Imagine an Ashland buyer under contract on a bungalow a few blocks from the Henry Clay Inn. At 11:40 on a Thursday night, an email arrives: “Rate expires at midnight. Send your bank statements and a $1,500 deposit to hold your approval.” The sender sounds official, and the clock is ticking. That pressure is the whole point of the message.
Mortgage fraud reaches borrowers in two ways. Scams are aimed at you, such as advance-fee pitches, fake wire instructions and foreclosure “rescues.” Then there are shortcuts that put you on the wrong side of the law, such as misstating income or occupancy. Hanover County is a place where most households own their homes (the Census Bureau’s QuickFacts profile for Hanover County shows a homeownership rate well above the national figure), and that makes owners and buyers steady targets. Duane Buziak, NMLS #1110647, of Coast2Coast Mortgage LLC, NMLS #376205, explains the seven checks he walks Ashland-area clients through before a file ever reaches closing.
1. Verify Your Loan Originator’s License Before Sharing Documents
Mortgage originators must be licensed, and that license creates a public paper trail. Scammers can copy a logo, a testimonial and a slick site, but they cannot fake a record in the federal registry. Checking takes two minutes and happens before you hand over a Social Security number, pay stubs or bank statements.
Consider an illustration: an Ashland buyer gets a social-media message offering a “special rate for locals.” She searches the sender’s name in NMLS Consumer Access and finds nothing. The conversation ends there. For contrast, a real record is public: Duane Buziak’s NMLS #1110647, employed by Coast2Coast Mortgage LLC, NMLS #376205, can be looked up by anyone.
- Go to NMLS Consumer Access and search by name or NMLS number.
- Confirm the person holds authority to originate in Virginia, and read the employer and any regulatory actions listed.
- Check the company on the record against the company name printed on your Loan Estimate.
- Look the company up with the Virginia State Corporation Commission’s Bureau of Financial Institutions, which oversees mortgage licensing in the state, and note any complaint history.
The common mistake is trusting a polished website or a friend’s referral and skipping the lookup. Referrals are good signals, not verification. Another mistake is checking the company but not the individual, since the person on the phone needs their own record.
What to measure: every party you share documents with, including originators, processors and any “advisor” who contacts you first, has a verified NMLS record in your state before you send anything.
2. Treat Pressure, Guarantees and Upfront Fees as Stop Signs
Advance-fee fraud works by collecting money for a loan that never materializes. It relies on three levers: a guarantee that removes your doubt, a deadline that removes your time, and a fee that makes you feel invested. Legitimate loan approval depends on documented income, assets and credit, so no honest party can promise approval regardless of credit.
For example, imagine a caller who demands an $1,800 “processing deposit” before any application and promises approval no matter what your score is. Compare that with a written Loan Estimate and a NoTouch Credit Pull pre-approval, which uses a soft inquiry and does not touch your score. One path asks for money on faith. The other gives you numbers on paper first.
Practical steps:
- Ask for a written, itemized list of every fee and who receives it.
- Request the Loan Estimate. Under CFPB rules, you should receive it within three business days of applying, and the only fee generally allowed beforehand is for a credit report.
- Never sign blank or partly completed pages.
- Give yourself 24 hours on any “today only” demand. A real rate offer survives a night’s sleep.
The most common mistake is confusing urgency with a rate lock. A real lock is documented in writing, with a rate, a term and an expiration date. A verbal “I’ve locked you in” is not one.
What to measure: a Loan Estimate arrives within three business days of your application, and no fee beyond a credit report is charged before you receive it.
3. Recognize Foreclosure-Rescue and Equity-Stripping Pitches
Homeowners who are behind on payments, or who are exploring a refinance to tap equity, attract a specific kind of predator. In equity stripping, someone gets you to transfer your deed or take on terms you cannot meet, then keeps the equity you built. Rescue scams add a twist: they tell you to stop talking to your servicer and pay a fee for “negotiation.”
Here is an illustration. A Mechanicsville homeowner who has missed three payments is told to sign over the deed for a “rescue buyback,” with a promise to sell the house back later. Once the deed is transferred, the buyer owns the home outright and the buyback is only a promise. A HUD-approved counselor, by contrast, would have offered free alternatives such as repayment plans, forbearance or loan modification.
