Cleveland, Ohio, January 26—Five Cleveland consumers filed a One Hundred Million Dollar class action lawsuit the mortgage service company Fairbanks Capital Corporation. Fairbanks Capital of Salt Lake City, Utah, the nations largest mortgage servicer, collects mortgages for various lenders. The five named Plaintiffs Anthony and Doris Doughty, Linda Scott, Mary Keys and Vanessa McGee are seeking over One Hundred Million Dollars in damages and a halt to all foreclosure proceedings against themselves and over 27,000 Ohio homeowners whose mortgages were and are serviced by Fairbanks.
The complaint filed by these consumers alleges that Fairbanks committed a illegal, deceptive and unconscionable mortgage collection practices that violate Ohio and Federal consumer protection laws, the Federal Truth in Lending Law and various state and federal laws that govern mortgages and mortgage collection practices. Among other things plaintiffs accuse Fairbanks of
1) charging late fees for payments that were received on time
2) claiming to have lost consumers' payments
3) demanding payments that had already been made,
4) improperly using escrow accounts,
5) improperly using escrow funds,
6) placing accounts that were current into collections,
7) charging consumers for insurance when those consumers already have obtained adequate insurance on their own,
8) placing payments in suspension accounts instead of crediting them as monthly payments,
9) taking unauthorized payments form consumers checking accounts without authorization, and
10) beginning foreclosures for accounts not in default.
The attorneys for Plaintiffs are Gary Cook, Ohio's foremost predatory lending attorney and Darryl E. Pittman. Pittman, stated: Fairbanks has made an enormous amount of money by praying on consumers who are not really in a position to fight back. Some knowledgeable people have estimated that Fairbanks as extorted over 300 million dollars from consumers by threatening consumers with the loss of their home.
Fairbanks is notorious for the massive number of complaints by consumers protesting its predatory mortgage servicing practices. This case is not the first time that Fairbanks' practices have drawn scrutiny. Two U. S, Senators, Mikulski and Sarbanes have called for investigations of Fairbanks by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S.inspector General. The Federal Trade Commission and the State of Maryland have also brought Class Action lawsuits against Fairbanks. A consumer web site usacomplaints.com has logged over 3000 consumer complaints against Fairbanks.
In Ohio Cleveland's East Side Organizing Project (ESOP) (216-429-0757) has been active for several years in providing support for consumers who have been victimized by Fairbanks.
Contact
Darryl E. Pittman, Esq
Pittman, Alexander, Cook & Associates
2940 Noble Road, Suite 202
Cleveland, Ohio 44121
(216) 291-1005 (voice)
(216) 382-8580 (fax)
[email protected]
0 comments