Charmaine Putka started calling her loan servicer, Texas-based American Home Mortgage Servicing about a year ago. That's when her husband's multiple sclerosis worsened and he had to quit his job. She was hoping the loan servicer would cut her 9.4% interest rate so they could keep their Broadview Heights house. Putka says her calls got her nowhere.
Charmaine Putka: They didn't help at all. They said if I can't make the payments to just stop. And then they could foreclose.
Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray's suit – filed in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court - alleges that American Home Mortgage Servicing violated the state's Consumer Sales Practices Act by failing to offer timely or affordable help to borrowers in trouble. When the company did offer help, the suit alleges, it charged excessive fees. This is the state Attorney General's second such suit against a loan servicer. Cordray says there could be more.
Richard Cordray: If loan servicers are not willing to modify loans on reasonable terms and keep people in their homes, we will pursue them through all legal means.
In response, American Home Mortgage Servicing on Thursday filed suit against the state Attorney General's office – but in Franklin County. It says the state's allegations are "entirely without merit” and is asking the Court of Common Pleas to find its practices compliant with Ohio law.
The company says it services over 17,000 loans across Ohio and has modified nearly 2500.