Six North Carolina borrowers have filed separate lawsuits against CrossCountry Mortgage and a local real estate brokerage, alleging they ran a kickback scheme disguised as a co‑marketing deal.

The complaints accuse the national lender of paying Raleigh Realty $15,000 per month in 2021 and 2022 in exchange for exclusive client referrals. Nearly identical filings also feature screenshots of messages purportedly sent by the brokerage’s president, instructing agents to stop sending clients to competing mortgage lenders.

Filed in June and July by Maginnis Howard, the suits allege CrossCountry EVP Charles Shackelford, though not named as a defendant, arranged the payments and fast‑tracked executive approval of the co‑marketing deal.

The complaints say the lender’s marketing managers warned executives that Shackelford fast-tracked the contract in violation of company policy and RESPA.

Shackelford allegedly told Ryan Fitzgerald, president of Raleigh Realty, that he expected about $500 per referral.

Fitzgerald, though not a defendant, reprimanded agents who failed to steer clients to CrossCountry, writing in one message, “This is taking money out of my pockets.”

When referrals slowed in May 2022, Shackelford allegedly threatened to halt the payments, and CrossCountry later ended the arrangement.

The suits cite Shackelford’s prior legal trouble, noting a 2018 trade secrets and poaching case against him was settled privately.

Plaintiffs seek unspecified damages under RESPA and North Carolina’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, saying they could have received lower mortgage rates and fees without the alleged steering. One borrower claims to have received a 30-year ARM at 6.75% interest; they claim that they could have qualified for ~6.625% or lower with another lender.

CrossCountry, which has faced several recent lawsuits, said it does not comment on pending legal matters.

“We believe the alleged kickbacks/exclusive referral arrangement deprived our clients of the ability to shop around for mortgage rates, causing them to lose substantial amounts of money over the life of their loan. We look forward to proving our cases,” said Edward Maginnis.

Fitzgerald did not respond to HousingWire’s request for comment.

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