Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.
Dozens of homeowners have reached a proposed $7 million settlement with Seterus Inc. in a class action lawsuit about threatening notices the company sent out regarding their home mortgage.
Lawyers for the 29 lead plaintiffs submitted the deal to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina on Dec. 17. If approved, it would cover an excess of 46,500 Class Members in 12 states who got the home mortgage notices when their loan payments fell more than 45 days behind.
The letters, sent between 2012 and 2019, said the company would accelerate the mortgages – making the entire outstanding balance due immediately – or foreclose on the property if the debt wasn’t satisfied immediately.
According to the homeowners’ class action lawsuit, the threats “violated Seterus’ actual policy to never accelerate a loan so long as any payment sufficient to bring the loan less than 45 days delinquent is made prior to the expiration date set forth in its Final Letter.”
They also violated the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, according to the plaintiffs.
Under the terms of the proposed settlement, Class Members in North Carolina will likely net the largest amount from the deal, approximately $182 each. Those in Michigan, the state with the highest number of anticipate Class Members, are expected to net about $95. Class Members in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania will get roughly $63 each and those in California will get nearly $53.50 each.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers are slated to receive $2.3 million, representing one-third the overall payout, in compensation and another $66,271 in litigation costs. The settlement administrators who will handle distributing the payments to the Class Members will get $110,000 to do the job.
Another $55,000 of the proposed Seterus payout will go to the home mortgage owners who filed the case. It will be awarded at a rate of $3,500 for each set of named plaintiffs who provided discovery and were deposed, $2,500 for each set of who provided discovery only, and $1,000 for each “who were prepared to provide discovery yet never had to do so.”
“Given the litigation risks, the complexity of underlying issues, the skill of defense counsel, and the amount of money recovered for Settlement Class Members, the proposed settlement ensures a meaningful recovery,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers wrote in the request for the court’s approval.
The case began in 2017 and settlement conferences were held in February and June. The two sides reached an agreement in principle in November, according to the settlement proposal.
Have you received threatening notices from your mortgage lender? Tell us about it in the comment section below.
The lead plaintiff and Class Members are represented by Scott C. Harris and Patrick M. Wallace of Whitfield Bryson LLP and Edward H. Maginnis, Karl S. Gwaltney and Asa C. Edwards of Maginnis Law PLLC.
The Home Mortgage Class Action Lawsuit is Tracy Adams, et al. v. Seterus Inc., et al., Case No. 1:17-cv-995, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:
29 thoughts on$7M Seterus Home Mortgage Class Action Settlement Proposed
I need to be added, I received that letter and said I was late and I needed to modify my loan are it will be foreclosure I modified but where they transferred my loan to Mr. Cooper it was still saying I was 3 months behind in which I was up-to-date but end up having to pay the two months anyway.
please add me to the list they took my home of 18 years after husband ran off with another woman we owed 98g it sold at auction for 260g fair market value is 450g where did my equity go? who gets all that money? they did me very wrong me and my kids ended up on streets!
Pls add me also. I was intentionally mislead about the pandemic forbearance, I was assured my payments would go to the back of my loan. Tricky Tricky, they sold my loan one month beforeinstatement and new company wants 20 payments now- no such record of any agreement. What a delima now…
Please the same is happening to us. They said the forbearance would go on the back of the loan and sold my loan to GF. We need to get in touch with each other. My email is bdico.911@gmail.com. Please title the heading forbearance.
Thank you from a honest homeowner in Florida
Please add me to this lawsuit.
Seterus basically stole my house from me when I was working outside of the country and unknown to me they claimed I was making the wrong payment amount. My payments were automatically withdrawn based on an agreement I had with BOA and I had no idea who Seterus was. I was in Malaysia at the time and tried communicating with Seterus representatives and they had no answers to my questions and kept putting me on hold and sending foreclosure threats which made it the most stressful time in my life. I want them to understand how they screwed my life up and if there is anything that can be done to rectify it I am all in.
Bank of America sold our mortgage to Seterus, I had a medical problem and fell behind on my payment. They told me not to pay my mortgage for 4 months then they would do a loan modification. My loan was 66,000 in two years it was 83,600. When I tried to pay it off, they held my last payment and charge me more, then they held the pay off for mor than 30 days as well. Add me to the suit.
Please add me to the Lawsuit