FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A mortgage loan servicing company is under fire for its “repeated failure” to respond to loss mitigation requests by Florida homeowners, according to two separate lawsuits filed in Florida federal court last month.
Broward County homeowner Clive Rankine filed his lawsuit against Newrez LLC, doing business as Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Fort Lauderdale Division, May 23.
Rankine argues Shellpoint has violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, which is enforced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is a federal law that protects consumers in real estate transactions. RESPA requires lenders and mortgage servicers to provide borrowers with detailed information about settlement costs.
According to the nine-page complaint, Rankine submitted a loss mitigation request to Shellpoint on March 21, 2025. However, to date, the company has not responded to the request.
“Mr. Rankine is suffering from emotional distress over not having a response to the loss mitigation submission, and from living with the uncertainty about what the future will bring for him,” the complaint states.
“This has caused a great deal of stress, anxiety, and worry in that, without this response, Mr. Rankine is unable to plan any next steps to save his home.”
A loss mitigation application is a formal request that a borrower submits to their mortgage servicer to seek assistance in avoiding foreclosure. The borrower and servicer must work together to create a plan to help the borrower avoid losing their home.
Under RESPA, Shellpoint is required to provide a written notice within 30 days of receipt of a loss mitigation application, explaining the borrower’s options.
“There was no response from the Defendant indicating that the application was not complete,” Rankine’s complaint noted.
Rankine’s attorneys have since been forced to provide Shellpoint with a Notice and Opportunity to Cure, or NOE, to “remind them about the responsibility to provide a response.”
The NOE was sent April 24, 2025 and delivered as of April 28, 2025, according to the complaint.
“To date, the Defendant has further failed to or refused to comply,” Rankine’s attorneys wrote in the complaint.
Rankine is seeking an order requiring Shellpoint to provide a written notice and determination in compliance with RESPA, actual damages, costs, and attorneys’ fees.
Fort Lauderdale-based Loan Lawyers LLC – known for its foreclosure defense, debt defense, and bankruptcy attorneys – is representing Rankine, along with another plaintiff, Shane Ruckle.
Ruckle, in a separate complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Miami Division, May 28, makes similar allegations of Shellpoint.
Ruckle, a Miami-Dade County resident, used Shellpoint as his mortgage servicer. On March 24, 2025, Ruckle’s attorneys submitted a loss mitigation application to Shellpoint.
“Mr. Ruckle was relieved and hopeful that the loss mitigation application would be the first step in potentially solving the issues he is facing with his property,” according to Ruckle’s nine-page complaint.
“However, that relief has turned to despair, as Defendant has failed to respond to the loss mitigation request made through the application submitted to Defendant.”
Ruckle said Shellpoint has not responded to the request to date.
“In the interim, default-related fees are continuing to be assessed to the loan and Mr. Ruckle is worried that the foreclosure will be successful, resulting in the loss of the subject property,” the complaint states.
Like Rankine, Ruckle alleges the situation is causing him a “great deal of stress.”
Similar to Rankine’s case, Ruckle’s attorneys sent a NOE to Shellpoint May 1, 2025. The notice was delivered May 6, 2025; to date, the servicer has failed to or refused to comply, according to the complaint.
Ruckle, too, is seeking an order requiring Shellpoint to provide a written notice and determination in compliance with RESPA, actual damages, costs, and attorneys’ fees.
According to its website, Shellpoint manages or services mortgage loans after mortgage lenders originate them.
“On behalf of our lender and investor clients, we accept and process mortgage payments from more than 2.3 million homeowners nationwide,” the company’s website states.
“In recent years we’ve grown to become one of America’s ‘Top 5’ non-bank mortgage servicers, with over 2,500 employees based out of offices in South Carolina, Texas, and Arizona.”
