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Ameriquest’s has closed a sordid chapter in it’s history by paying 325 million and claiming no responsibility in a class action lawsuit over it’s disclosure policies. The company was accused of failing to tell consumers the basic facts about their mortgages, such as whether the loans were adjustable or fixed, whether they carried pre-payment penalties, or that the fees charged the customers were excessive.

But in the end these same customers got screwed again by the attorneys and Ameriquest as the payoffs will average $812.15 per customer while the attorneys reap millions in fees. At least it is better than a coupon for a new loan like many of these settlements have.

But first I have to say, in this world of buyer beware everyone is responsible for the bad deals that they sign. To come out of a mortgage closing not understanding the terms of a loan are unfathomable to me. However, to intentionally mislead borrowers and create the high pressure environment that is alleged and paid off is also wrong.

This is the biggest loan of many of these peoples lives. To have all of the experts in the room colluding to not explain what the borrower was signing is criminal. And I do believe it is everyone in the room. If a group of experts all watch a borrower sign papers that guarantee failure and they know it and profit from it, they all share a part of the responsibility.

So now these people who have lost a home and their credit rating because they believed the experts will get a check for eight hundred dollars. I bet they are thrilled as the class action lawyer drives past them in their new Mercedes Benz.

Consumers claimed the company misrepresented the amount of interest they had to pay, inflated home appraisals that left borrowers with unaffordable loans and failed to clearly disclose fees and penalties associated with paying off loans early.
Thousands said in multiple lawsuits that they were financially ruined because they lost their homes, were forced into bankruptcy or had their credit destroyed.  via The Denver Post

Related posts:

1. Ameriquest Settles For 350 Million Dollars For Unfair Lending Practices
2. North Carolina Adds 3 Consumer Protection Laws For Mortgage Borrowers
3. Wells Fargo Steps To Success Program For SubPrime Borrowers Gets 30,000 Participants
4. New Data On Subprime Borrowers Show Trends on Repayment
5. Ameriquest Closing 229 Mortgage Lending Offices and Laying Off 1/3 of Workforce