A South Portland mortgage lender that had issued sub-prime loans may soon shut down.
Downeast Mortgage has stopped originating loans and has closed all but one of its nine offices in Maine and New Hampshire, the Portland Press Herald reported.
The company is closing because its bank, Key Bank, was wary of offering lines of credit for its loans in the shaky mortgage market. The bank wanted the firm’s partners to personally guarantee lines of credit, and the partners didn’t want to take the risk, the paper reported.
The state Attorney General’s Office sued the firm last October, saying it “engaged in unfair and deceptive practices” to finance a home loan.
