The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took action against Amerisave Mortgage and ordered it to pay $19.3 million for deceiving tens of thousands of mortgage customers with a bait-and-switch loan scheme, Housingwire.com reported yesterday. The charges were against Amerisave, its affiliate, Novo Appraisal Management Company, and the owner of both companies, Patrick Markert. According to the bureau, the mortgage firm lured consumers by advertising misleading interest rates, locked them in with costly up-front fees, failed to honor its advertised rates and then illegally overcharged them for affiliated “third-party” services.