- Call your servicer’s loss-mitigation department yourself and ask what options exist.
- Contact a HUD-approved housing counselor, which costs nothing.
- Have an attorney review any contract before you sign it.
- Never transfer title as part of a rescue, and never stop communicating with your servicer.
The mistake to avoid is paying someone for help that counselors and servicers provide at no charge. A request for a large upfront payment is itself the warning sign.
What to measure: no deed has been transferred, no upfront fee has been paid, and you hold a written workout plan from your servicer.
4. Question Appraisal and Purchase-Transaction Red Flags
Fraud for profit usually involves a transaction built to extract more money than the property is worth. Typical patterns include inflated appraisals, quick flips with large price jumps, straw buyers (people who lend their name and credit to the real purchaser) and requests for cash back at closing. A buyer who goes along may end up owing more than the home can ever sell for.
Suppose a home sold for $240,000 six months ago and is relisted at $340,000 with no documented renovation. The seller suggests a specific appraiser. That is a $100,000 jump, a 41.7 percent increase, in half a year. Check the claim against recent Hanover County sales and the county’s recorded sale history before you proceed.
- Pull comparable sales from the past six months within a mile or so of the property.
- Ask for the prior sale history and any permits for claimed improvements.
- Confirm that the appraisal is ordered through your loan file’s proper channel, never recommended or arranged by the seller.
- Refuse side agreements, secret credits or cash-back arrangements of any kind.
The mistake is assuming a high appraisal is good news. For a buyer, a value far above comparable sales is a warning that the number may not hold up when you resell or refinance.
What to measure: the appraised value sits within the range of recent comparable sales, and the purchase contract matches what the file shows. If the contract you signed and the contract in the loan file differ in any way, stop.
5. Keep Your Own Application Honest: The Occupancy Example
This is the most avoidable fraud, and it is the one that catches ordinary people. Misstating income, hiding debts, disguising gift funds or claiming you will live in a home you plan to rent is mortgage fraud for housing, committed to qualify rather than to profit. Under 18 U.S.C. ยง1014, knowingly making a false statement to influence a federally insured institution carries penalties of up to 30 years in prison and fines up to $1,000,000.
Here is an illustrative worked example. Take a $400,000 purchase. Claimed as a primary residence at 5 percent down, it needs $20,000 down and a $380,000 loan. Honestly declared as an investment property at 15 percent down, the loan terms call for $60,000 down and a $340,000 loan. That is a $40,000 gap. Both loan amounts fall well under the 2026 conforming baseline of $806,500, so the gap is purely about occupancy risk. Check current guidelines in the Fannie Mae eligibility matrix, since minimums vary by program and unit count.
- Disclose all income and every debt, including the ones you hope will be missed.
- Document any gift with a signed gift letter and a paper trail showing where the money came from.
- State occupancy truthfully.
- If you are buying as an investor, ask about DSCR or non-QM options built for that purpose.
The mistake is believing “everyone does it” or that small misstatements will never be checked. Files are verified against bank records, tax transcripts and pay stubs.
What to measure: every figure on your application matches your bank statements, tax records and pay stubs.
6. Lock Down Wire Instructions With a Call-Back Rule
Business email compromise (BEC) happens when a criminal breaks into or imitates an email account tied to a deal, then sends “updated” wiring details shortly before closing. A wire is hard to reverse, and a down payment is often the largest sum a household moves in one day. The FBI’s BEC guidance explains the pattern, and its Internet Crime Complaint Center reports real estate fraud among its costly categories year after year.
Imagine a buyer who receives “updated wiring details” from a spoofed title-company address two days before closing. The address differs by one letter. She calls the title company at the number on its published site, and they confirm nothing has changed. The scam dies in one phone call.
- Get wire instructions in person or from a trusted source early in the process.
- Before sending, call the title company at a number you already had or found independently, not one from an email.
- Read the account number aloud and have them confirm it.
- If the title company allows it, send a small test amount first.
- Get written confirmation that the funds were received.
The common mistake is replying to the suspicious email or calling the number printed in it. Both lead straight back to the criminal.
What to measure: instructions were confirmed by phone with a known contact before any funds moved, and you hold written confirmation of receipt.
