Quicken Loans won’t back down in its battle against the U.S. Department of Justice, standing firm on the idea that it is in the business for the consumer.
The top FHA lender does have consumers on its side. J.D. Power has named Quicken Loans the highest in customer satisfaction for primary mortgage origination for six straight years — 2010 through 2015, and also ranked the company the highest in the nation for client satisfaction among mortgage servicers in 2014 and 2015.
In the latest update on its fight with the government, in an interview with CNBC, Quicken Loans CEO Bill Emerson commented on a recent quote from Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro.
From the CNBC piece by Matthew Belvedere:
Last week, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro told "Squawk Box" he would not comment on ongoing litigation, calling it "looking backward into the past."
Castro said: "The opportunity we have in front of us, particularly at FHA and HUD, is to insure that we work with lenders and borrowers to create good business certainty, and also to create great opportunity for hardworking middle-class families out there who are responsible and who can get a home loan and pay on that responsibly."
Responding to Castro, Emerson accused the government of trying to have to both ways. "The [Obama] administration says, 'let's lend to more people,' on the other hand, 'let's go after lenders and hold them accountable and make them pay tons of money.'"
Here’s the full interview:
As a recap, in April 2015, Quicken sued the DOJ and HUD after they demanded it to make public admissions that were blatantly false, as well as pay an inexplicable penalty or face legal action. Quicken sued, stating that it was left with no alternative but to sue due to the DOJ’s demands.
The government was quick to react and countersued Quicken Loans six days later. In the United States government’s lawsuit, it accused Quicken Loans of improperly originating and underwriting loans that were insured by the FHA.
After a federal judge tossed Quicken's lawsuit against the DOJ and HUD in January, the lender said it plans to step up efforts to fight the government.
