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PHH Mortgage Corp. has agreed to pay $45 million to resolve claims that it improperly serviced thousands of single-family residential mortgages.
The PHH Mortgage lawsuit was brought by the attorneys general of 49 states and the District of Columbia over allegations that the New Jersey-based mortgage servicer violated the federal Consumer Financial Protection Act and the consumer protection laws of several states.
Among other allegations, the plaintiffs claim that from 2009 through 2012, PHH Mortgage failed to correctly apply borrowers’ payments, charged unauthorized fees, made improper threats of foreclosure, and conveyed mixed messages to borrowers engaged in loss mitigation.
The states further allege PHH Mortgage failed to maintain proper records, failed to properly oversee third-party vendors, and mishandled the preparation, execution and notarization of official documents.
The complaint says PHH Mortgage’s alleged misconduct resulted in “premature and unauthorized foreclosures, violation of homeowners’ rights and protections, and the use of false and deceptive affidavits and other documents.”
Under terms of the settlement, PHH will pay a total amount in excess of $45 million. Of that amount, about $31.5 million will be transferred to a settlement administrator to be distributed among qualifying mortgage debtors who were affected by the mortgage servicing practices at issue.
The rest of the fund will cover the plaintiff states’ attorney fees and costs related to the investigation and litigation, plus an administrative penalty.
According to the consent judgment, payments to qualifying mortgage borrowers will be distributed by a settlement administrator in a manner similar to the way class action settlements are distributed. Claimants will need to file a claim with the settlement administrator to receive payment.
Qualifying borrowers will include those whose homes were sold or taken in foreclosure from Jan. 1, 2009 through Dec. 31, 2012 and whose mortgages were serviced at the time by PHH Mortgage. Other criteria for payment may be established later by an executive committee comprised of government signatories to the settlement.
Settlement benefits will also be available for a few hundred borrowers in New Hampshire, the one U.S. state that was not a plaintiff. That state’s banking commissioner contributed to a review of PHH Mortgage’s servicing practices, according to Law360.
PHH has also agreed to be bound to new mortgage servicing standards that require the company to amend its internal practices. Among the new requirements are compliance testing, internal audits, root cause analyses and corrective action when problems are found, and reports to the executive committee.
The new servicing standards are effective immediately and remain in effect for three years.
PHH Mortgage notes that the settlement does not require the company to admit to any wrongdoing or violations of applicable law.
Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.
The PHH Mortgage Corp. Unlawful Mortgage Servicing Practices Lawsuit is State of Alabama, et al. v. PHH Mortgage Corp., Case No. 1:18-cv-00009, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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90 thoughts on$45M Settlement to Benefit PHH Mortgage Borrowers
PHH did not properly apply my payments, charged late fees and sent threatening letters. I called the company and they claimed that the problem was fixed. recently i attempted to get a loan and it was declined because PHH dinged my credit report with late payments and ruined my credit score. They never notified me of this and now I have trouble borrowing money.
I lost years of accumulated wealth due to there fraudulent acts. Unprecedented number of unlawful actions, why don’t the fraud schemsters ever go to prison? Instead we get back 1% of what we are owed and some lowlife billionaire is on his 1 of 10 yachts !!
I had Phh mortgage and I lost my home cause of them. I owed just about $52,000. I filed chapter 13 bankruptcy in order to save my home. Was in bankruptcy for 3yrs and finished. The end of my bankruptcy I paid over $30,000 through payroll deductions and I still lost my home. Phh sent their attorney to court and the only choice they gave me to give my home back to Phh. How cruel. If I paid over $30,000 in bankruptcy and when I finished Phh told me I still owe $50,000 plus, the same amount before going into bankruptcy. I am still furious. I think those in the lawsuit should get more than $285. This house was ideal to start up my desire home business.
I was contacted a few years back that a class action lawsuit was taking place against PPH for charging first time home buyers a extra monthly insurance payment for two years. On top of carrying my own home insurance. Both insurance payments were included with my monthly mortgage. I havent heard back or have I got correspondence informing me on the status of the lawsuit. Is this lawsuit the same and I wonder if I was included. In the correspondence I received a few year ago, informed me if I didn’t want to be included please contact a provided number. I choose to be included and haven’t heard the status of the lawsuit.
Thank you
i had phh mortage for at least 10 years are more.i i had paid them at least 100,000 dollars .never was late on any payments. then with no help for them they put my home in forclouser.bad bad business.
I,just think I didn’t get it ,but after ten years and 2 lawyers later, they didn’t even tell us they were auctioning the house ,another modification office told us about it until this day we have no heard nothing from them, or their lawyers.
But Have prayed not for bad things but him to set things rights for him knows we all have put hearts sweat and tears on those homes .and this is a small but big blow to then
God bless you all
who do I contact regarding this settlement, PHH put me through hell, lost and was first person in my are to win my house back through court only to lose again cause they refused to hone the first loan modification they agreed to. I saw article in Jan 2018, contacted PA Atty General and his office doesn’t even know where to direct me, they have no info on who to contact regarding this settlement. This is crazy.
Where do we go to apply for this. We have been bullied for over 10 years by this company and still today they continue. Please help!!!
If you were a partnof the company during the given time frame (2009-2012), they would have sent a letter. I hope you received one if you qualified. The deadline was January 29th, i think. They are supposed to send the checks within the first halfbof this year,though bo specific date was set
Where do you go to complete the application. PHH took our home in 2012 right from under our noses while they said they were working with us to keep the home. They had us working with a representative for the program to keep your home and lower your payments all the while they were processing paperwork to evict us. Each time they told us our paperwork was under review, and before we knew it, they had foreclosed our home and we had to move out quickly and lost a lot of our family belongings. They robbed us blind with the PMI payments that we were told we would be out of in 6 months after we got the home. It devastated our family, especially the children to loose the home and have to leave their things and move. We haven’t recovered!
we fought for 10 years! Those rat bastards committed fraud on us!!! Tried to evict us during my chemo treatments….
My mortagage is currently being serviced by PHH Mortgage. I entered into a chapter 13 banruptcy in which we paid over 90k to PHH in a four year period in Central Florida. None of the payments were applied to the principal. We can prove it! We fought them in court for two years, but lost the case when our attorney no showed at the hearing. Bottom line, we entered into a voluntary foreclosure in exchange for a loan modification. We are now current on the loan ( Praise God!). However, during the two years of fighting in court after the bankruptcy, our attorney did not advise us to make payments. Therefore, PHH added fifty-five thousand dollars to the loan. We are in a home valued at 250k, but we owe 332k. As a combat veteran, I learned to fight and never give up. However, my family and I are the only ones who seem to be fighting fair.
Dear, You are not the only one I live in Mississippi had a loan with PHH and I build the house from the ground up. let some people talk me into getting a loan with PHH the wrong thing to do was to get a loan with these peoples. They Foreclosure on my home back in 2012-2013 after living in it for about 13 years made a payment of 1,256 months but the money was not applied principal every year I owe 170,000 don’t know where the money went to but they took my home and the attorney was a no-show in my defense I was very hard broken known one hear would help me but I keep trusting in the lord and believes that this day would come and now it is hear they are getting what they deserve.