My lesson from my experience was as soon as I start to hear about hthe mortgage process for a self employed person, i need to verbalize to the client that there is a decent likelihood going to be some unethical behavior from the mortgage broker.
That they are going to ask something from me, whether a letter, or what seems like a simple email, or to put my ptin on some letter or whatever. They need to understand that the CPA profession either prohibits this or makes me do extensive work to issue an opinion.
That anything on my letterhead is a big deal.
And then explain to client why do they do this - they want privity - they want me in the midst so that if you should default, i can be liable.
So i basically can't provide what they request and i've always found when i don't provide the request, the mortgage broker tries and tries to get something from me, and in the end they do some alternative procedure of nothing, and the client gets the mortgage. In essence, they do not need anything from me; they can do their own due diligence.
they can get a transcript from the IRS, they can inspect your credits, they can get a financial analsyt to lookat your info.
Be careful for the words when mortgage broker says "i've never had this problem before"
That's how you know they are lying.
That this is a huge issue for CPA's and mortgage brokers going on a long time.
I'm telling you this b/c you are a good client and i dont' want you mad with me
---tell the client what to expect--
obviously i have to make my communication briefer
but i almost lost a good client from this for this year
ps too bad cpa's don't sue....if they lose a client ....due to the lie of the mortgage broker...we should subpoena their emails...where they say over and over "i've never had this problem before wtih a cpa"