**EDITOR’S NOTE: This post was guest-authored by Goodwin Procter partner Joe Yenouskas and associate Alyssa Sussman. Both are members of Goodwin Procter’s Consumer Financial Services Litigation Group.** A series of putative class actions have been filed recently in New York federal courts by borrowers alleging that their mortgage satisfactions were not timely…
On October 6, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced an $85 million settlement to resolve claims for civil fraud under the False Claims Act that a bank certified roughly 1,400 mortgage loans as eligible for FHA insurance, when the bank knew that the loans were in fact ineligible and failed…
Arguably the most pressing topic at this year’s Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Regulatory Compliance Conference (held on September 20-22, 2015 in Washington, D.C.) was the implementation of the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) Rule, which will take effect on October 3, 2015. While industry leaders at the conference generally seemed to accept…
On September 29, 2015, the DOJ announced that it had entered into a consent order with a regional bank over allegations that it engaged in redlining practices in violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA). The bank holds over $900 million in assets and offers traditional deposit accounts, mortgage…
On September 24, 2015, the DOJ and HUD announced that the owner and employees of a regional mortgage company had been sentenced for their participation in a $64 million mortgage fraud scheme. According to the DOJ, the Defendants operated a regional mortgage company, which specialized in securing Federal Housing Administration…
On September 24, 2015, the CFPB and the DOJ announced a settlement with a regional bank over allegeatoins that it engaged in redlining practices in violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA). According to the complaint, the bank allegedly discriminated against minorities by systematically preventing residents of certain minority neighborhoods from…
On September 22, 2015, the Nevada Attorney General’s Office announced criminal indictments of several individuals relating to a mortgage fraud scheme. The defendants, who owned and operated a regional mortgage company, allegedly promised homeowners they qualified for a federal program known as the “Neighborhood Stabilization Plan.” As alleged in the…
On September 10, the New York Office of the Attorney General (NY AG) announced a settlement with a state bank to resolve claims of discriminatory lending in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and state and local law. The NY AG alleged that the bank engaged in unlawful redlining by failing…
A U.S. District Judge in the Northern District of Illinois recently granted summary judgment in favor of defendant PNC Bank on a borrower’s promissory estoppel and Illinois Consumer Fraud Act (ICFA) claims in connection with PNC’s HAMP procedures. In its August 25, 2015 decision the court found that PNC’s actions…
On September 4, 2015, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that a company engaged in reverse mortgage servicing agreed to pay $29.63 million to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act (“FCA”) in connection with its participation in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (“HUD”) Home Equity Conversion Mortgage…
On September 3, 2015, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) agreed to settle allegations with a mortgage relief services company that allegedly charged homeowners an illegal fee for assistance the company never provided. The FTC brought its claims under section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (“FTCA”), 15 U.S.C. § 45(a), the Mortgage Assistance Relief Services Rule (“MARS…
On September 3, a reverse mortgage servicing company settled alleged violations of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) regulations with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In July 2013, an individual brought a qui tam action in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida pursuant to the False Claims…
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York recently did a study which found that, while mortgage loan originations increased through the second quarter of 2015, the increase is only for borrowers with credit scores above 660). See Liberty Street Economics, “Just Released: Releveraging the Consumer Credit Panel with Two New Charts,” August…
On August 31, 2015, the owner of a now-defunct New Jersey title company pleaded guilty to charges of second-degree theft and second-degree misconduct by a corporate official for failing to make required disposition of settlement funds. The investigation was spearheaded by the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes…
On August 10, 2015, HUD announced that it had reached settlement agreements with two regional mortgage companies over allegations that the companies failed to comply with HUD’s Fair Housing Act regulations. Both companies obtained approval from HUD to originate FHA-insured mortgage loans. According to HUD, one of the companies charged illegal…
On August 5, 2015, a bank revealed in an U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Department of Justice (collectively, the “Government”) are currently investigating whether the bank complied with underwriting requirements on loans…
On June 1, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) entered into a consent order for civil penalties against a local Massachusetts bank concerning alleged violations of the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 and Part 339 of the FDIC Rules and Regulations. The FDIC alleged that the bank made loans secured…
On July 30, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it will mail checks totaling over $969,000 to consumers who lost money as part of a credit card interest rate reduction scam. In June 2013, the FTC brought suit in the Middle District of Florida against a payment processor and telemarketing company,…
On July 30, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order with a national mortgage servicing company, resolving claims that the servicer engaged in unfair and deceptive practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act. The CFPB alleged that the servicer failed to honor modifications…
On July 29, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced that co-conspirators in a mortgage modification scam pled guilty to conspiracy and fraud. The defendants, through a mortgage modification company, collected fees from residential mortgage holders and promised consumers that the company would either secure them a mortgage modification…