The state’s Chief Financial Officer is calling for the resignation of Florida’s top mortgage regulator. The resignation is being sought after a report that as many as 10 thousand felons have been working in Florida’s mortgage industry.

The investigation found that one in every 12 loan originators, or just over 10 thousand people, had a criminal history. Despite their records, over four thousand passed criminal background checks giving them access to sensitive credit card and social security information.

Many work in fly-by-night offices. In many ways, it’s the fox guarding the hen house.

Pam Ricco of the Florida Bankers Association says there may be a reason a bank turned you down, and if someone else’s deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

“A bank wants to put you in a home but it wants to put you in a home you can afford to keep. And it doesn’t help anybody if people have to be foreclosed on or if they lose their home. It doesn’t help anybody.”

The mortgage industry says it has worked for years to ban those with criminal records with no help from state lawmakers.

Valerie Saunders, President-Elect of Mortgage Brokers Association says she is all in favor of strict licensing requirements.

“Our association is definitely in favor of licensing all originators, whether they be mortgage brokers, which of course are licensed already, or unlicensed originators, and that includes all unlicensed originators”

The fraud has cost millions of dollars, helping Florida achieve a dubious honor. It has the highest mortgage fraud rate in the country.

The state and national mortgage industry has been asking Florida lawmakers to license all lenders since 2002, but no action has been taken.