Milberg Class Action Takes On Nationstar Unauthorized Mortgage Debits

More than 14,000 North Carolinians recently learned that thousands of dollars in unauthorized transfers had been withdrawn from their banking account by mortgage servicing company Nationstar. Now, Nationstar will have to answer for their actions and possibly compensate affected customers thanks to a Milberg class action lawsuit.

Nationstar, which rebranded as “Mr. Cooper” last year, does not deny that an error caused hundreds of thousands of improper debit requests to be submitted to borrowers nationwide. According to a company press release, the blame belongs to its third-party electronic payment vendor, ACI Worldwide.

Some Nationstar customers were left with insufficient money in their accounts to pay bills or even purchase food due to the unauthorized withdrawals.

Nationstar said that it moved quickly to reverse the incorrect drafts and refund customers for nonsufficient fund fees that resulted from the error. But for many of Nationstar’s customers, the damage was already done. With thousands of dollars taken from their accounts, they were left overdrawn, anxious, and frustrated. Some did not have money to pay their bills or even purchase food while the mistake was ongoing. They were also deprived of their consumer rights.

“Nationstar violated borrowers’ substantive rights to be free from unlawful debt collection, violated borrowers’ rights to be able to make informed decisions regarding their finances, caused their customers to be charged overdraft fees, and caused their borrowers to have limited purchase power while accounts were overdrawn,” states Milberg’s complaint, filed on April 30 in United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.

The lawsuit accuses Nationstar of violating the national Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the North Carolina Debt Collections Act, and the North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act. It seeks treble (triple) damages, attorneys’ fees, and punitive damages.

Who Is Eligible To Participate in the Class Action?

Milberg’s class action lawsuit against Nationstar has two distinct classes. If you meet the following criteria, you may be automatically eligible to participate in any lawsuit settlements:

• North Carolina Class: All consumers in the State of North Carolina whose mortgage loans were serviced by Nationstar and who had funds in excess of a single monthly payment withdrawn from their account during the period from April 30, 2017 through April 30, 2021.
• FDCPA Subclass: All consumers throughout the State of North Carolina whose mortgage loans were serviced by Nationstar, and whose mortgage servicing was transferred to Nationstar while in a state of default, who had funds in excess of a single monthly payment withdrawn from their account during the period from April 30, 2020 through April 30, 2021.

Before the Nationstar class action lawsuit can proceed, it must first be certified. You can learn more about the certification process and other aspects of class actions on our class action lawsuits page.

Did Your Bank Charge You Improper Fees? We Want to Hear From You.

Milberg is always interested in hearing from consumers whose bank or credit union engaged in misconduct, such as improperly withdrawing account funds or using deceptive practices to charge overdraft fees. You can learn more about the types of consumer protection cases we handle here and you can contact us here.