Walter Investment Management Corp.’s mortgage banking subsidiary has agreed to settle charges that it harassed delinquent Massachusetts borrowers for four years.
In August 2015, Ditech Financial Services LLC became the successor company to Green Tree Servicing LLC, which handled mortgage servicing in Massachusetts.
The state’s attorney general limits the number of telephone calls a creditor can initiate to two within a seven- or 30-day period depending on the type of phone number.
But since 2012,
Ditech called borrowers as many as 12 times in a single day, according to an announcement Wednesday from Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.
The state claims that Ditech didn’t consider outgoing calls where its collectors didn’t leave a message as a regulated communication.
“As a result, Ditech’s collectors often communicated with borrowers over four times within a day at multiple numbers,” an assurance of discontinuance states. “In some cases, Ditech increased the number of communications made to borrowers as the end of the month approached in order to satisfy Ditech’s delinquency goals.”
In addition, Ditech allegedly
failed to notify borrowers of their right to seek detailed information regarding their mortgage debt, in violation of state law.
As many as 5,000 borrowers were impacted by the alleged practices.
The attorney general said Ditech agreed to an assurance of discontinuance to pay $1.4 million, change its practices and
strengthen its policies.
