Another lender gets slapped with a TCPA suit

A customer is suing Mr. Cooper for a handful of artificial intelligence-generated calls and voicemails addressed to his number.

What made these calls even more pesky than they normally are is that the person who these calls were trying to reach was not the same person receiving the calls and voicemails, the complaint claims.

According to litigation filed in Oregon by Chet Michael Wilson, he was called by Mr. Cooper about a loan that does not belong to him, on a phone number he has had for over a decade. Wilson was never a customer of Mr. Cooper's.

"This is an important message from Mr. Cooper, your home loan company. Please call us at your earliest convenience.... We are a debt collector," said the voicemails left behind by Mr. Cooper's robocall.

Wilson is accusing Mr. Cooper of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act  (TCPA) by using an AI voice in connection with non-emergency calls it places to telephone numbers assigned to cellular telephone service, without prior consent.

Additionally, the suit accuses Mr. Cooper of routinely using AI or prerecorded voices "in connection with non-emergency calls it places to wrong or reassigned cellular telephone numbers."

The TCPA, enacted in 1991, prohibits calls to cell phones using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice without the prior express consent of the called party. Fines for such calls range from $500 and go up to $1,500 per violation. 

Mr. Cooper did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The plaintiff, who wants to certify the suit as a class action, is seeking to stop the mortgage lenders and servicers "violative behavior." Wilson "suffered an invasion of privacy, an intrusion into his life, and a private nuisance," the complaint said.

These types of calls may soon be reigned in by the Federal Communications Commission, which has set the ball in motion to make it easier for customers to opt out of automated calls.

Updates to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act aimed at simplifying customers' ability to opt out of robocalls and robotexts will take effect on April 11, 2025.

New rules should make customers' decision making on what robocalls or texts they want to receive more straightforward. Specifically, customers have the right to refuse contact even if they had previously agreed to it, and they can communicate their decision in any manner they prefer.

Other mortgage shops including Loandepot, Rocket Mortgage, Freedom Mortgage and Cardinal Financial have been accused of similar TCPA violations.

Those found guilty of violating the FCC's rule have faced hefty fines in the past.

Last year, Cardinal Financial agreed to dole out $7.2 million to settle a class-action lawsuit arising from alleged violations of the TCPA. Approximately 141,049 members were included as part of the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, in 2022, 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.