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A mortgage holder with a defaulted home loan has settled a potential class action lawsuit with PHH Mortgage Corp. after he alleged that the company inflated property inspection fees.
Kirk Culver sued the company in 2020 and said in a proposed class action lawsuit that PHH improperly charged him markups on its costs for third-party property inspections for defaulted loans, Law360 reports.
According to the claim, PHH contracted with a third-party vendor that used a computerized system to generated property inspections every 20 to 30 days, and with each inspection, PHH added between $15 to $19.50 to Culver’s mortgage.
However, the actual cost of the inspections were “much less than what was charged to plaintiff,” the class action lawsuit said.
Although Culver sought to represent other mortgage borrowers who had allegedly been through the same thing, his counsel told Law360 that after discovery they found “that the claims were not ripe for class certification.”
“We, therefore, turned our attention to resolving our individual client’s claim and damages, and we are very pleased that we were able to do so,” Zachary Ludens of Zebersky Payne Shaw Lewenz LLP said.
Ludens said that deal spelt the end of the Class claims in terms of Culver being the Class Representative.
In June, PHH tried to get the case tossed out, but U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron ruled in Culver’s favor and allowed his claims of breach of contract and violations to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, as well as allegations of violations of the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act, Law360 reports.
PHH said in its motion for dismissal that it did not qualify as a debt collector and shouldn’t be subjected to the laws Culver was suing under. However, Judge Byron cited PHH’s statements that include an amount due, a $72.22 late fee that “may be charged,” and a clear statement saying that the letter is from a “debt collector attempting to collect a debt,” as evidence it does act as a debt collector.
“If the instant communication — which includes clear language identifying defendant as a debt collector attempting to collect a debt, a potential late fee of $72.22 and a total amount due — does not qualify as a debt collection communication, it is difficult to comprehend what would.”
Last September, PHH reached a $12.6 million class action settlement with homeowners who alleged that the company’s practice of charging what it referred to as “processing fees” when customers made their home loan payments online or over the telephone — fees ranging from $17.50 to $7.50 — violated the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and were in breach of their mortgage contracts.
Have you ever taken out a loan with PHH? Tell us about your experience in the comments section!
Culver is represented by Jordan A. Shaw and Zachary D. Ludens of Zebersky Payne Shaw Lewenz LLP, J. Matthew Stephens of Methvin Terrell Yancey Stephens & Miller PC and Darren R. Newhart of Newhart Legal PA.
PHH is represented by Dale A. Evans Jr. of Locke Lord LLP.
The PHH Inspection Fee Class Action Lawsuit is Culver v. PHH Mortgage Corp., Case No. 6:20-cv-02292, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
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77 thoughts onMortgage Holder Settles Lawsuit With PHH Mortgage Corp After Alleging Inflated Inspection Fees
I’ve paid several late fees when paying online and on time. I’ve also been charged several fees when I make an online payment
I just received a notice that a reverse mortgage loan on a properyy that HUD deemed inequitable, RMS bought in a mortgage pooling sale, and now transferred to PHH will replace the current servicer. I own the home free and clear of any liens and the case has been held in court for over 7 years. The lenders, servicers and attorneys continue to defend a note that was sold in a municipality foreclosure sale in 2015 by the City where the property is located in New Mexico. PHHA is not licensed to for business in NM, and RMS has just transferred a worthless loan to PHH, to avoid RMS having to be involved, since RMS has chosen to refuse any proof to me with regards to how the servicing was acquired by them. This type of illegality is how these people steal millions of homes from innocent people. The loan they claim was for my mither and she has been dead for 11 years, but the bank refuses to foreclose and keeps selling to other companies who have no recourse for the loan but the courts believe the fake notes presented in court used to foreclose on a property. This has cost me my life. Ill have to die in a property I own and cannot sell to survive. Im forbidden to because of attachments over $300,000 will never be released. Its how the government is taking our homes and our credibility will be assessed as impoverished for the future program that will replace the credit score to determine our worth.
Crazy thing is I own the property and its deeded to me fee simple free of liens and recorded as such. Ive never had a loan on the property but the Judge placed an Order on me, for a loan that does not exist.
My circumstances are the same as above but I was actually charged $700+ in inspection fees. Prior to that I was charged that amount several different times for late fees. I was denied a loan modification numerous times even though my fixed interest rate is 11.15%. Now I’m in forbearance but there doesn’t seem a way out.
