Revoked for life: Surrey mortgage broker’s licence cancelled after submitting “altered” CRA tax forms to lenders

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      Prem Lata Devi Singh will never work again as a mortgage broker.

      Singh knows this, and she has agreed never to apply for a new licence.

      The B.C. Financial Services Authority has taken away her licence for life.

      This was in connection with at least 60 questionable mortgage transactions.

      A number of these involved “altered” Canada Revenue Agency documents that were submitted to lenders.

      The Registrar of Mortgage Brokers made its findings, which Singh has accepted.

      The findings stated that she “failed to take sufficient or any step to verify the accuracy of income information in applications she submitted to lenders” in 51 of the 60 files.

      And “in respect of 9 files, submitted misleading information, including altered CRA documents, to lenders in support of mortgage applications when she knew or ought to have known the documents were altered and therefore did not represent the true income of the borrower”.

      Three of the loan applications were made with Scotiabank.

      Scotiabank wanted the borrowers to sign a CRA release form, so the bank can verify with the tax agency their income.

      Two borrowers refused to sign the form.

      In the third application, Scotiabank advised Singh that it refused to proceed because the bank did “not want a repeat of clients walking away from mortgage applications after being requested to sign a CRA release form”.

      Also, Singh continued to send loan applications to other lenders that contained “misleading information”.

      Singh was with the Surrey-based Dominion Lending Centres Leading Edge.

      In addition to the lifetime revocation of her mortgage licence, Singh needs to pay $20,000 to cover the partial cost of the investigation.

      It’s only a partial cost because a portion of the expenses for the investigation has to be paid by Vinita Devi Lal.

      Lal is an unlicensed mortgage broker, and she was the one who referred the 60 applications to Singh.

      The documents included altered CRA forms, which inflated the incomes of the borrowers.

      In a separate order, the BCFSA directed Lal to stop acting as a mortgage broker.

      In addition, Lal was directed to pay $25,000 for investigation costs, and a penalty of $45,000.

      Singh wasn’t the only registered mortgage broker who accepted referrals from Lal.

      Ricky Kanwal and Anil Kumar Singh also did business with the unlicensed agent.

      “Ms. Lal accepted more than $1,000 in commissions from Mr. Kanwal for her unregistered mortgage activities,” stated the findings of the Registrar of Mortgage Brokers.

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