On August 17, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had taken action against a residential mortgage loan originator that provided illegal incentives to real estate brokers and agents in exchange for mortgage loan referrals. The CFPB also penalized a real estate brokerage firm that accepted kickbacks…
On July 27, 2017, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office (Arizona AG) announced that it had obtained a judgment against an allegedly fraudulent mortgage relief company and its owner. The company is alleged to have targeted homeowners who were considering defaulting on “upside down” mortgages. The company purportedly promised to take over…
On June 21, 2017, a federal judge in the Western District of Wisconsin accepted a Stipulated Final Judgment and Order (“Stipulated Judgment“) based on an agreement between the CFPB and the bankruptcy trustee of a now defunct mortgage relief law firm. The Stipulated Judgment comes three years after the CFPB…
On May 25, 2017, Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear (“Kentucky AG”) announced steps it is taking to provide guidance to Kentucky homeowners whose banks use online mortgage recording databases instead of traditional public land records to track land ownership. The Kentucky AG has provided county clerks with information to post in…
On April 12, 2017, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (AG) announced that it had reached a settlement with a mortgage broker, its employee, and an insurance agent, resolving allegations that they had preyed on elderly consumers by causing them to take out reverse mortgages on their homes. The AG alleged that the broker and agent induced elderly…
On April 10, 2017, the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a Michigan-based residential mortgage lender and servicer over allegations that the firm was overcharging consumers for interest on a number of loans. The DBO brought an enforcement action against the…
On March 7, 2017, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced the sentencing of an individual defendant to 15 years in prison and $2.5 million in forfeiture in connection with a loan modification scheme. The defendant may also be subject to additional restitution under the…
On February 17, 2017, the California Department of Business Oversight (California DBO) announced that it had entered in to a $225 million consent order with a national mortgage servicer following an investigation by a third-party auditor into loans serviced by the company in California between January 1, 2012 and June 30, 2015. The servicer had agreed to the audit…
On February 7, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Inspector General for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced a settlement agreement and consent order with a residential mortgage lender and…
On January 18, 2017, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (USAO) filed a lawsuit against a national bank, alleging that the bank had engaged in a years-long practice of racial discrimination in providing mortgage services. The parties reportedly have agreed to terms of a settlement to resolve the action. The…
On January 13, 2017, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it had filed a lawsuit against a Minnesota bank, stemming from allegations that the bank engaged in illegal “redlining” of minority neighborhoods in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The DOJ alleged in its complaint that the bank violated the Fair…
On December 1, 2016, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the New York Field Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the unsealing of indictments against five individuals for allegedly participating in a debt-elimination…
On November 4, 2016, the Ohio Attorney General’s office (AG) announced it filed a complaint against a California-based mortgage-relief services provider and its director (Defendants) alleging violations of Ohio’s consumer protection laws. The complaint alleges that the provider sent advertisements to Ohio residents stating that the company has helped consumers to “receive payment…
On October 19, 2016 the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) announced that it had settled with a Massachusetts-based mortgage lender and its CEO for $1,025,000 to resolve allegations that the mortgage lender submitted false insurance claims on mortgages insured by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The USAO…
On September 23, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that on April 7, 2016 it had entered into a settlement with a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) approved lender over allegations that the lender violated FHA underwriting requirements. The lender participated in HUD’s direct endorsement lender program, which…
On September 13, 2016, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced a settlement agreement with a bank for allegedly violating the False Claims Act by improperly underwriting and originating of FHA-insured mortgage loans. According to the DOJ, from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2011, the lender was improperly underwriting and certifying that mortgage loans…
On September 7, 2016, the Massachusetts Attorney General (“AG”) announced that it reached a settlement with a Massachusetts force-placed insurance company relating to allegations that it improperly charged homeowners for insurance. According to the Massachusetts AG, mortgage lenders improperly provided homeowners with duplicative force-placed insurance policies through the subject insurance…
On August 12, the Massachusetts Division of Banks made public its second quarter enforcement actions, including a consent order that it had entered into on April 21 with a California-based mortgage lender and broker concerning its alleged practice of charging borrowers per diem interest between the funding date of the loan and the date the funds…
On July 29, 2016, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a settlement with a bank concerning allegations that they denied loan approval to a woman on maternity leave in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA). The woman had applied for a home equity line of credit, but the bank allegedly told…
On June 8, 2016, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced it entered into a settlement agreement with a national bank over allegations the bank engaged in discriminatory lending practices in violation of the Fair Housing Act. According to HUD, the bank discriminated against African American, Latino American and…