Freedom Mortgage Fined $1.75 Million to Settle False HMDA Reporting
According to a consent decree, the CFPB says the company purposefully falsified many applicants’ sex and race information.
Freedom Mortgage Corp., one of the nation’s largest mortgage companies, has agreed to pay a $1.75 million fine to settle CFPB allegations that its employees deliberately falsified information required under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.
In a consent decree, the CFPB said that when loan applicants did not provide their age or ethnicity, Freedom managers told loan officers that they should select “non-Hispanic white” regardless whether the information was accurate.
More than 80 loan officers in seven Freedom call centers entered false data in that manner, the CFPB said.
The company’s employees also falsified applicants’ sex and when customers complained that the information was inaccurate, they were told it could not be changed, according to the CFPB.
In the consent decree, the company agreed to develop a compliance plan to ensure accurate reporting and agreed to allow the CFPB to monitor the compliance.
Freedom, headquartered in Mount Laurel, N.J., originated more than $1 billion in home purchase loans each year between 2013 and 2016, the CFPB said.