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The volume of mortgage robocalls is decreasing, but TCPA suits are still being filed

According to Robokiller, consumers who were being pestered by millions of mortgage robocalls at the start of the year received some relief. They received 14.3 million mortgage calls in January, which is less than half the 30.3 million received in December. These home loan-related calls were a fraction compared to the 5.5 billion robocalls made last month. However, they were still significantly more than the total student loan calls. According to three state attorneys general, the firm allegedly con homeowners into mortgaging their homes in exchange for cash payments. Keller Williams, a real estate player, also agreed to $40 million in a settlement. It was accused of violating Telephone Consumer Protection Act by making unsolicited prerecorded calls to consumers registered on the Do Not Call Registry. Real Trends first reported the settlement. Keller Williams, a real estate player, also agreed to pay $40 million in a settlement. According to a National Mortgage News analysis, 65 federal civil complaints have been filed against mortgage lenders since the beginning 2022. All sizes of firms are targeted, including market giants Rocket Mortgage and loanDepot. Some of the smaller companies that were hit by the lawsuits did not respond to the plaintiffs, and courts issued five-figure default judgments against them. Other companies settled the cases for undisclosed sums, while some plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their own complaints against Rocket Mortgage. A consumer sued Rocket in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri last week. He claimed that the company was hiding behind a network of telemarketing companies to make marketing calls to uninterested consumers. “Plaintiff, all members of the class, defined below have been harmed due to the acts of Defendants, their deceptive marketing tactics because their privacy was violated, they were annoyed, harassed,” wrote an attorney representing Daniel Human, the Missouri-based plaintiff. Rocket Mortgage released a statement Thursday morning in which it criticised active TCPA lawsuits against its lender. The spokesman called the litigators “modern-day ambulance chasers” and praised the company’s position at J.D. Client satisfaction is achieved through power awards. According to the statement, “Plaintiffs’ attorneys file baseless claims in Hail Mary attempts to extract large settlement payments for themselves.” These cases, although they are great for headlines, are almost always dismissed quickly. The Rocket case’s plaintiff attorney did not respond to a request for comment. In recent years, such lawsuits have cost banks tens and millions of dollars. In 2020, the Supreme Court also removed an exemption that allowed autodialing to consumer phones to collect government-related debts including mortgages. In 2021, however, financial institutions won a small victory against TCPA lawsuits.