STUART, FL – The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) imposed a $1,138,551 judgment against Executive Financial Home Loan Corp and company officers Michael Nikravesh and Ron Fattal for violating two key Do Not Call (DNC) provisions of the Telemarketing Sales Rule.
The FTC says officers of Executive Financial called consumers who are listed on the National DNC Registry and did not have a Subscription Account Number (SAN) which requires an annual fee to access the DNC Registry.
Executive Financial maintains they bought lists of leads and that the company that sold them leads told Executive Financial the leads were “scrubbed”. A scrubbed list is one that is checked against the DNC registry and has had all telephone numbers that are on the DNC Registry removed no more than thirty days before calls are placed.
Executive Financial’s defense did not hold up, as the DNC provisions are very clear within the Telemarketing Sales Rule. The FTC says that ultimately a mortgage company cannot hide behind the claims of a service provider. They are legally obligated to comply with the law. If a mortgage company buys a lead list from a provider who claims it is scrubbed, the mortgage company is required to scrub it themselves as well. Failure to do so could result in staggering fines.
DNC compliance starts with getting a SAN, but there are several more steps a mortgage company should take to protect themselves. “For a company to fully protect themselves, they must take 8 definitive steps,” says Beverly Hills compliance attorney Barry Kaye. “Getting your SAN is just the first step. You should have compliance training and education available for employees, a centralized and real-time updated internal DNC list and keep call logs. Dialing mix ups happen and the burden of proof is on mortgage companies to make show they are in compliance with the law.”
