Mortgage lender to pay $1.75M over alleged incorrect HMDA reporting

This story appeared in Bank Digest.                         

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has reached a settlement with mortgage lender Freedom Mortgage Corporation, which the Bureau said has its principal place of business in Mount Laurel, N.J., and is one of the 10 largest Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reporters nationwide. Freedom consented to the issuance of a consent order without admitting or denying the Bureau's findings.

According to the consent order, the Bureau found that Freedom violated HMDA and Regulation C by submitting mortgage-loan data for 2014 to 2017 that contained errors. Specifically, the Bureau found that Freedom reported inaccurate race, ethnicity, and sex information and that much of Freedom's loan officers' recording of this incorrect information was intentional.

Under the terms of the consent order, Freedom must pay a civil money penalty of $1.75 million and take steps to improve its compliance management to prevent future violations.