Beazer Mortgage Corporation (BZH), a subsidiary of Beazer Homes USA, will delve out a total of $2.5m to more than 1,000 N.C. borrowers due to alleged origination violations in 2007. The Atlanta-based homebuilder entered into a settlement agreement with the North Carolina Office of the Commissioner of Banks (NCCOB) today, but without admitting to the alleged violations, according to the company’s statement. NCCOB claims Beazer Homes and Beazer Mortgage, which the homebuilder closed in February 2008, wrongly steered borrowers into their own mortgage operations, effectively earning kickbacks — an allegation long brought against builders. “We believe that many homebuyers were sold loans from Beazer Mortgage that violated North Carolina law,” Mark Pearce, N.C. deputy commissioner of banks, told the Charlotte Observer. Beazer allegedly failed to comply with North Carolina’s requirement that discount points be bona fide and paid for the purpose of reducing a borrower’s interest rate. Through this settlement, however, the homebuilder must provide refunds of these discount points to victimized homeowners. The company, once a major builder in the Charlotte area, left the market last year at the time it ceased mortgage operations, turning over its lending license to the state. Beazer said this month it expects to spend more than $80m to settle a lawsuit and a federal criminal investigation, according to the Observer. The firm said today the $2.5m in restitution is included in the approximately $13m it set aside at first quarter’s end for estimated payments related to governmental investigations. As part of the settlement, the banking commission said it agreed to take no further investigative or enforcement action against Beazer. Write to Kelly Curran.
IPO / M&A
1 minute read
Beazer Pays $2.5 Million in Mortgage Settlement
May 19, 2009, 3:57pm by Kelly Curran
Kelly Curran was one of HousingWire's first reporters, providing coverage of the U.S. financial crisis until mid-2009. She currently works outside of journalism.see full bio
Most Popular Articles
Latest Articles
Test
The story for the housing market over the past three years has been, “Home sales are down, home prices are up.” Because inventory was so restricted after the pandemic, prices pushed higher even as demand weakened. That story may finally be inverting as unsold inventory of homes is now great enough that home prices are […]
-
Freddie Mac’s Donna Spencer on their Servicing Excellence initiative
-
Lower mortgage rates attracting more homebuyers
-
Rocket Pro TPO raises conforming loan limit to $802,650 ahead of FHFA’s decision
-
Show up, don’t show off: Laura O’Connor is redefining success in real estate
-
Between the lines: Understanding the nuances of the NAR settlement
- Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
- Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
- Click to share on SMS (Opens in new window) SMS
- Click to copy link (Opens in new window) Link Copy
Kelly Curran was one of HousingWire's first reporters, providing coverage of the U.S. financial crisis until mid-2009. She currently works outside of journalism.see full bio