BPO Mortgage Fees May Be Excessive, Lawsuits Claim

After falling behind on mortgage payments, some homeowners may find themselves hit with excessive or unnecessary fees for property inspection or a broker price opinion that the payment delay may trigger.

BPO Mortgage Basics

When a borrower defaults on their mortgage payments, lenders may hire real estate broker to offer an opinion of the home’s value. This is known as a Broker Price Opinion, or BPO. The opinion involves comparison between three similar, recently sold properties to find its approximate value.

Unfortunately, mortgage borrowers are often the ones billed for the BPO mortgage fee or even a property inspection. However, borrowers may not even be made aware that they’ve been charged for either a property inspection or BPO mortgage fee . These fees may be unnecessary or even excessive, surpassing what’s actually allowed by either the terms of the mortgage or even federal regulations. For borrowers who have already defaulted on their mortgage, these expenses can be especially unfair.

Standard mortgage agreements note that these kinds of fees for property inspection and broker price opinions are permitted only if considered “reasonable or appropriate.” But borrowers claim that, in many cases, these fees are neither reasonable nor appropriate.

An investigation has been launched into unnecessary BPO mortgage fees, and a number of lenders are involved. If you were in default on your mortgage sometime in the last three years with one of the following lenders, you may be able to join the BPO mortgage class action lawsuit investigation:

• Caliber Home Loans
• Flagstar
• Freedom Mortgage
• LoanDepot
• Quicken Loans
• Seterus
• U.S. Bank

Class Action Lawsuits

A number of banks have been hit with mortgage class action lawsuits over unnecessary property inspection and BPO mortgage costs charged by their banks or mortgage servicers. Lawsuits claim that these BPO mortgage costs are part of a scheme in violation of both state and federal law.

According to these class action lawsuits, some banks are violating federal law by ordering multiple property inspections on the same borrower, but hiding the nature of the charges from consumers.

One homeowner involved in a lawsuit claims that there was a time when he periodically had difficulties making his mortgage payments. He alleges he continued to make monthly payments to catch up with what was owed, and continued to live on the property.

However, he claims that his bank ordered pointless and repeated property inspections. When he was charged for the property inspections, his mortgage statements did not identify the charges. They were categorized under “other charges,” which left him unaware as to what exactly he was even being charged for.

Filing a BPO Mortgage Lawsuit

If you have been charged for a broker price opinion or property inspection by one of the above lenders, you may be able to join a BPO mortgage class action investigation.

Join a Free Property Inspection & Broker Price Opinion Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were in default on your mortgage in the last three years with one of the following banks, you may qualify to join this property inspection fee class action lawsuit investigation:

• Caliber Home Loans
• Flagstar
• Freedom Mortgage
• LoanDepot
• Quicken Loans
• U.S. Bank

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