Posted by Linda_in_MI on 5/22/06 3:21pm
Msg #121526

WorldWide Finan./Loan Giant license to lend in MI revoked

LoanGiant.com license to lend revoked

By Tom Henderson
Crain’s Detroit Business
2:21 pm, May 22, 2006

The state’s Office of Financial and Insurance Services announced Monday that Commissioner Linda Wattershas signed a consent order revoking the state license of World Wide Financial Services Inc. and imposing substantial fines against the Southfield-based insurance company.

In the order, World Wide, a subprime mortgage lender that did business as LoanGiant.com, admitted to numerous violations of state law, including failure to provide proper escrow funds; failure to provide annual statements to borrowers; and providing such false information on loan applications as false payment data, false borrower income, false employment information and false debt obligations.

World Wide agreed to pay OFIS $200,000 in civil fines and investigation fees of $73,255.

The company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last October after getting sued by one of its lenders, GE Commercial Finance Business Property Corp. last May, agreed to not object to OFIS filing a claim for those fines and fees in federal bankruptcy court in Detroit.

In its bankruptcy filing, the company claimed assets between $1 million and $10 million and debts between $10 million and $50 million.

“LoanGiant was a super-sized bad actor,” Watters said in a press release. “Their activities eventually caught up with them, and today I am proud to announce that the hard work of OFIS and [our] legal team has paid off for the Michigan consumer.”

Michigan consumers who have mortgages that originated with LoanGiant will not be affected, Watters said.