Connecticut officers terminated the license of a mortgage brokerage and two originators this month following allegations of a collection of infractions that violated state statutes and the federal Truth in Lending Act.
State banking commissioner Jorge Perez revoked the lending license of Woodbridge Mortgage, positioned in Glastonbury, successfully resolving the case towards it and two leaders, Lionel Kim and George Guorang Wang. The nature of the alleged violations ranged from unfair or misleading practices, failure to keep up full mortgage information and correct mortgage name studies to false or deceptive statements.
Kim served as president of Woodbridge and was licensed to lend in Connecticut starting in 2014, in line with authorized paperwork. Wang, in the meantime, obtained a state originations license in 2011. Woodbridge started working as a licensed mortgage dealer in late 2000.
Without admitting or denying fault, Woodbridge agreed to a consent order, which ends the brokerage’s capability to situation mortgage loans. Both Kim and Wang additionally signed the order, prohibiting them to function mortgage originators.
What are the alleged violations?
Among the allegations cited by Connecticut officers had been a failure to keep up minimal capital web value at the very least $50,000 required to be a licensed mortgage dealer. Kim additionally made statements, “which had been, on the time and within the gentle of the circumstances below which they had been made, false or deceptive in a fabric respect,” authorized paperwork said.
Following an preliminary examination interval in April, Connecticut’s banking division discovered Woodbridge “engaged in an unfair or misleading apply,” whereby it acquired compensation off of rebate checks in at the very least seven totally different situations the place they weren’t disclosed in closing paperwork. Woodbridge additionally failed to keep up full mortgage information of at the very least 27 transactions, the state claimed.
The brokerage additionally did not file name studies on the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System or present discover and upkeep information of opposed motion or withdrawn functions on loans as required.
Elsewhere, enterprise playing cards for Kim and Wang didn’t listing their distinctive NMLS identification numbers, and the originators had been mentioned to have made deceptive claims to debtors about charges, factors or different financing phrases. In some situations, the submitting claims, Woodbridge additionally requested customers to submit paperwork to confirm info earlier than issuing any mortgage estimate.
A civil penalty of $100,000 was imposed on Woodbridge however stayed for 3 years following the consent order settlement. Both Kim and Wang additionally incurred $25,000 in civil penalties, with a keep additionally issued to the previous. Stays got to Woodbridge Mortgage and Kim after they cited incapability to pay.
The newest decision in Connecticut comes because the concentrate on lending regulation more and more turns towards state pointers and enforcement throughout the second Trump time period. In 2025, the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has thus far reversed a number of Biden-era regulatory pointers and dropped beforehand introduced enforcement actions towards a number of mortgage lenders.
