LOGAN — A Logan County man is suing a lender for allegedly issuing mortgages with excessive interest rates on a property that was over-appraised.
Clifford Hall filed a lawsuit March 1 in Logan Circuit Court against CitiFinancial Inc., alleging illegal loan, unconscionable contract and fraud.
According to the complaint, CitiFinancial solicited Hall to refinance the mortgage on his manufactured home in 2005 for the amount of $52,244 at 10.8 percent interest for 20 years. The suit claims Hall only owed $12,000 on his original mortgage through Logan Bank & Trust, and that CitiFinancial used an inflated appraisal of $76,000 that far exceeds the actual value of Hall’s home ($30,690) as the basis for the new loan.
In 2007, Hall took out a second mortgage on the property with a principal balance of $15,642 at a rate of 14.0988 percent for 15 years. Hall says no one explained the terms of either mortgage when he signed them.
Hall's lawsuit says the bank's practice is characterized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as predatory lending, "whereby a large national lender solicits unsophisticated customers to enter into unwise or fraudulent home loans." The suit says Hall has a fourth-grade education and "is unsophisticated in financial matters."
Hall seeks a jury trial and damages. He is represented by attorneys Sarah K. Brown and Daniel F. Hedges of Mountain State Justice Inc. in Charleston.
Logan Circuit Court Case number 16-C-47-O
