Best Practices

Protecting You

Protecting You Against Fraud
Because we have zero tolerance for fraud, we also have a process to help customers who may, in rare instances, be defrauded by parties not affiliated with Option One. To identify and address these unfortunate situations we:

-	Train certain associates to recognize evidence of possible fraud.
-	Maintain a dedicated fraud unit at our headquarters to investigate and respond effectively to activities by unfair or fraudulent parties.

We are also a financial supporter of Stop Mortgage Fraud, www.stopmortgagefraud.com, a Mortgage Bankers Association-sponsored effort to combat fraud in our business.

Your Identity
Option One has an identity-theft hotline for current customers, which is staffed by trained associates who can provide information on how to report identity theft to local law enforcement agencies and credit bureaus. You can reach our hotline at (800) 704-0800, ext. 30080.

Your Personal Information Is Kept Private
We do not sell your personal information. We use it only to conduct the business we have with you and we have strong internal controls to protect your personal information.

High-Cost Loans Are Not a Part of Our Product Line
Option One and H&R Block Mortgage do not offer loans defined as ‘high cost’ by applicable federal, state or local laws.

Loans That Are a Benefit to You
There are some loans we don’t think are usually in our customers’ best interests, so we do not offer them. These include:

-	Loans based purely on the equity in the property.
-	Stated-income loans or loans that do not require income documentation if you are on a fixed income, such as Social Security or a pension.
-	Loans with increasing interest rates in the event payments are missed.
-	Loans that deduct initial principal and interest payments at closing.
-	Option ARMs, which allow for negative amortization and where a borrower could owe more than the original loan amount over time.

Practices That Benefit You
We keep our customers’ best interests in mind.

-	We never disburse funds directly to home-improvement contractors. You choose your contractor, and you conduct all business dealings directly with them.
-	To make certain there is no personal financial benefit for someone to charge you a higher rate, we:
	-	Do not pay overages to our retail loan officers, which means the loan officer does not receive a financial incentive to charge a higher interest rate than our published rate.
	-	If we service your loan, we do not solicit you to refinance unless you ask. If you request information on refinance options, we have a team of associates who can help.
	-	We do not require that disputes be arbitrated.
-	Our adjustable rate mortgages do not have a floor rate equal to the start rate. This means that your interest rate and payment could go down if your loan’s index rate goes down, as well as up if the index goes up.

Best Practices

Best Practices Servicing Your Loan Behind the Scenes Customer Service Keeping Your Home