MetLife Home Loans to Pay $123.5 Million to Settle Allegations of Mortgage Lending Fraud

On February 25, 2015, MetLife Home Loans LLC agreed to pay the U.S. Government $123.5 million to settle claims alleging that the company originated and underwrote loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to unqualified borrowers.

John Walsh, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado, brought a False Claims Act action against Met Life Bank N.A., which merged into MetLife Home Loans LLC in June 2013. MetLife Home Loans is a wholly owned subsidiary of MetLife Inc., as was MetLife Bank before the merger.

The U.S. Government alleged that from September 2008 through March 2012, MetLife Bank knowingly submitted for FHA insurance numerous mortgage loans that did not meet Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) underwriting requirements. When FHA-insured loans default, the financial institution that originated the loans can submit insurance claims to the U.S. government. Therefore, when FHA-insured loans originated by MetLife Bank defaulted, U.S. taxpayers got stuck with the bill.

During the relevant period, MetLife Bank was as an FHA-approved Direct Endorsement Lender. Such lenders are authorized to originate, underwrite, and certify mortgages for FHA insurance. The FHA relies on Direct Endorsement Lenders to ensure that only loans that comply with HUD regulations are submitted for FHA insurance.

MetLife Bank’s internal findings showed that senior executives, including the CEO and the bank’s directors, had information showing that a substantial percentage of the loans were not eligible for FHA insurance. MetLife Bank’s records show that, between January 2009 and August 2010, between 25 percent and 60 percent of MetLife Bank’s FHA-insured loans had compliance deficiencies labeled “material/significant.” Despite these deficiencies, MetLife Bank moved many loans out of this category to the more favorable category of “moderate.” As one employee put it in an e-mail, “Why say significant when it feels so good to say moderate.”

Between January 2009 and December 2011, MetLife Bank self-reported only 321 FHA insured mortgages to HUD as materially violating HUD regulations, despite having internally identified 1,097 loans that it should have reported.

Although the government brought the FCA charges against MetLife Bank on its own, the False Claims Act allows private citizens (called “relators”) to file suits on behalf of the government for similar violations, such claims are known as a qui tam claims. On March 19, 2014, Keith Edwards, a former executive at JP Morgan, received a $69.3 million reward for blowing the whistle and disclosing allegations that JP Morgan violated the FCA by submitting toxic mortgages to the government for insurance.

In 2014, the U.S. government recovered nearly $6 billion through the False Claims Act.

Tagged: False Claims Act (FCA), Fraud Types, Mortgage Fraud, Whistleblower Laws (Federal)