LREAB Hit With an Antitrust Lawsuit

iMortgage, the Dollar Bidding Company, Sues LREAB for Antitrust Violation

…everyone knows that iMortgage / Single Source is the “dollar bidding” company. They send out appraisal requests at $1.00 and ask everyone to provide their fee…

The Louisiana Real Estate Appraiser Board has been hit with another legal battle.

This time, iMortgage, operating under the name Single Source has filed suit against the Louisiana Real Estate Appraisal Board claiming a violation of antitrust laws. This suit mirrors that of the FTC, which is currently paused by the Fifth Circuit Court. In the suit, iMortgage claims rules created by the Louisiana Real Estate Board, which consists of market participants, set appraisal fees artificially high. From the article published in Bloomberg Law by Mike Leonard on December 10,2019, (below) iMortgage cites and attaches the FTC case to their complaint.

Those who have been following this case are aware that iMortgage was fined $10,000 by the Louisiana Real Estate Appraiser Board on December 8, 2015 for not paying customary and reasonable fees. Working RE did an excellent job of reporting that case. Word on the street is that iMortgage is a key component to the FTC case. Seems a bit ironic that iMortgage files their own suit exactly 4 years after they were found guilty of violating Louisiana Real Estate Appraiser Board rules. Maybe they got tired of waiting for the FTC?

Now everyone knows that iMortgage / Single Source is the “dollar bidding” company. They send out appraisal requests at $1.00 and ask everyone to provide their fee. We don’t need to tell you who gets those orders, because we all know the answer.

VaCAP will never tell anyone who to work with, but we do ask you stop and think of who you want to work with. Is it a company that is looking for the least expensive appraiser with the fastest turn time, or is it the company that pays a fair fee and treats you with respect? Is it a company that thinks they don’t have to abide by the rules and laws of each state or is it a company that respects the law?

There are numerous good companies to work for, don’t sell yourself short. Take ownership of your business and demand the fees you are worth. No one can do that for you!
 

VaCAP Board
VaCAP Board

VaCAP Board

Coalition of individual appraisers working together to unite, promote and protect the collective interests of all appraisal professionals in Virginia; to promote needed changes in laws, rules, regulations, policies and standards affecting all appraisers in Virginia; to observe and report the actions of regulatory, legislative, oversight, and standards-setting entities of the Commonwealth.

You may also like...

7 Responses

  1. Avatar Jason says:

    iMortgage / Single Source is one of the worst AMCs out there. This is unreal!

    7
  2. Avatar JC says:

    Single source is a joke. Someone needs to sue their a$$ for their $1 bid requests!!

    6
  3. Avatar Cotton says:

    Dodd frank bill specifically states the appraiser has to be paid reasonable and customary fees. The POS company single source has violated this in every state and should be sued and fined by each state. No AMC pays reasonable and customary fees. Since we were forced to loose all of our business contacts and scammed into taking work from amcs the least the government should do is enforce reasonable and customary fees. AMCs should be audited at least 1 time per quarter. If most appraisers had enough sense to boycott amc work the entire profession would improve.

    8
    • Baggins Baggins says:

      Yo Cotton, what is your fee and turn time! The governments proper constitutional function is to protect liberties, not to protect paychecks. Be careful what you wish for.

      Escaping the amc machine is as easy as marketing directly to lenders and informing them you are available, as long as there is no amc involved. Cheers.

      5
  4. Baggins Baggins says:

    The real issue is the amc not returning cost savings to consumer. It’s one thing to get a fair price for fair service, save a buck. It’s quite another to drive down product quality and pocket the difference, while charging consumers a premium full fee while paying respective vendors sharply reduced amounts compared to normal market rates under normal fairly competitive conditions. It’s the ethical ‘thing of value’ argument where an appraiser should not provide a thing of value in order to be the preferred assignee. Because when an appraiser discounts and cost savings are not returned to borrowing consumers, the appraiser has provided a thing of value to be the preferred selectee, contrary to FDIC appraiser selection and assignment guidelines. Also tied into the merits of the ‘cost plus’ argument which states if the amc’s services are worth while, it should be billed separately. The anti trust of the amc industry has been focused on defrauding both appraisers and home owners for 10 years straight, no relief in sight. The original spirit and intended approach of the DF RegZ Appraiser Independence rule on C&R fees was intended to stop this emerging amc abuse of appraisers and consumers through improperly co mingled billing. To date, amc’s have lifted what is likely billions of dollars out of the appraisal industry which otherwise would have been billed to appraisers, to the detriment of many appraisers and many consumers.

    “Please advise when the fictitious cfpb safe harbor interpretations on C&R will be rescinded.”

    Go through your old email and refer to the 10/19/2010 email Dave Biggers sent to all Alamode appraisers, titled: / JUST IN: “Customary and reasonable” fee regulations. /

    https://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/federal/2010/10NoticeDec10.pdf Many good points in there, see pg 9.
    https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2010/10/28/2010-26671/truth-in-lending#h-59
    https://www.consumerfinance.gov/policy-compliance/rulemaking/regulations/1026/42/#f-1

    If you work with any of them, you support the business model everywhere and every possible negative consequence that comes with it. The state can not afford to, and is not going to be able to withstand the magnitude and power of amc corporations and their advocacy groups. The conflict of interest is obvious.

    5
  5. Retired Appraiser Retired Appraiser says:

    This is nearly as stupid (if not more so) than the bank robber who sued for getting shot during his attempted escape.

    See KIRO-TV

    2
    • Avatar don says:

      A farmer was forced into partnership with the thief he shot with a trap on the door. The farmer had to sell the farm and include the thief in the pay out.

      The only solutions can come from the lenders being responsible for the losses. However that will result in a loss in HOMEOWNERSHIP. In the meantime we appraisers, lenders, mortgage brokers, and banks are set upon each other as a diversion. What is the greatest good???

      0

Leave a Reply

We welcome critical posts & opposing points of view. We value robust & civil discourse. You may openly disagree, but state your case in an atmosphere of mutual respect, in which everyone has a right to a particular view about the topic of conversation. Please keep remarks about the topic at hand, & PLEASE avoid personal attacks. If the poster gets you upset, it is the Internet, you can walk away from it.

Personal attacks harm the collegial atmosphere we encourage on AppraisersBlogs.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

xml sitemap

LREAB Hit With an Antitrust Lawsuit

by VaCAP Board time to read: 2 min
blank
blank
7
blank