A federal judge has dismissed most of the claims against HSBC Mortgage Corp. regarding its practice of “force placing” insurance on borrowers who hadn’t maintained sufficient property insurance, but he allowed claims for breach of contract to survive.
“The purpose of a force-placement clause is to protect the lender’s interest in the property securing the mortgage loan. Plaintiffs allege a scheme whereby HSBC Mortgage used its power to force-place insurance on the property to gain additional profits at plaintiffs expense rather than using such power simply to protect its interest in the property,” U.S. District Judge Jan E. DuBois of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in a 25-page opinion in Montanez v. HSBC Mortgage .