7. Compare Your Loan Estimate to Your Closing Disclosure Line by Line
The Closing Disclosure must reach you at least three business days before closing. That window is your last practical checkpoint for hidden fees or changed terms, and it exists because last-minute surprises used to be common at the closing table.
What a mismatch looks like
Imagine a Closing Disclosure that shows a new $1,200 fee and a prepayment penalty that were not on the Loan Estimate. The buyer asks for corrections in writing and closing slips by two days. That delay is cheaper than a penalty on a loan you may refinance in a few years. Certain changes, such as adding a prepayment penalty, can also restart the three-day waiting period.
How to do the comparison
- Place both documents side by side.
- Check the loan amount, interest rate, loan type, fees, prepaids and cash to close.
- Ask your broker to explain every difference in writing.
- Do not sign until each item is resolved.
The mistake is signing at the table to avoid delay. A closing agent cannot negotiate terms for you, and by that point your leverage is gone.
What to measure: every difference between the two documents is explained and corrected before you sign, and cash to close matches what you expected.
Comparing What a Public NMLS Lookup Shows for Three Ashland-Area Options
Verification should work the same way no matter whom you choose. This table uses only fields available on public registry records and makes no claims about any company’s practices. Run the same lookup on every option you consider, including other providers not listed here.
| What to check | Ashland Mortgage by Duane Buziak | C&F Mortgage (Valerie Holbrook) | Movement Mortgage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual NMLS record | Duane Buziak, NMLS #1110647 | Search by name on NMLS Consumer Access | Search the loan officer’s name |
| Company on record | Coast2Coast Mortgage LLC, NMLS #376205 | Confirm the company name and ID shown | Confirm the company name and ID shown |
| Virginia authority | Listed in the public record | Verify on the record | Verify on the record |
| Match to Loan Estimate | Company name should match | Company name should match | Company name should match |
Eight Questions Ashland and Hanover Buyers Ask About Mortgage Fraud
What are the most common mortgage fraud warning signs?
Upfront fees before a Loan Estimate, guaranteed approval, pressure to sign quickly, blank forms, unverifiable licenses, last-minute wire changes and appraisals far above nearby sales. Any one is reason to pause.
How do I check whether a mortgage professional is licensed in Virginia?
Search the person’s name or NMLS number on NMLS Consumer Access, then confirm Virginia authority and the employer listed. You can also check with the Virginia SCC.
Is it legal to charge a fee before I get a Loan Estimate?
Generally, only a credit report fee may be charged before you receive the Loan Estimate and say you intend to proceed. A “processing deposit” before then is a warning sign.
Does a NoTouch Credit Pull hurt my score?
No. NoTouch Credit is a soft pull, so it gives Ashland buyers a pre-approval view without a hard inquiry or a score impact.
What should I do if I get new wire instructions near closing?
Do not reply. Call the title company at a number you already had, confirm the account number aloud, and get written confirmation after the wire.
Is claiming a rental house as my primary residence really fraud?
Yes, if you have no intent to occupy it. Occupancy misstatements can violate federal law, and investment loans use different down payments and terms.
Where can a Mechanicsville or Doswell homeowner get free foreclosure help?
Call your servicer’s loss-mitigation department and a HUD-approved housing counselor. Neither should charge you, and neither will ask for your deed.
Where do I report suspected mortgage fraud?
File with the FBI’s IC3 for wire and email scams, the CFPB for complaints about mortgage companies, and the Virginia SCC for licensing concerns.
Where to Start, and Where to Report What You Find
Start with checks 1, 2 and 6. They cost nothing and cover the most common scams. Add check 7 before every closing, without exception. Use checks 3 through 5 whenever a refinance, an investment purchase or an unusual transaction applies. Duane Buziak, a Virginia Broker of the Year honoree with 1,400+ five-star reviews, says the best defense is a file where every number can be traced to a document.
If something looks wrong, report it. Wire and email scams go to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, mortgage company complaints go to the CFPB, and licensing concerns go to the Virginia SCC.
Ready to explore your home financing options without impacting your credit score? Get your free NoTouch Credit pre-approval today and discover exactly how much home you can afford, with zero hard inquiries and personalized guidance from our local Ashland team at Ashland Mortgage by Duane Buziak.