U.S homeowners purchasing residential property within “Special Flood Hazard Areas” as designated by the Federal government may have been excessively charged by lenders for mandatory flood insurance. In pending lawsuits, mortgage lenders including Citibank, Bank of America and Wells Fargo are alleged to have procured force placed flood insurance for borrowers in excess of amounts mandated by Federal Law. These costs have been directly passed along to consumers, along with lucrative financial benefits to lenders.
In many cases, the cost of the flood insurance policy has either been deducted from the borrower’s home equity account, or has simply been added to the mortgage balance. Thus borrowers are left with no option but to bear the cost for the excessive insurance.
Bloomberg has estimated that lender profits on force placed insurance in 2010 exceeded $5.5 billion. Force placed insurance has become so lucrative for lenders that many banks have scrambled to form their own insurance companies to optimally capitalize on this practice.
If you believe you have purchased property in a “Special Flood Hazard Area” and believe that your mortgage lender secured force placed flood insurance on your property, you are urged to contact Alan Ripka & Associates or complete and submit the confidential inquiry form to the right of this page.
Important Notice
Persons seeking to preserve any potential legal claims should contact an attorney promptly, since all states have mandatory time periods in which lawsuits must be filed with the courts; otherwise, they may be forever barred.
About Our Firm
Alan Ripka & Associates represents individuals, governmental entities, small businesses and institutional shareholders in product liability, tort, negligence, consumer, construction defect, investment fraud, securities, insider trading, antitrust, environmental, whistle blower, aviation and employment cases. In recognition of their outstanding abilities and commitment to the legal profession over the years, the firm and its members have served as Court-appointed Plaintiffs’ Counsel in dozens of federal and state cases throughout the United States.