A lawsuit filed by a Ridgefield Park couple and three other New Jersey home buyers alleges Cresskill-based 1st 2nd Mortgage Co. of New Jersey targeted Latino and African borrowers and deceived them into taking out so-called predatory loans that eventually defaulted.
The suit, which seeks class-action status, alleges the loans failed because the borrowers earned too little to make the payments, which inflated dramatically after several years as adjustable mortgage rates kicked in.
The company targeted poor immigrants with limited education and little or no English, who knew little or nothing about mortgages, the suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Newark, alleges.
“Plaintiffs were deceived into signing the loan documents and suffered an ascertainable loss of money and of equity in their homes,” according to the suit.
Defendants in the case are the 1st 2nd Mortgage Co. and any subsidiaries.
Ridgefield Park couple
The plaintiffs include Christian and Bernadette Lelina, who got two mortgages from the bank to help buy their Arthur Street, Ridgefield Park, home that were too large for the property and their ability to pay, and eventually went into default, the suit says.
The filing follows a suit filed in March 2010 making similar allegations against the mortgage company and more than 100 others, and filed by the same attorney who filed the suit Monday, Feng Li.
The earlier suit was voluntarily dismissed in June. At the time, the court ruled that the suit “failed to state a claim,” said Anthony Laura, a Newark attorney who represents 1st 2nd Mortgage Co.
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