By reporter Junyi Wu
The 70% final payments of the property sales of 14 households might be "frozen". Recently, many residents in Haizhu District reported that a real estate agency called "Credit Access" had staged a "loan show" in the bank to deceive the sellers into transferring the ownership of the properties. In fact, not a single cent was loaned from the bank. Meanwhile, while dragging their feet on the 70% final payment to the sellers, the already transferred properties were quickly mortgaged to a third party. This means that even if the sellers win the lawsuit to reclaim the final payment, the property would still belong to the mortgagee. Currently, the suspected maliciously delayed housing payments have exceeded 10 million yuan, and the methods of pretending to take out loans are varied. The police have already intervened in the investigation.
Pretending to Be Bank Employees to Process Loans
At the end of last year, Ms. Zhong, Mr. Xu and several other owners of Yijing Cuibin residential area in Haizhu District listed their properties for sale through several chain intermediaries. Soon after, they received a call from Huang Ming, a broker at Guangzhou Credit Access Real Estate Investment Consulting Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Credit Access"), saying that there was a buyer named Zeng Zhanwen who was willing to buy. Although Ms. Zhong and others had not entrusted Credit Access to list their properties, it is a common unwritten rule in the intermediary industry to "take care of" each other's listing information, and Credit Access has multiple branches in the city, with two in Yijing Cuibin alone. Therefore, they agreed to negotiate and sign a house purchase agreement with Zeng Zhanwen under the arrangement of this intermediary.
Then came the buyer processing a 70% mortgage loan at the bank. Ms. Zhong said that on October 12 last year at 5 p.m., Credit Access arranged for her and her husband to process the mortgage procedures at a bank on Jiangnan West Road. A man wearing the bank's uniform, claiming to be the "mortgage department manager" Qiu Jianqiang, guided them to a negotiation room inside the bank and had them sign several contracts. Ms. Zhong recalled: "The people from Credit Access said they were very familiar with the bank and could quickly issue the 'Notice of Agreement to Purchase Property Mortgage Loan' (commonly known as the co-loan letter)."
However, when the reporter went to the branch yesterday to verify the information, multiple staff members in the office area stated that there was "no such person as Qiu Jianqiang," and no records of any mortgage applications by the buyers or sellers could be found in the bank's system. Ms. Zhong and several other homeowners requested to review the surveillance footage from that day, but Wang Manager of the branch said that it would require approval from the public security department.
Loan Cancelled Due to Missed Procedures
The same "loan show" by Credit Access was staged in several different banks, making the sellers believe that the bank would soon disburse the loan to the buyer and that they would soon receive their 70% final payment.
At a bank on Guangzhou Avenue, the reporter met Manager Huang, who arranged for Mr. Luo and the buyer to process the mortgage loan procedures. She said that since Credit Access, as an intermediary, had a legitimate license and no past bad records, she agreed to the mortgage loan application. However, when the loan was about to be disbursed, the buyer did not continue to process the necessary "lien certificate" and "guarantee company guarantee," automatically abandoning the loan. She said: "The seller should only proceed with the transfer after receiving the 'co-loan letter'."
Special "Co-Loan Letter"
However, Mr. Wu, at another bank, processed the procedures with the Credit Access buyer and even received the "co-loan letter." But the cautious Mr. Wu didn't notice that the "co-loan letter" had this sentence: "Our bank will directly transfer the loan to the account opened by the seller's trustee in our bank after the transaction transfer and mortgage registration procedures of the above-mentioned house are completed and all true materials are supplemented." Normally, a "co-loan letter" does not have the clause "all true materials are supplemented," and because of these words, the Credit Access buyer indeed did not supplement the materials, causing the mortgage loan to be automatically canceled.
Legal Interpretation:
Receiving the "Co-Loan Letter"
Does Not Equal Absolute Safety
Attorney Zhou Yuzhong from Guangdong Zhongze Law Firm stated that the buyer must be vigilant when signing documents. Secondly, after the property transfer, if the house is mortgaged to a good faith third party, it creates obstacles for the seller. "For example, if the buyer's mortgage amount is set very high, it can 100% devour the house. Even if the civil lawsuit is won, it can only rule that the buyer breached the contract and must repay the money, but cannot require the mortgagee to do anything. According to current laws, if the buyer cannot pay, it is just a breach of contract, and they don't even have to go to jail. Unless the case is deemed criminal and it is finally found that the mortgagee is a malicious third party, the mortgage relationship can be canceled."
Handling "Third-Party Custody" is More Reliable
Zhou Yuzhong also pointed out that the "co-loan letter" is merely the bank's recognition that the individual meets the loan conditions, but it has no legal liability. "In the primary housing market, after issuing the 'co-loan letter,' it is quite common for the buyer to change their mind and cancel the loan."
To ensure the safety of the transaction, Zhou Yuzhong suggested that both parties handle the "third-party custody business" at the bank. Specifically, both parties open accounts at the bank, the buyer deposits the funds, and the bank transfers the funds after confirming the property transfer. "This is similar to the 'Alipay' mechanism in online shopping."
One Intermediary Employee
Buys 5 Houses
The sellers received 30% down payments and assumed the bank would provide the loan, so they processed the property transfer at the end of last year. Ms. Zhong said that after the transfer, they waited a long time without seeing the 70% final payment come in, so they approached Credit Access and were told that the buyer would wire the money on January 15 this year. Although it hasn't exceeded the final deadline yet, the sellers already felt something was seriously wrong.
The homeowners queried the housing management department and found that the houses were mortgaged within days after the transfer. Among the 14 houses, Zeng Zhanwen bought 5 houses, Sun Yongzhong bought 4 houses, and there were also Deng Sanxi and others, and the names of the mortgagees were repeated as Chen Mou, Wang Mou, and Lu Mou.
Ms. Zhong said that Deng Sanxi is the boss of Credit Access, who has currently been controlled by the police, Sun Yongzhong is the boss's driver, and Zeng Zhanwen is also an employee of Credit Access.
Many Credit Access Branches Have Closed
Credit Access was founded in January 2004 and has 12 stores in Guangzhou. One of the Credit Access branches in Yijing Cuibin has closed, while another is still operating normally. Both the headquarters of Credit Access located on the 6th to 7th floors of Runde Building in Zhujiang New Town and the business department on Jinqiong Crossroad have shut their gates.