A mortgage loan business that was ordered in 2015 to stop deceptive advertising to military families was permanently banned from the business Monday and ordered to pay a $1 million civil money penalty (CMP) by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The bureau, in a release, said it permanently banned RMK Financial Corporation, which does business as Majestic Home Loans, from the mortgage lending industry by prohibiting RMK from engaging in any mortgage lending activities or receiving remuneration from mortgage lending.
The CFPB said it issued a 2015 order against RMK for sending advertisements to tens of thousands of military families – and other holders of mortgages guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) – that led the recipients to believe the company was affiliated with the United States government.
The 2015 consent order required RMK to end these practices and to pay a $250,000 CMP, the agency said then.
“Despite the 2015 order’s prohibition on these and other actions, the company engaged in a series of repeat offenses, including disseminating millions of mortgage advertisements to military families that deceptively used fake U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) seals, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) logo, and other language or design elements to falsely imply that RMK was affiliated with the government,” it said.
RMK, the bureau said, is a privately held corporation with its principal place of business in Ontario, Calif. It is a nonbank that is licensed as a mortgage broker or lender in at least 30 states and Puerto Rico and originates consumer mortgages, including mortgages guaranteed by the VA and mortgages insured by the FHA, the bureau said. But the CFPB noted that RMK is not affiliated with either the VA or FHA.
The bureau noted its previous warnings about VA home loan scams and said it found that RMK’s actions violated the 2015 order, the Consumer Financial Protection Act, the Mortgage Acts and Practices Advertising Rule, and the Truth in Lending Act.
The $1 million fine assessed Monday will be deposited into the CFPB’s victims relief fund, the agency said.