You might recall the article titled "FAKE short pay letters plague the industry" published in Fraud Insights (volume 6 issue 10 October 2011), which discussed how an alert settlement agent identified a fraudulent approval letter supposedly issued by Bank of America. She prevented the closing, saving the Company from potential future liability.

In an effort to prevent the reoccurrence of such fraud going forward, Bank of America will now give our representatives the ability to verify approval letters without a title–company–specific Third Party Authorization already in place.

Below is a telephone number settlement agents or title officers may call to verify certain key data points for approval letters where the original loan balance exceeded $500,000. This original loan cutoff amount was selected because, thus far, fraudsters have concentrated on large–balance loans.

Any time you are suspicious of an approval letter provided to you by the Listing Agent, however, you may call to confirm its validity.

Both title officers and original borrowers can use the same telephone number included in the following standard disclosure on the approval letter below:

"Bank of America appreciates all of your efforts and cooperation in this matter. If you have any further questions, please contact our Short Sale Customer Care Department at 1.866.880.1232."

To verify an approval letter, select Option 1

The hours of operation are:
Monday through Friday: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. EST
Saturday: 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EST

Bank of America will verify the following information with title officers when they call the number:

• The original borrower's name
• The property address
• The loan number
• The agreed–to short sale payoff amount
• Amount approved to junior lien holders specified on letter
• The date by which this amount must be received by the bank

When title officers call Bank of America, they should ensure the approval letter provided to them by the listing agent is accessible, as it will be needed to complete the verification process.

Also, you should be aware that if you are presented with an approval letter that does not direct the borrower to contact the Customer Care Department, then the letter is likely fraudulent.

At a meeting between Our Company and Bank of America representatives, they stated, "We look forward to partnering with you in this effort and thank you for your cooperation."