Quicken Loans Stuck with $10 Million Penalty Over Appraisals

A mortgage financing practice common before 2009 was unconscionable under West Virginia law, a divided Fourth Circuit said Wednesday, affirming a ruling that allowed several homeowners to represent a class of borrowers and assessed nearly $10 million in statutory penalties against Quicken Loans Inc.

Quicken Loans and appraisal manager Amrock Inc., formerly known as Title Source Inc., allegedly passed along borrowers’ own estimates of the value of their homes to appraisers and used pressure tactics to get the appraisers to raise the appraisal value if it came in lower than desired, according to the appeals court. The court also affirmed ...