Editor’s Note: The Mortgage Mix is RISMedia’s biweekly highlight reel of need-to-know mortgage-industry happenings. Watch for it every other Friday afternoon.
– The CFPB’s motion to vacate a settlement in a redlining case against Townstone Financial was denied by a Chicago federal judge, as reported by Reuters. The decision came after Trump administration officials said they wanted “redress” for Townstone as it had been “baselessly persecuted without evidence.” Judge Franklin Valderrama did not agree with this sentiment, saying that reversing the CFPB’s actions would be “an act of legal hara-kiri that would make a samurai blush.”
The Trump administration appears to be targeting more redlining cases in order to overturn previous orders or decisions, as reported by National Mortgage News. Judges have so far granted DOJ requests to terminate consent orders in redlining cases involving Ameris Bank, Patriot Bank, Cadence Bank, Trustmark National Bank and Trident Mortgage.
– The Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act (bill S. 1467) officially passed the Senate on June 12, advancing the path on stopping mortgage “trigger” leads, as reported by National Mortgage Professional. The bill was brought to the Senate by senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN), and is an amendment of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. It aims to stop the trigger of sales of consumer information to third parties when they apply for a mortgage. The bill has now passed to the House for another vote.
– Lower and Residential Wholesale Mortgage (RWM) have seemingly reached a settlement in their poaching lawsuit, as reported by National Mortgage News. Lower had filed the lawsuit against RWM back in March, alleging that the latter had poached 17 employees that Lower had previously acquired in its 2024 acquisition of Thrive Mortgage. Two of these employees are still with RWM, which was found out through the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System. Details of the terms of the settlement have yet to be released.
– CrossCountry Mortgage has been ordered by a court to pay $2.1 million in damages in an age bias lawsuit against it, as reported by Mortgage Professional America. The company was sued by a former senior employee, Cheryl Shephard, who alleged that she was paid less than younger employees and later fired due to her age. The company had appealed the jury verdict in the case, but the Eighth Appellate District Court of Appeals held the verdict and ordered CrossCountry to pay out the awarded damages. The damages were originally only requested at $544,997, but in the final judgment included $419,052 in attorneys’ fees, $41,538 in litigation expenses and $30,478 in prejudgment interest.
– Despite a slower mortgage market due to high rates, mortgage scams are up 407% from 2022, according to a new study from BackOffice Pro. So far in 2025 the data shows that there have been 70.8 reports of scams a month, which is a jump compared to the 48 a month seen in 2024 and the 3.8 to 9.7 seen monthly from 2015-2020. Florida has the highest reported number of scams, and Georgia has the highest total and average losses.
