We’ve known for about the past six months that times have definitely gotten tough for Tricia Morris, probably Maui’s most famous mortgage broker. That the island could even have something called a “most famous mortgage broker” is testament both to Morris’ marketing savvy and the extent to which the real estate bubble from a few years ago consumed Maui.
In any case, Morris’ career apparently mirrored the nation’s own experiences with subprime mortgages–she got rich, then she got broke. Her and her husband’s bid for bankruptcy ended earlier this year, which was bad enough. But now the state of Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) is going after her, which is kinda much worse.
“Commissioner of Financial Institutions Iris Ikeda-Catalani ordered Kathleen Patricia Morris and Herman-Morris Enterprises Inc., dba Hawaii’s Premiere Mortgage Co., to cease operating as a mortgage loan originator and a mortgage loan originator company on suspicion of violating Hawaii law,” stated a DCCA news release sent out Friday, May 17.
The news release then outlined six alleged violations, ranging from “small kine” to “oh, shit” on the scale of alleged mortgage broker misconduct:
• Originating a mortgage loan in a consumer’s name without their authorization;
• Receiving payoffs of mortgage loans and not remitting the payoff amounts to the lenders;
• Attempting to solicit a complainant with a payment to withdraw his complaint against the licensees.
• Using a trade name without properly notifying the Commissioner of the name;
• Failing to update the financial disclosure pursuant to changes in financial status; and
• Failing to notify the Commissioner about a revocation of a previous license;
There will be an administrative hearing on the order on May 29 over on Oahu. Reached by phone, Morris said she had no real comment on the order, though she said she’d issue a press release before the hearing. She also wanted to stress that everything in the press release was just an allegation.
“I am looking forward to the hearing and an opportunity to respond,” she told me. “I was not informed of the commissioners’ actions prior to the press release. I found out about it at 10:30pm Friday night on Facebook.”
Photo: Tricia Morris’ Google Plus page
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