FDCPA Violation Lawsuit Filed Against BofA, Nationstar

A Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) lawsuit was filed by a Kansas man against against Nationstar Mortgage and Bank of America.

Plaintiff Thurman Hosler and his mother found a home in Wichita, Kan. in 2005. They signed a mortgage with Wilmington Finance for $91,375 to purchase the property. According to the FDCPA violations lawsuit, Hosler lived in the residence and made his mortgage payments regularly until February 2010 when his hours were cut and he had trouble meeting the payments.

Bank of America was the loan servicer in 2010, and a foreclosure notice was filed by The Bank of New York in in May of that year, according to the unfair debt collection lawsuit.

Hosler’s FDCPA lawsuit states, “On or about August 10, 2010, The Bank of New York took a default judgment in the case … [and] An order of sale was issued on Sept. 3, 2010.” The foreclosure sale was cancelled on Sept. 22. Another order of sale was issued Sept. 30, and again cancelled on October 3. This process of order of foreclosure sale and cancellation happened six times before an order was entered to dismiss the FDCPA lawsuit without prejudice in January 2012, enabling Hosler to resume making payments, the unfair debt collection lawsuit says.

However, in March 2012, Bank of America “caused force placed insurance to be issued against the Hosler home through Balboa Insurance Company.” This impacted costs when Hosler resumed his mortgage with Bank of America. Then the servicing rights were transferred, at which time Hosler asked for a loan modification, but before it could happen his mortgage was again transferred, this time to Nationstar.

Nationstar offered a loan modification, which Hosler pursued. However, the financials showed discrepancies, so Hosler sent “his first qualified written request for information to Nationstar on or about May 27, 2014.” In it he asked for an explanation of the discrepancy, clarification on the proposed loan modification, including an itemized breakdown of principal and balance amounts, and details on the offered balloon payment to “determine if he was receiving credit for all payments.” According to his unfair debt collection lawsuit, his request was never answered.

Hosler submitted a written request again in July, allegedly with no response. His intention, when the numbers were correct, was to move forward. But his requests for numbers and information were never answered, the debt collection lawsuit said. Soon after, Nationstar stopped accepting his payments, and in August, informed Hosler that he was no longer eligible for a loan modification because he had not returned the final agreement.

Hosler delivered in total a series of three qualified written requests to Nationstar, in response to which “Nationstar failed to conduct an investigation and failed to explain or correct the issues addressed by Hosler.” According to his unfair debt collection lawsuit, as a result of those failures, “Hosler has suffered damages in worry and emotional distress as a result of his inability to resolve his delinquency and his inability to access affordable home loan modifications, has lost time from work and has not been given an accurate accounting.”

The Unfair Debt Collection Lawsuit is Thurman Hosler v. Nationstar Mortgage LLC and Bank of America NA, Case No. 6:14-cv-01347-SAC-KGS, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.

The FDCPA: Protecting People from Harassment

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) was approved in 1977 as an amendment to the Consumer Credit Protection Act. One purpose of the FDCPA is “to provide consumers with an avenue for disputing and obtaining validation of debt information in order to ensure the information’s accuracy.”

According to the FDCPA, a debt collector is anyone who regularly collects debts that are owed to others. In the case of mortgages, this includes the banks and the finance companies they retain for collection.

Join a Free Unfair Debt Collection Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If a lender or debt collector engaged in unfair debt collection practices, you may have a legal claim and could be owed compensation for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

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DISCLAIMER: Debt collection itself is not illegal. However, debt collection firms collecting on consumer debts must adhere to the FDCPA. Even though debt attorneys are investigating these companies, their debt collection practices may be legal.