Pennsylvania mortgage company pays $20,000 for violating Do-Not-Call lawMortgagePress.comDo-Not-Call,FTC,Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Attorney General Jerry Pappert announced that
Sunset Mortgage Company LP must pay $20,000 in fines and fees after
an investigation confirmed that it failed to purchase the "no-call"
list, and falsely told Pennsylvanians on the statewide registry
that it was exempt from the Do-Not-Call law.
Pappert's Bureau of Consumer Protection has entered into a
consent agreement with Sunset Mortgage Company LP, located at 1408
West Baltimore Pike, Franklin Center in Delaware County, Pa. The
company has offices in Wilmington, Del. and Blair, Mercer and York
counties in Pennsylvania. The consent agreement finalizes a lawsuit
that was filed by the Bureau in February, accusing Sunset of
violating the state's Consumer Protection Law and Telemarketer
Registration Act.
The lawsuit was filed following an investigation into complaints
from consumers located in Beaver, Blair, Cambria, Crawford,
Delaware, Lancaster, Perry, Montgomery, Washington and York
counties. The consumers were all properly registered on the state's
"no-call" list when they received calls made on behalf of the
defendant.
Pennsylvania's Do-Not-Call law took effect for telemarketers on
Nov. 1, 2002. The suit accused the defendant of failing to purchase
the Do-Not-Call list before engaging in telemarketing activities
from January 2003 through July 2003.
According to the suit, the defendant's telemarketers contacted
consumers at home in an attempt to sell the company's mortgage
refinancing services. During the course of these calls, consumers
complained that they were on the state's "no-call" list and should
not be solicited. The callers claimed that they were exempt from
the state law and were permitted to contact consumers. Consumers
also complained that the callers misrepresented who they were and
on whose behalf they were calling.
Under the terms of the consent agreement, the defendant is:
†Permanently enjoined from violating the Consumer
Protection Law and Telemarketer Registration Act;
†Barred from conducting telemarketing campaigns in the
Commonwealth without purchasing Pennsylvania's "no-call"
list;
†Required to pay $19,000 in civil penalties; and
†Required to pay $1,000 in the Commonwealth's investigation
costs.
Under the Telemarketer Registration Act, consumers who filed
formal complaints with Pappert's Office will share 10 percent of
the civil penalty obtained. In this case, the 19 consumers will
receive a maximum payment of $100 each.
Blair County President Judge Thomas G. Peoples Jr. entered an
order approving the consent agreement. The case was handled by
Senior Deputy Attorney General E. Barry Creany of Pappert's Bureau
of Consumer Protection Office in Ebensburg.
For more information, visit www.attorneygeneral.gov.
