The Idaho Department of Finance has ordered a Colorado-based mortgage lender to stop sending misleading and deceptive mailers to Idaho residents. The department alleges that Assurity Financial Services LLC sent homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages documents that suggest their loans have been miscalculated and that a “refund audit specialist” could help them recoup money.
In fine print, the document says consultation may include a home loan solicitation.
The department found that Assurity has no specific information about errors in homeowners’ mortgages. Yet company representatives advised consumers who responded to the notice to refinance their mortgages through Assurity.
“This is a classic bait and switch,” said department Director Gavin Gee in a press release. “This marketing ploy takes advantage of the fact that when lenders record certain mortgage loan documents with the county, they become public records. Mailings are then targeted to homeowners and contain just enough correct information to mislead a consumer into thinking the sender actually is knowledgeable about the consumer’s loan. In this case, if the consumer takes the refund ‘bait’ and calls, they are ‘switched’ to a solicitation to refinance their mortgage with Assurity.”
The department determined that the mortgage loan solicitations were misleading and deceptive and in violation of the Idaho Residential Mortgage Practices Act.
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