State officials have ordered the Diamond Residential Mortgage Corp. to temporarily cease all activities at its Springfield, Illinois, branch on Greenbriar Drive due to alleged rule violations.
Chris Schaller, the branch manager, said Thursday he expected the location would reopen within the next 24 to 48 hours and added that he was “set up” by employees at the office and other people in the community.
“Several employees in the office basically made up some documentation to get me in trouble when I was out of town on a work trip. That is going to be proven,” Schaller said. “We already have all the evidence. We are going to be pressing charges. Some people are up for a lot of felony charges, and it’s not me.”
An order imposing an emergency suspension of the branch license for the Diamond branch office at 2921 Greenbriar Drive was signed Wednesday. The order came from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation Division of Banking. It does not affect any of Diamond’s other branches.
“Diamond Residential Mortgage Corp. is ordered to cease all licensable activity from the branch office [on Greenbriar] and to maintain all existing records intact and on-site at the branch office and to make said records available for the department’s inspection and collection for purposes of investigation,” the order says.
The order adds the license for the branch office is suspended for a period not to exceed 180 days, pending the investigation.
According to the order, officials from the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation went to the Greenbriar Drive branch March 2 after they received an allegation of loan activities being conducted in violation of state rules.
The document did not elaborate on what rules were allegedly violated.
The state officials asked Diamond employees to produce four paper loan files. Diamond employees told the state officials the files were in an electronic format and within the custody of the quality control or underwriting unit at Diamond’s corporate office.
After an approximately four-hour wait, the state officials left the office without the files.
On Monday, an official from the state contacted the company principal and was assured Diamond would cooperate. Diamond provided electronic copies of the four requested loan files and mailed paper copies from Diamond’s corporate office to the branch office, the state order said.
The next day, a state official went to the branch office and received paper copies of the requested loan files.
“The department subsequently received information that the branch office is in possession of paper copies of loan files and that [Diamond] has provided false information to the department and, despite stating its desire to cooperate, is using steps to delay and otherwise place original loan file records at risk of altercation. The department has further information that a shredding service may be arriving at the branch office to shred original loan file records,” the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation Division of Banking order states.
Speaking during a phone interview Thursday, Schaller said the paper documents were always at the branch. He added that he was at a work conference in Salt Lake City when this occurred.
“Like I said this was a setup job,” Schaller said.
The order from the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation Division of Banking listed the address for Diamond’s Springfield branch as 240 Iles Ave. A spokesman for the department said the address was incorrect and should have been the Greenbriar address.
