client to avoid pitfalls; foreclosure bankruptcy etc. Not sell on greed or profits over consumer’s intelligence.
Agreed. Professionals are there to guide and protect their clients. They have the experience, the clients don’t. Protecting the client is first above getting paid. Everyone profits from a stable economy not from greed.
Keeping my eyes and ears open as to when Elon pulls the trigger on the CFPB.
Maybe the manufacturers should have stuck with singlewides on the metal frames, built them better and kept the price down. And anyone wanting to manufacture doublewides, yes doublewides, should build as modular homes that are more likely to appreciate so that, at some point, the owners can sell for more than they owe.
CFPB = Confused Frikin’ Political Bureaucrats