State Seeks to Pull License of Irvine Mortgage Lender

State real estate officials said Wednesday they are seeking to revoke or suspend the licenses of Todd A. Rodriguez and the mortgage lending company he founded, Preferred Credit Corp.

Preferred, which specialized in loans to people with good credit but little or no equity in their homes, was rocked last year by revelations that it had shortchanged 17,700 borrowers.

Rodriguez’s lawyer, Joseph A. Busch, said he was surprised by the action, since he believed all state charges related to the scandal had been settled with another state agency, the Department of Corporations.

“This is a rehashing of it,” Busch said. “I have serious questions about the issue of double jeopardy here--you can’t be tried twice for the same offense.”

In a complaint filed last week, the Department of Real Estate cited the same pattern of offenses that got Preferred in trouble last year with the Department of Corporations.

The agencies have overlapping jurisdiction over lenders such as Preferred, which sell off their loans to other investors, but the Department of Corporations was Preferred’s chief regulator.

The offenses involved charging borrowers interest before they received loan funds. The overcharges, which ranged from less than $10 to several hundred dollars per borrower, totaled about $1.5 million, regulators have said.

Rodriguez had maintained that the overcharges were inadvertent and resulted from overloaded processing equipment. All the borrowers were repaid, Busch said.

Rodriguez and Preferred have the right to defend themselves against the new accusations at a hearing before an administrative law judge, who would make the final decision on license revocation or suspensions.

Busch said he would request such a hearing on Rodriguez’s behalf. Preferred had not done so as of Wednesday, said Sean Crahan, a lawyer for the real estate department.

In its July settlement with the Department of Corporations, Preferred paid a $1-million fine and agreed to repay the borrowers. The company was later sold to NJK Holdings of Minneapolis, which ousted Rodriguez as chief executive.

He is now working for Stuart Wright Mortgage, another Orange County lender.

The Department of Real Estate action, while a potential threat to Rodriguez, appeared to have no practical effect upon Preferred. The company was in good standing under its Department of Corporations license, officials at that agency said.

The Department of Corporations didn’t license Rodriguez.

Preferred officials couldn’t be reached for comment.