Suit Alleges LoanDepot Sent Texas Consumer 18 Texts in 3-Month Period
Marketers in recent years “who often have felt stymied” by federal laws limiting solicitation by phone, fax or email “have increasingly looked to alternative technologies through which to send bulk solicitations cheaply,” said a Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint Friday…
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(docket 3:22-cv-00374) in U.S. District Court for Western Texas in El Paso. The “open rate” for SMS text messages exceeds 99%, and 90% of those messages are read within three minutes, compared with a 22% open rate for emails in the finance industry, said the complaint, alleging loanDepot violated the TCPA when it inundated consumer Mabel Arredondo with at least 18 unauthorized automated text messages to her personal cellphone between July 26 and Oct. 21. Unlike more conventional ads, SMS calls, and particularly wireless or mobile spam, “can actually cost their recipients money,” because cellphone users must frequently pay their wireless service providers either for each text message or call they receive or incur a “usage allocation deduction to their text plan, regardless of whether or not the message is authorized,” said the complaint. It seeks treble damages of up to $1,500 for each “knowing or willful” TCPA violation. LoanDepot didn’t comment Tuesday.