Mr. Cooper on Monday was working on reversing unauthorized duplicate-payment drafts from some of its borrowers’ bank accounts.
The drafts did not affect all customers and reflected an unidentified vendor’s error, according to
“All duplicate transaction requests have been stopped. We are actively working with the banks involved and the payments vendor to correct the issue and prevent recurrence,” Mr. Cooper said in the blog.
Some banks reversed charges as early as Saturday, but others did so on Monday and a small number might not until Tuesday, according to the company.
Mr. Cooper promised that customers would not be responsible for any fees or other negative financial impacts from the unauthorized payment drafts.
Autopay errors are a risk mortgage companies should be aware of as they shift to digital servicing strategies.
Duplicate payments are rarely a sign of fraud and more often result from a systems glitch or processing error, and while they’re perhaps more commonly discussed in the context of small business payments, they occur in consumer finance as well.
Some systems automatically flag duplicate payments for customers to review.
Mr. Cooper indicated that it had identified affected customers and would be sharing updates with them, but urged all borrowers to monitor and double-check that their accounts were correct, and to notify the company with any concerns.
The mortgage servicer warned that in some cases an accurate payment made over the weekend may have been unintentionally reversed out of measures taken out of an abundance of caution, but in those cases the correct amount should be reinstated on Monday or Tuesday.
