FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
December 19, 2007
Contact: OFIS (toll-free) 1-877-999-6442 
Media/Press calls:  Kathy Fagan - 517-335-1700

Restitution Checks in the Mail for Michigan Ameriquest Mortgage Company Customers

Office of Financial and Insurance Services (OFIS) Acting Commissioner Ken Ross announced that restitution checks have been mailed to 18,481 Michigan mortgage loan borrowers as part of a multi-state settlement with Ameriquest Mortgage Company and its related companies.

The restitution is part of a $295 million national settlement of a predatory lending lawsuit against the company. The Michigan borrowers are among over 300,000 nationwide who will receive a share of the settlement amount. Total restitution to Michigan residents under the settlement amounts to $14,575,554.

“We caught Ameriquest ripping off thousands of Michigan consumers,” said Acting Commissioner Ross. “This settlement represents a big win for Michigan consumers.”

Consumers who opted to receive the restitution payments relinquished their right to file lawsuits against Ameriquest related to the loans covered by the settlement. Ross noted, however, that those who participate in the settlement have not given up any claim they may otherwise raise if their home goes into foreclosure.

The settlement, between Ameriquest Mortgage Company and the attorneys general and banking regulators of 49 states and the District of Columbia, resolved allegations that Ameriquest and its affiliates, among other things, misrepresented and did not adequately disclose the terms of home loans, such as whether a loan carried a fixed or an adjustable rate; charged excessive loan origination fees and prepayment penalties; refinanced borrowers into improper or inappropriate loans; and improperly inflated appraisals used to qualify borrowers for loans.  

Under the settlement, Ameriquest, once the nation’s largest sub-prime lender, agreed to pay $295 million in restitution to consumers and to make sweeping reforms of practices that the states alleged amounted to predatory lending.

“We negotiated a strong settlement and are pleased to see money flowing back to Michigan borrowers who were harmed by the company's lending practices,” said Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox. “I will not tolerate predatory lending practices in Michigan.”

Consumers can also obtain detailed information about the settlement and their eligibility for restitution by going to the Settlement Administrator’s web site: www.ameriquestmultistatesettlement.com.  Consumers also may contact the Settlement Administrator at 800‑420‑5875.  (Hearing-impaired persons may call 866‑494‑8274.)

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