Nationstar Third Party Reconveyance Preparation Charges Class Action

This class action alleges that Nationstar Mortgage, LLC, which does business as Mr. Cooper, charged mortgage borrowers improper fees when their mortgages were released, assessing them a Third Party Reconveyance Preparation Fee or a Third Party Reconveyance/Release Preparation Fee, or something similar, even though neither the law nor their mortgage contracts permitted these fees.

The complaint quotes one of the standard mortgage contracts at issue as saying, that when the Lender discharges the Security Instrument pertaining to the mortgage, the “Borrower shall pay any recordation costs. Lender may charge Borrower s fee for releasing this Security Instrument, but only if the fee is paid to a third part for services rendered and the charging of the fee is permitted under Applicable Law.”

The complaint contends that applicable laws only permit the lender to charge the borrower the actual amount of the fees, and not amounts for things like a Third Party Reconveyance Preparation Fee. It quotes the law of one state, Ohio, as saying, “Within ninety days from the date of the satisfaction of a mortgage, the mortgagee shall record a release of the mortgage … and pay any fees required for the recording [but] may, by contract with the mortgagor, recover the cost of the fees required for the recording of the satisfaction by the county recorder.”

The complaint alleges that Nationstar violated the law and breached the written contracts with the mortgage borrowers by charging them the additional fees. The complaint alleges, “Applicable Law and fiduciary duties undertaken by [Nationstar] … required [Nationstar] to give the class accurate statements of their total outstanding balances required by Applicable Law to pay their obligations in full[.]”

The complaint asks that each class member receive either the $250 specified as damages in Ohio, or the amount of the overcharge, plus interest and costs.

The class for this action is all persons who were charged by Nationstar Mortgage, LLC or Mr. Cooper (or any predecessor, successor, nominee or agent of either) a Third Party Reconveyance Preparation Fee, Third Party Reconveyance/Release Preparation Fee, or a similar fee, except where (1) applicable law (as defined in the persons’ mortgages) expressly allowed for the charging of the fees (fees other than actual government recording fees for releasing security instruments), and (2) the fees charged were for amount actually paid to unaffiliated parties for releasing services done.

This class is limited to persons charged fees in relation to mortgages recorded within any of the following thirty-six jurisdictions (that require lenders to release satisfied mortgages and do not provide for the charging of other than actual government fees): Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Contract
Tags: Additional charges in breach of contract, Charges Not Permitted by Law, Mortgage-Related Unfair Practices, Satisfaction of Mortgage