By Deborah Goonan, Independent American Communities
Finally, it’s official! A highly controversial HOA collection firm, LM Funding, is the defendant of a class action lawsuit.
LM Funding has been in business since 2008, operating in Florida, Colorado, Washington state, and Illinois. The company markets itself as some sort of superhero of condo and homeowners association boards, willing to buy delinquent assessment accounts and to pay or fund the association up front. Then LMF aggressively pursues payment of those delinquent accounts, providing unlimited profit potential on collected accounts.
There’s just one problem for LM Funding.
Their crazy business model has never quite caught on, and the company is in a downward tailspin. In a class action lawsuit, the typical condo association will probably only recover a small portion of its loss. However, the overall size of a class action judgment may serve as a deterrent to future deceptive business practices.
Unfortunately, LM Funding has already done its share of damage to unsuspecting homeowners, many of whom have found themselves gouged by bloated collection fees, and some of whom have lost their homes due to HOA foreclosure.
One potential problem with this suit, according to the Tampa Bay Times: The wife of the Judge assigned to the case just so happens to be a partner in the law firm filing the class action suit.
Troubled Tampa-based LM Funding faces class action lawsuit
Susan Taylor Martin, Times Senior Correspondent
A judge has ruled that dozens of condominium associations can collectively sue a Tampa debt-collection company, potentially a major blow to the already-troubled company’s prospects.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge John H. Thornton recently certified a class-action lawsuit that accuses LM Funding of deceptive trade practices and charging illegally high interest rates.
Read more:
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LM Funding of HOAs mimics Muni Tax collection for profit
No Kidding! LM Funding opposes regulation of HOA collections policy
Now this needs to happen to the rest of all HOA Collection Companies plus HOA attorneys who also collect high fees for such small amounts. Laws are set up to encourage this type of rip off where by it is them who profit and lets not forget once they get their hands on your home they can also rent your property out until they can settle with the banks getting even more money while all the time the HOA does not get that much on the dollar so who really losing here the HOA and the homeowners. Cap Rates need to be in place in ever State period these people should never profit off the back of homeowners nor the HOA themselves. I say Great now lets go after the rest of them.