74
WASHINGTON » A mortgage broker accused of trying to dupe veterans and active military has been fined $7.5 million by the Federal Trade Commission.
The commission says Mortgage Investors Corporation, a leading refinancer of veterans’ home loans, agreed to the civil penalty after being accused of placing more than 5 million telemarketing calls to numbers on the national Do Not Call registry.
The FTC says telemarketers for the Florida-based company also tried to mislead service members to believe that low interest, fixed-rate mortgages were available at no cost. They allegedly quoted rates that they implied would last the duration of the loan when the company really only offered adjustable rate mortgages.
The FTC announced the penalty on the 10-year anniversary of the registry, which bars telemarketers from calling numbers on the list.
