Staff report
TERRE HAUTE — The Indiana Secretary of State’s office filed an official complaint today alleging fraudulent practices at a Terre Haute-based mortgage lending company, Affordable Lending on Wabash Avenue.
The 51-page complaint also names two property buyers, Rick N. Burnett and Kris Sommerville, as well as Sullivan-based title company, Hoosier Title.
The Secretary of State’s office alleges Burnett and Sommerville falsified information on 23 mortgage loan applications for properties totaling $1.4 million.
The complaint alleges several loan originators and closing agents working for Affordable Lending and Hoosier Title assisted the buyers in obtaining loans using the false or incomplete information.
“Falsifying information to obtain a loan is fraud,” said Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita in a press statement issued today. “Our foreclosure rate in Indiana is one of the highest in the nation, but we can work to reverse that trend by educating home buyers and by protecting the industry from damaging, fraudulent behavior,” Rokita said.
