Cardinal Financial to settle telemarketing lawsuit for $7M

Cardinal Financial will pay $7.2 million to settle a class-action lawsuit arising from alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. 

The resolution impacts consumers approached by the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender without consent during a five-year period between November 2017 and November 2022. In resolving the case, Cardinal agreed to reward compensation to affected parties but did not admit to committing any infractions. Approximately 141,049 members were included as part of the lawsuit, with each claimant eligible for a payment of up to $51, according to the settlement. 

The lender received consumer contact information from California-based iLeads, a customer-acquisitions and lead-generation provider serving mortgage, insurance and other industries. Terms of the settlement stated "Cardinal Financial has also agreed to terminate its relationship with the lead aggregator that sold it the class member data used to make the calls at issue."

Cardinal Financial declined to issue a comment regarding the settlement, while no response had been received from iLeads prior to publication.   

On its website, iLeads lists loanDepot, Freedom Mortgage and Caliber Home Loans as some of its home-lending clients. 

The case was originally filed in November 2021 by plaintiff Robin Taylor in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. In addition to potential violations of the TCPA, attorneys argued that the allegations were also a breach of the Florida Telephone Solicitations Act. The TCPA prohibits many types of unsolicited business telemarketing calls and text messages, and it restricts usage of prerecorded or robotic-voice messages without written consent.   

While the Federal Communications Commission appears to have stepped up enforcement of the TCPA in recent months, allegations of potential transgressions committed by mortgage companies continue to appear throughout the last several months. Since 2022, at least 65 complaints have been filed in U.S. courts, with leading lenders, including loanDepot and Rocket, among the companies claimed to be in potential violation of telemarketing regulations. 

Last year, real estate company Keller Williams agreed to pay $40 million to settle a case after it was accused of making unsolicited calls to consumers on the Do Not Call Registry. The FCC also helped shut down robocall operations involving brokerage MV Realty earlier this year after homeowners claimed they had been swindled by the company to mortgage their properties. 

Individuals affected by the Cardinal Financial ruling have until May 26 to submit a claim for compensation or any objections or requests for exclusion. A final hearing on the case is scheduled on June 26.