Freedom Mortgage Corporation
On June 5, 2019, the Bureau issued an order against Freedom Mortgage Corporation (Freedom), a mortgage lender with its principal place of business in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Freedom is one of the ten largest Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) reporters nationwide; for each year from 2013 through 2016, it originated more than 50,000 home-purchase loans, including refinancings of home-purchase loans. The Bureau found that Freedom violated HMDA and its implementing regulation, 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. For example, certain loan officers were told by managers or other loan officers that, when applicants did not provide their race or ethnicity, they should select non-Hispanic white regardless of whether that was accurate. The order requires Freedom to pay a $1.75 million civil money penalty and take steps to improve its compliance management to prevent future violations.
Related documents
Press release
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Settles with Freedom Mortgage Corporation