I’m in California and several months back I noticed a constant additional charge of 114.00 on my statement, when I contacted them I was told it’s an error and would be removed, still there. This AM I was alerted by my Experian account that PHH had reported me has having a loan modification, I NEVER requested during the 18 months of Covid and paid my account on time. This is so frustrating that they feel they can get away with random fees. My account was taken over by them from Ocwen.
I lost my home to foreclosure due to PHH’s unwillingness to offer a reasonable loan modification, short-sale or deed-in-lieu. I spent over a year attempting to follow the stated procedures of requesting a loan modification or other relief due to a job loss. I sent documents monthly, often time the same documents several times a month, only to find that these documents were lost, or not received. I could not reach my case manager on the telephone and never could reach a supervisor. I asked my realtor at the time to please help me make some headway so a short sale could proceed. Still no response – everything took months to process and the short-sale offers eventually expired with the prospective buyer walking away. When my relator was finally able to get a response, PHH’s response to the simple question of what will qualify for a loan modification was one of two situations, either the homeowner has to be deceased or facing immediate military deployment. That was it, no other situation would be considered or approved as grounds for a loan modification or alternative resolution. I am not only furious with my local credit union who sold my mortgage to this unscrupulous company, I am still attempting to rebuild my credit having had to go through the foreclosure and bankruptcy process in 2014. I hope that there will be another class-action event that helps us who were caught up in the housing bubble burst in 2013-2015 and were left with no options due to the inhumanity of this company.
Same issue as Carole. PHH put my account in suspense due to the change over from Ocwen and left the payment made to Ocwen in suspense because PHH up the monthly payment by $123 and would not process the payment made to Ocwen before the change of servicing took affect. So they have been saying that I’m 1 month behind and my credit has been jacked up. I paid the $123 and they released the amount in suspense to be applied to that back payment over a year ago and I’m still a month behind. A very bad loan servicer. I do have my bank staements showing payments made. Any help would be appreciated
I Had a Mortgage with Owen now its PHH I have been in a forbearance since April 2020 till Sept 2021 because I lost my Jobs I Clean for a Living and When the Covid 19 Hit I had no other choice but to take Forbearance now I will be coming out of it soon.
Same Schemes! I never needed or requested forbearance or suspence.
It’s all games to place you into foreclosure in spite of paying monthly mortgage timely via automatic withdrawal every 6th of month
I am in a very similar situation with PHH. At least once every month for over a year someone has been at my house taking photos. Supposedly for “property inspection “ even though I’ve never missed a payment . My loan balance is somehow over 40,000 more than it should be. Not to mention the long list of other really despicable things PHH has done.
Same here, approximately $35,000 more due to their Reved up legal fees in regards to a dispute resolved in my FAVOR!
Correction:
Linda not Linds
One of many things that happened to me and then charged me for inspections. Would have found another lender but have a HAMP loan and don’t want the expense of refi.
So according to PHH they never recieved the money orders but when I got copies of them emailed from the head of Rouse’s Market (where the money orders were bought) PHH had cashed both!!! One 6 days and one 7 days after my mom sent them!! One was endorsed by PHH. The other was endorsed by BNY Mellon. Meaning they did not stamp/sign the check. They deposited so their bank signed it. But they stile go the funds. I messaged them on BBB. They responded wanting to know the name on account, property address and the money order numbers. I did. Never got a reply back. Nothing. Its been months. We have been homeless 2 years with my dad in an urn in a trunk!! These people are monsters!!!!
Add me in on this one
I have been violated for years from phh ocwen and new rez.
It stops here .I have hundreds of respa violations over the years let’s put this to an end.
Phh servicer for wells fargo my mortgage was for $89,000. It went up to $200,000.for four loans modifications. They just add to back of the loan, interest, principal, insurance, taxes
Our “modified” loan was recently sold to PHH from Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC. on or around 05/14/2018, suffering a hardship, I applied for new modification through Ocwen, but I was “not qualified”. The following month a charge of $110 was added to my mortgage payment due for an inspection, but at the time of the application, I was never informed of this charge, and would not have submitted the application had I been made aware of this charge. I disputed the charge to Ocwen, to no avail, To this day, that charge remains on my monthly mortgage statement.