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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.
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29 thoughts on$7M Seterus Home Mortgage Class Action Settlement Proposed
I had a loan modification with Seterus, around 2015, and gave me a deferment payment of 60,000 of what they supposed to forgive if I maintained May payments on time for 5 years, which I did, hopping to reduce my loan amount substantially, unfortunately my loan was transferred to Mr Cooper and after that to SPS servicing, now I don’t know where to call and find out about my modification, because when I call the other 2 Companies they said They do not know anything about it.
Is it too late to be included in the class action against Setrus? I’m in Virginia
Please add me if it includes Texas. In 2014 Seterus Auctioned off my house after telling me that they were doing a loan modification and not to worry, it cause me to loose everything they took my belongings and threw them in my front yard.
We were devastated when this happened to us! Thus qas my family home…the home my parent dreamed of and built with their own two hands. Then i bought from them and now it will never be handed down again. It cost me thousands of dollars to “save ” my childhood home. They never refunded anything to us, and we will never recoup what they took from us! (For us this started when they “crossed” our loan with someone else. )
I received a notice about the Seterus lawsuit. It has a Claim Number & Claim ID number. The website that it said for me to go to was deemed not secure by my Google security so I just thought all of this was a big scam. The name is Koepplinger. Seterus owned my mortgage during that time frame and I believe it was in 2016 when I was having trouble making my payments and kept in touch with them about it and they were trying to force me into selling and when I kept refusing they then forced me into a loan modification. Up unto that point I had always paid my own homeowners insurance and taxes. I did not want to have an escrow but that was part of the deal of the loan modification and I was threatened to either do it or lose my home. So I took the long modification so I wouldn’t lose my home and then had many fights with them because they kept raising my payments and saying it was because of my insurance and taxes. Part of the reason they said my Escrow was increased was because there was flooding insurance added to my policy that made it higher. My house is built on top of a hill so there should not be any insurance for that and my insurance company told me there was not. I also was charged quite a few times for them saying that they had came out here to check the house. I am way back in the woods and I know when people come to my house so they were lying. I felt like there was nothing I could do because this was a big mortgage corporation as far as I knew so I just continued to pay and pay and pay then they sold my mortgage to Mr. cooper and then sold it to SPS. So, please add me to this final letter case in the state of North Carolina. Thank you!
SETERUS SAID I WAS IN FORCLOSURE WENT TO COURT AND THEIR ATTORNEY SAID I WAS NOT IN FORCLOSURE BUT SETERUS DID A LOAN MODIFICATION AND TOOK MY LOAN FROM 180,000 TO $205,000
Please add me to the list.
Please add me to this Seterus lawsuit.
I was with this company during that time frame, and was then transfered to cooper and now SPC, so please add me to this action case of final letter case.i have my claim ID and claim number. thamks
How do I become part of this lawsuit?
My house burned down in 2016, I paid my mortgage on time while it was being rebuilt. Seterus sold my mortgage to mortgage company before I was able to sign off on the rebuild of the house. I’m now styck with no Certificate of Occupancy. I have been living in my house since the rebuild but have an ongoing battle with the township. I need some advice as how to proceed. Please contact me