• June 27, 2013

Mortgage Investors Corporation, one of the nation's leading refinancers of veterans’ home loans, will pay a $7.5 million civil penalty -- the largest fine the FTC has ever collected for allegedly violating Do Not Call provisions of the agency's Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR).

This case also represents the first action brought by the FTC to enforce the Mortgage Acts and Practices -- Advertising Rule (MAP Rule), which allows the FTC to collect civil penalties for deceptive mortgage ads.

According to the FTC's complaint, Mortgage Investors Corporation called consumers on the Federal Trade Commission’s National Do Not Call Registry, failed to remove consumers from its company call list upon demand, and misstated the terms of available loan products during telemarketing calls.

The settlement, announced on the 10-year anniversary of the Registry, marks the 105th enforcement action since staff began enforcing the Do Not Call provisions of the TSR in 2004. Consumers can opt-out of receiving telemarketing calls by registering their telephone numbers at DoNotCall.gov.

The FTC also announced the first settlements resulting from its 2012 joint law enforcement sweep against companies that made millions of illegal pre-recorded calls from “Cardholder Services,” designed to entice consumers to make upfront payments to lower their credit card interest rates.