Mortgage Broker Disclosed Financial Info to Mutual Friend... My Play?

[NotWorthy]

Cliff's Notes - See title

Seriously, wtf?

For those who are unaware of my situation (the OP was quite a while ago), see here:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...age=0&vc=1

Anyway, quick update:

I still don't have access to the money, and based on the sound advice from many of you, I'm not even worried about it.

Regardless, a few months ago the wife and I decided it was time to buy a house. A good friend of mine referred me to a mortgage broker friend of his, who I had never met before. I checked him out, in addition to shopping around at other banks/CUs/brokers, and ended up going with him based on rates and general rapport.

Anyway, in order to process the paperwork, I submitted my last two years' tax returns, in which I filed as a professional gambler. Those tax returns included interest income from the T-bills and other investments, so the loan processor needed my 1099s for those. No problem; however, the 1099s also listed the total amounts held in the various investments, so my mortgage broker was able to view them before faxing them to the loan processor.

In addition, my father allowed me to take out $50,000 for a down payment on the house, which my mortgage broker also was aware of.

So, last night I'm at a bar celebrating my friend's birthday. Being that it is his birthday, he ends up getting pretty hammered and tells me that he knows all about the money I have and where the down payment came from, in an attempt to one-up me by telling me how much money his dad has which he will get some day.

I just acted cool, thought that my broker was a dick to do that, but whatever, and said "Great man, I'm glad you're set up" or something or other (I had a buzz on too).

Anyway, today it hits me. My friend is likely to tell others about my situation, because that's just the way he is. I don't want other people thinking that my daddy bought me this house, because he didn't. We did not need the $50k at all. Nevertheless, other people we know have been clearly jealous (we found the right house at the perfect time), and I know that becoming aware of my financial situation will give them an excuse to think less of me and my [mediocre] accomplishments.

Some of you will say "Who cares what others think?", but these are friends/acquaintances, not random people. My whole life, I've had to deal with people (classmates, mostly), who were jealous of my family's financial situation. My family isn't filthy rich by any means, but my Dad did well for himself. In fact, I have no idea how much my Dad is worth, but other people seem to think they know because of newspaper articles, public company reports, whatever. People are [censored] nosy, and I hate them for it.

Anyway, this seems like it could develop into a bad situation for me. I'm thinking my options are:

1. Brush it off and see what happens
2. Confront the bastard and tell him I don't appreciate what he did (pretty Gabriel, and will get nothing done imho).
3. Sue the [censored]

It's either #1 or #3 right now. The problem with #1 is that I think it's a bit weak to not do anything about it but, on the other hand, nothing bad may come of it anyway.

#3 seems harsh, and I don't even know the legal aspects of all of it, or if it's even worth it. Nevertheless, my broker [censored] up, and he shouldn't be allowed to do the same thing to others.

Suing the broker could also create a rift in friendships all over the place. Everyone would likely find out that I'm suing him, and why. He would clearly be pissed at me (we've developed somewhat of a friendship, although I don't really care), and would probably be pissed at the friend who he divulged the information to, who in turn told me. This would likely create a problem with our friendship as well.

I'm done typing... Every OP I make turns into a tl;dr.

So how would you handle this?

[The Owl]

1. Tell the broker it was inappropriate.
2. Tell your friend you'd appreciate your personal business not being gossip-fodder.
3. Grow up and get over yourself.
4. Let it go.

[RunDownHouse]

[ QUOTE ]
2. Confront the bastard and tell him I don't appreciate what he did (pretty Gabriel, and will get nothing done imho).

[/ QUOTE ]
What does "pretty Gabriel" mean?

In any case, one of your options should be to report him to whichever government division issued his license. You can't just hang up a sign that says, "Mortgages brokered here!" At least, I don't think you can, in the same way you can't just be a stock broker or a life insurance agent, etc. Generally those types of things require a license, testing, continuing education, etc. Ethical violations among financial professionals are taken pretty seriously, so just report him and he'll probably lose his license and get fired.

[neuroman]

[ QUOTE ]
1. Tell the broker's boss it was inappropriate.
2. Tell your friend you'd appreciate your personal business not being gossip-fodder.
3. Grow up and get over yourself.
4. Let it go.

[/ QUOTE ]
fyp. Totally not kosher to disclose confidential financial information, and who knows what else this guy is doing? I would absolutely bring it up with management. A letter is probably the way to go.

[heater]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
1. Tell the broker's boss it was inappropriate.
2. Tell your friend you'd appreciate your personal business not being gossip-fodder.
3. Grow up and get over yourself.
4. Let it go.

[/ QUOTE ]
fyp. Totally not kosher to disclose confidential financial information, and who knows what else this guy is doing? I would absolutely bring it up with management. A letter is probably the way to go.

[/ QUOTE ]

The broker is the boss.

OP, are we talking about a loan officer here or the actual broker? Either way, contact your state's division of financial institutions. They take this kind of thing very seriously, as well they should. (FYI, there will be penalties/fines, hearings, etc. If it's not worth all that to you, don't bother.)

[SossMan]

I'm not sure why you are totally discounting #2. It seems to be the proper course of action. I would at least do that and see how he reacts before reporting it to any licensing agency.
It's something that should be taken seriously, but it doesn't seem like it was done maliciously, so you should at least give him a chance to grovel a bit over it (maybe take a few hundred bucks off your fees for the trouble). Also, you should just let the friend know that you would prefer to keep your financial information private.

Doing anything more or less at this point seems a bit reactionary given the nature of the offense. It's not like he posted your W-2s on a public website or something (that you know of).

Of course, if he lies about it or brushes it off, then the next step should be filing a complaint (you may want to make sure escrow closes before filing, though).

-SossMan

[27offsuit]

Why do people stay friends with [censored]?
I can never understand this.


Also, regarding "I don't want other people thinking that my daddy bought me this house...": Sorry, he did. Stop deluding yourself. No additional 50K, no housey. At the very least, you would be flat broke without the additional 50K because all your money would be in the house you couldn't really afford in the first place.

Tell broker's boss, if he has one.
Tell 'friend' to mind his own GD business.
Stop maintaining relationships with [censored].

[Jazzy3113]

Can we get some info on your dad. He was mentioned in the paper and public company reports? If he just an exec at a company or like on par with CEO/CFO types?

Also, I think mentioning anything to your chatter happy friend about being quiet might actually have the opposite effect although you know him best.

And for your own sake, I hope you at least give that broker a small piece of your mind. How can you live with yourself, if you dont even yell at him a little bit about his unprofessional behavior.

[Freakin]

#2 is standard. Extremely unprofessional of him.

[AquaSwing]

What city? Sounds like my mortgage broker.