“The right of the People to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated….” ~ From the Sixth Article, U.S. Bill of Rights, Ratified: December 15, 1791, Fourth Amendment

Marie McDonnell joined me on The Solari Report last year to help you learn how to successfully originate a mortgage without falling into the financial fraud traps and schemes that have become common in the United States: Your Mortgage: Financing Your Home Without Falling for Fraud.

Once you have successfully originated your mortgage—even when you have done things right—problems can occur, and some of them are downright fraudulent. This week, Marie returns to The Solari Report to brief us on servicing risks. She also explains what to do to ensure that your mortgage servicing goes well for the life of your mortgage—and what to do if it does not.

Marie is President of McDonnell Property Analytics. She is a Mortgage Fraud and Forensic Analyst™, a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and a Master Analyst In Financial Forensics (MAFF) with significant experience in transactional analysis, mortgage auditing, and mortgage fraud investigation. Her firm provides a variety of analytical services to individual clients and offers litigation support, mortgage-backed securities research, and foreclosure forensics to attorneys nationwide. McDonnell Property Analytics also advises and performs services for county registers of deeds, attorneys general, courts, and other governmental agencies.

Because mortgage servicing is a complex affair, Marie has generously prepared and provided supporting documents, including a list of servicing abuses and case studies based on people she has successfully helped to defend. When we post the audios, please login to find a wealth of handouts that support our discussion. You can use the handouts to study this topic at your convenience, including:

• Servicing Outline: Mortgage Servicing Abuses and Case Studies
• Flowchart: Mortgage Servicing Abuse in Escrow Accounts
• Document Custodian Checklist
• Glossary of Terms
• Sample Call, Correspondence, & Payment Logs

There is one point you will hear Marie emphasize repeatedly: it is essential that you understand the documents that you are supposed to have, that you understand the documents that you sign, and that you maintain copies of everything. Unfortunately, horror stories abound of what can go wrong. However, if you take care to manage the payment and monitoring of your mortgage and do a good job of archiving your documents, you should be able to avoid potential pitfalls and present your proofs if things outside of your control go wrong—such as your mortgage being transferred to a sloppy or fraudulent servicer.

In Let’s Go to the Movies, I will review The Biggest Little Farm about filmmaker John Chester and Chef Molly Chester who decided to leave their apartment in Los Angeles with their dog Todd and become farmers by starting Apricot Lane Farm in Moorpark, California. No one ever said that creating a healthy, local food system was easy. But if you enjoy hard work and living on the land, it can be inspiring…and delicious!

Subscribers can e-mail or post questions and story suggestions for Money & Markets for this week here.