Freedom Mortgage Lawsuit: What Is Open, What Is Closed, and Who Gets Paid
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If you are a Freedom Mortgage borrower, there is no open consumer settlement and no claim form as of October 6, 2026. The case in the news is an employee case: a $750,000 settlement with remote call center workers over unpaid log-in time, awaiting final approval in New Jersey federal court. The older borrower settlements — robocalls and property-inspection fees — closed years ago.
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Reviewed by Leonard Goldberg, Editor · Last updated
What the Freedom Mortgage Lawsuits Allege
Freedom Mortgage is a nonbank lender and loan servicer headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, and was the third largest U.S. mortgage lender by origination volume in 2020, per the CFPB. Several unrelated cases carry its name.
Call center overtime (active, settling). The lawsuit alleges that remote customer service agents had to log into several software programs before clocking in, which often took 7 to 10 minutes, and that non-discretionary bonuses were left out of their overtime rate. Freedom denied the accusations in the settlement.
Two individual homeowner suits filed in 2026. One alleges Freedom treated PACE lien payments and force-placed insurance as escrow advances owed by the borrowers. The other, under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, alleges a mortgage tradeline stayed marked “derogatory” after a Chapter 13 discharge. Neither is a class action, and no court has ruled on either.
Regulators. The CFPB has acted against Freedom three times over mortgage data reporting and referral kickbacks; the Justice Department settled FHA underwriting claims in 2016.
Case Details
Overtime case: Christensen v. Freedom Mortgage Corporation, No. 1:25-cv-01827, U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, before Judge Christine P. O’Hearn, filed March 12, 2025.
Homeowner cases: Cruz et al. v. Freedom Mortgage Corporation et al., No. 1:26-cv-20851, Southern District of Florida, filed February 9, 2026; and a Fair Credit Reporting Act suit filed April 3, 2026 in the District of New Jersey that also names Equifax, Experian and Trans Union.
CFPB: a 2019 consent order over misreported mortgage data for 2014 to 2017 ($1.75 million penalty); an August 2023 order over illegal referral kickbacks ($1.75 million); and a lawsuit filed October 10, 2023 in the Southern District of Florida, No. 9:23-cv-81373, which ended in a stipulated final judgment on June 26, 2024 with a $3.95 million civil penalty. The CFPB alleged errors in over 174,000 data entries affecting nearly 20 percent of Freedom’s 2020 applications.
Justice Department: on April 15, 2016 Freedom agreed to pay $113 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations over FHA loans certified between 2006 and 2011; Freedom said it settled "without any admission of liability"; according to the DOJ, as reported by HousingWire, the settlement also included an admission that it certified FHA loans between 2006 and 2011 that did not meet HUD underwriting requirements.
New Jersey: on July 11, 2023 the Attorney General announced a $502,000 settlement over telemarketing and servicing practices.
Status: One Employee Settlement Pending, No Borrower Claim Form
Christensen (call center overtime): preliminary approval was granted in spring 2026, and a final approval hearing was scheduled for September 2026. On September 28, 2026 all parties filed a letter about the proposed settlement. We could not confirm that final approval has been granted, so no payment date is known.
Cruz and the credit-reporting suit: pending individual cases with no ruling on the merits. Nothing to join.
CFPB lawsuit: closed by final judgment on June 26, 2024. The penalty goes to the government, not to borrowers.
Borrower class settlements: the robocall and inspection-fee settlements are closed. There is no open Freedom Mortgage settlement for borrowers and no claim form.
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Who Is Covered by Which Case
Call center employees: the overtime settlement covers staff who worked at least 38 hours per week in a Freedom call center role between March 2022 and March 4, 2026. Per case filings, that is over 700 people in a New Jersey class, more than 100 in an Oregon class and at least 70 in a Pennsylvania class — over 900 in total. Your notice from the settlement administrator is the document that counts.
Borrowers: nothing is open. If you were charged property-inspection fees or received robocalls years ago, those settlements had claim deadlines of December 16, 2021 and June 23, 2020, and both have passed.
Homeowners with a servicing dispute today: the 2026 suits are individual cases. A servicing error, an escrow overcharge or a credit-reporting mistake is something you raise yourself — in writing with Freedom, through a credit-bureau dispute, or with a CFPB complaint.
What Each Case Pays
Closed borrower settlements: the $9.5 million robocall settlement covered about 1.5 million people, and checks of up to $75.40 went out from December 10, 2020. The $2.7 million inspection-fee settlement refunded 35% of the first inspection fee and 50% of later ones, with the top payout estimated at around $625.
Regulator penalties (CFPB, Justice Department, New Jersey) were paid to the government. They did not create a claim form for individual borrowers.
How cases like this one end
Our copy of the federal courts’ own case database covers 74,703 fair labor standards act casesclosed in U.S. federal district courts between 2015 and 2025, 19.2% of them filed as class actions:
- 53.5% ended in a settlement recorded by the court. Another 14.6% were dismissed voluntarily, which often follows a private settlement — so the real settlement share sits between 53.5% and 68.1%.
- 3.9% were decided on a motion before any trial.
- 1 in 115 reached a trial (0.9%), after a median of 25.7 months.
- Median time from filing to the end of the case: 8.6 months.
