Borrowers Who Got Their Mortgage Through
ZillowAdvertising or Zillow.com
If you got a loan with a loan company, including Sebonic and eRates, after seeing an ad on Zillow.com or because you were sent to a lender by a Zillow real estate agent, you may be part of the class action. Even if you just got a loan through Zillow’s website, you may also be part of the class action. There is an investigation into mortgage lending laws that Zillow may have violated.
If you believe one of these things happened to you, we would like to hear from you. Please contact us at 424-245-5505 or fill out the form on this page.
Zillow features ads for “preferred lenders” on several different places on an agent’s Zillow web page. The ads appear on the agent’s featured listings, on the agent’s profile, on the agent’s Premier Agent Website, and on any e-mail campaigns the agent sends to clients from Zillow. If you got a mortgage from an ad you saw on Zillow, please contact us.
Zillow has allegedly encouraged real estate agents to select a preferred lender. Then the lenders are featured next to the agent on such places as the agent’s Premier Agent website. The lender is also featured on Zillow’s websites and mobile apps.
Zillow ads say “My Preferred Lender” to get customers to sign up with the agent’s lender. This potentially creates a problem that is a violation of law. Zillow even has an instructional video showing how an agent’s preferred lender is a loan originator with a pre-existing relationship with the agent. But one of the cautions of RESPA Section 8 is that mortgage companies and agents who must follow RESPA are not to give or receive things of value in exchange for a referral on a federal loan. Zillow allegedly tries to say that this is just a co-marketing plan and NOT a referral relationship. But consumers who are knowledgeable should not be influenced by this. If you believe your agent referred you to a lender on Zillow, we would like to hear from you. Please contact us.
Zillow may even be encouraging real estate agents to select a lender who is pushed to the buyer/customer. The Zillow website says, “Lenders get featured next to the agent on the agent’s Premier Agent website and on Zillow’s websites and mobile apps, exposing them to millions of potential clients across the country and down the street.”
The Zillow ad for mortgages and lenders that buyers sometimes see on the website says “My Preferred Lender.” A lender can be a loan originator, a company selling loans as a broker, a bank, a non-bank lender, or a mortgage broker. But a mortgage broker is not necessarily a lender. A better term for the ad might be “Preferred Loan Originator.”
Please contact one of our experienced class action attorneys to evaluate your case for FREE. Fill out the contact form on this page or call 424-245-5505.
