Freedom Mortgage Corporation
On October 10, 2023, the Bureau filed a lawsuit against Freedom Mortgage Corporation (Freedom), a residential mortgage loan originator and servicer headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. In 2020, Freedom reported Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data on over 700,000 loans and applications and originated nearly 400,000 HMDA-reportable loans, making it the third largest mortgage lender in the United States by origination volume. In 2019, the Bureau issued an order against Freedom finding that it intentionally misreported certain HMDA data fields from at least 2014 to 2017 (2019 Order). The Bureau’s 2023 complaint alleged that the mortgage loan data for 2020 that Freedom submitted pursuant to HMDA contained widespread errors across multiple data fields, in violation of HMDA and its implementing Regulation C. These alleged HMDA violations occurred while Freedom was under the 2019 Order. The Bureau’s complaint further alleged that by reporting inaccurate mortgage loan data for 2020, Freedom also violated the 2019 Order and the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA). On June 26, 2024, the court entered a stipulated final judgment and order that imposes injunctive relief designed to prevent Freedom from violating the law in the future, including requirements to regularly audit, test, and correct the company’s HMDA data. It also requires Freedom to pay a $3.95 million civil money penalty.
Related documents
Stipulated Final Judgment and Order (This version has been modified from the version that was entered by the court in order to optimize the reading experience for individuals with disabilities. No text has been changed.)