- Only 4,617 of them (6.2%) record a money award at all; the median of those is $73,000.
These are base rates for this type of case (federal fair labor standards act cases) — not a prediction about this lawsuit, and not legal advice. Source: Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (civil), analysed by Settlement Insight. Cases heard in state courts are not included.
Freedom Mortgage Lawsuit Timeline
- 1
April 15, 2016 — $113 Million FHA Settlement
The Justice Department announces that Freedom will pay $113 million over FHA loans certified between 2006 and 2011. Freedom says it settled without admitting liability; per the DOJ, it admitted certifying FHA loans between 2006 and 2011 that did not meet HUD underwriting requirements.
- 2
2019–2021 — Borrower Class Settlements
The CFPB fines Freedom $1.75 million over misreported mortgage data. The $9.5 million robocall settlement gets final approval on September 15, 2020. Claims for the $2.7 million inspection-fee settlement close December 16, 2021.
- 3
2023 — Kickback Order, CFPB Lawsuit, New Jersey Deal
New Jersey announces a $502,000 settlement on July 11, 2023. The CFPB fines Freedom $1.75 million over kickbacks in August and sues it on October 10, 2023 over 2020 mortgage data.
- 4
June 26, 2024 — CFPB Case Ends
The court enters a stipulated final judgment requiring a $3.95 million civil penalty and regular audits of Freedom’s mortgage data.
- 5
March 12, 2025 — Call Center Overtime Suit Filed
Christensen v. Freedom Mortgage Corporation is filed in New Jersey federal court. It alleges unpaid pre-shift log-in time and miscalculated overtime rates.
- 6
2026 — Settlement Pending, New Homeowner Suits
A $750,000 settlement is preliminarily approved, and a final approval hearing is scheduled for September 2026. The parties write to the court on September 28, 2026. Two individual homeowner suits are filed on February 9 and April 3, 2026.
Three Things to Watch For
A big servicer with a long list of past settlements makes a convincing story for imposters:
“Unclaimed Freedom Mortgage settlement money”
The robocall and inspection-fee settlements closed in 2020 and 2021. Nothing open lets a borrower claim money today. A site or caller offering to recover your share for a fee or for your Social Security number is not an administrator.
Calls that know your loan number
Servicing data leaks and gets resold, so a caller who knows your balance can still be a fraud. Freedom will not ask you to send your payment to a new account by phone. Check any payment change against your official statement or the servicer’s published contact details.
Overtime settlement notices asking for bank details
The Christensen settlement pays only class members identified from payroll records. A real administrator notice will name the case and docket number 1:25-cv-01827. It will not ask you to pay a fee to receive your share.
Freedom Mortgage Lawsuit — Questions People Actually Ask
Is there a Freedom Mortgage class action settlement I can file a claim in right now?
Not for borrowers. As of October 6, 2026, the only pending Freedom Mortgage settlement is the $750,000 call center overtime case, which covers employees and not customers. Borrower settlements over robocalls and inspection fees closed years ago.
What is the Freedom Mortgage overtime settlement?
It settles Christensen v. Freedom Mortgage Corporation, No. 1:25-cv-01827 in the District of New Jersey. The lawsuit alleges that call center agents were not paid for time spent logging into software before their shifts. Freedom denied the claims and agreed to pay $750,000, with a net fund of $462,500 for class members.
When will call center workers be paid?
Only after the court grants final approval. A hearing was scheduled for September 2026, and the parties filed a letter about the settlement on September 28, 2026. We could not confirm a final approval order, so no payment date is set.
I was charged for property inspections. Can I still claim?
No. Gress v. Freedom Mortgage Corp., No. 1:19-cv-00375 in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, settled for $2.7 million, and its claim deadline was December 16, 2021. Kroll was the administrator.
Did borrowers get money from the Freedom Mortgage robocall case?
Yes, those who filed by June 23, 2020. Somogyi v. Freedom Mortgage Corp., No. 1:17-cv-06546 in the District of New Jersey, settled for $9.5 million and received final approval on September 15, 2020. Checks of up to $75.40 went out starting December 10, 2020.
Did the CFPB penalties pay anything to borrowers?
No. The 2019 and August 2023 orders ($1.75 million each) and the June 26, 2024 judgment ($3.95 million) were civil penalties paid to the government. They were not borrower restitution funds.
Can I join the 2026 homeowner lawsuits?
No. Cruz (No. 1:26-cv-20851, filed February 9, 2026) and the Fair Credit Reporting Act suit filed April 3, 2026 are individual cases, not class actions. If you have a similar problem, you raise it yourself: a written dispute to the servicer, a credit-bureau dispute, or a complaint to the CFPB.
Is Freedom Mortgage in trouble with regulators right now?
No CFPB matter against Freedom is pending as of October 6, 2026. The 2023 lawsuit ended in a final judgment on June 26, 2024, which requires regular audits of Freedom’s mortgage data. Our database lists 8 federal enforcement records for the Freedom Mortgage name. They are described in the enforcement-records section above.
Separate from this case: were you injured in the last 2 years?
Class-action payouts are fixed amounts through an administrator. A personal injury claim is a different case — and often worth far more. Free estimate, no obligation.
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