Colorado Mortgage Broker Barred from Making Deceptive Claims
A federal district court has barred a Colorado-based mortgage broker from making false claims about home mortgage financing services and ordered him to pay consumer redress following Federal Trade Commission charges that he violated federal laws. According to the FTC, the defendant and his company deceptively claimed they could refinance consumers’ mortgages at the lowest available rates at no cost to consumers.
(I-Newswire) - In May 2004, the FTC filed a complaint against Phillip W. Ranney and a group of corporate defendants, operating as PWR Processing, Inc., charging that the defendants promised consumers “no-fee,” low-interest home mortgages following a process of multiple refinances. According to the FTC’s complaint, the defendants told consumers that if they applied for two loans, one at a competitive rate and one at a higher-than-market rate, lenders on the higher-than-market rate loans would pay a premium to the mortgage broker that in turn would be used to pay fees associated with the lower-interest loan. The defendants allegedly claimed that the low-interest loan would then be used to pay the higher-interest loan, leaving the consumer with a low-interest, “no-fee” loan. The FTC charged that instead of receiving the promised loan, consumers were stuck with high-interest loans, often at rates higher than they wanted to refinance. The FTC also alleged that the defendants did not pay appraisal fees, leaving many consumers with liens on their properties. The FTC’s complaint also named Kathleen A. Ranney as a relief defendant – the Commission subsequently dismissed its case against her.
In August 2004, the court entered a default judgment against the corporate defendants, Armor Mortgage; Abacus Mortgage; Community Homebanc Mortgage Services, Inc.; Harbor Pacific Funding, Inc.; High Center, Inc.; Lending Strategies of Colorado, Inc.; Lite Realty Corp.; PWR Processing, Inc., dba First Source America Mortgage Corp. dba NexLoan; PWR Press, Inc.; and Source Funding Company, Colorado corporations; Kace, LLC dba Aristocrat Mortgage, a Colorado limited liability company; and Mortgage Watch, a California corporation. The judgment barred the defendants from misrepresenting: ( 1 ) that they can provide home mortgage financing at competitive, low-interest rates; ( 2 ) that the fees associated with processing consumers’ loan applications will be paid at no cost to the consumers; ( 3 ) that consumers will not be required to make any payments on an interim loan because they will be funded by a lower-interest loan or paid by the lender; and ( 4 ) that they are a licensed mortgage broker. The judgment also prohibited the defendants from violating the Truth in Lending Act ( TILA ) or Regulation Z by advertising credit terms other than those that actually will be offered.
The terms of the litigated judgment announced today are similar to those in the default judgment against the corporate defendants. The judgment bars Phillip Ranney from making misrepresentations about home mortgage financing and violating TILA and Regulation Z and orders him to pay $128,300 in consumer redress.
Copies of the default judgment and the amended permanent injunction and judgment against Phillip W. Ranney are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish ( bilingual counselors are available to take complaints ), or to get free information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP ( 1-877-382-4357 ), or use the complaint form at http://www.ftc.gov. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Jen Schwartzman Office of Public Affairs 202-326-2674
STAFF CONTACT:
Sarah Schroeder or Kerry O’Brien FTC Western Region – San Francisco 415-848-5100
If you have questions regarding information in this press release contact the company listed below. I-Newswire.com is a press release service and not the author of this press release. The information that is on or available through this site is for informational purposes only and speaks only as of the particular date or dates of that information. As some companies / PR Agencies submit their press releases once per week/month or quarter, make sure check the official company website for accurate release dates as our site displays the I-Newswire.com distribution date only. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of information on or available through this site, and we are not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in that information or for actions taken in reliance on that information.
Immerse yourself in mystery and magic with two exciting new casual games from Focus Multimedia and Big Fish Games Studios, one of the world’s leading casual game developers. Hidden Expedition Titanic and Azada join Focus’ popular Revival range of super-budget price games and are available in a store near you.
Edraw Max enables students, teachers and business professionals to reliably create and publish kinds of diagrams to represent any ideas. With large pre-drawn libraries and more than 4600 vector symbols, drawing couldn't be easier!
New range of cards launched to make you the cover star.Hallmark Cards in partnership with OK Magazine has launched an exclusive and exciting new range of greeting cards that gives people the chance to give family and friends the A-List treatment.
Many people choose not to pursue an accident claim. The reasons range from knowing the insurance company will settle; to they don't want the legal hassles and expense.
Many individuals and businesses have always purchased their personal computers from a well-known provider to pre-conceived specifications. Increasingly...
The effectiveness of SEO and PPC Services are directly related to the quality and quantity of the performance data that they have to work with. If you are seeking assistance in achieving a higher ranking on search engine results, then we suggest you visit RankYourWebsites.com, specialist in this area. If you have found your attempts at optimization to prove fruitless, the representatives at RankYourWebsites.com will have a solution to increase your traffic.
http://www.vineyardsforsalein.com/ - online island vineyard for sale, vineyard for sale paso, texas vineyard for sale, washington vineyard for sale, tuscany vineyard for sale, vineyard for sale santa, vineyard for sale California
Mark Flanagan, Managing Director of Manchester health and safety, food safety and fire safety consultancy, Shieldyourself, discussed the Scores on the Doors scheme when he made a guest appearance on the BBC’s 5 Live Radio Show recently.
