Filing cites FHA/Ginnie Mae loan, escrow handling and inspection fees
A New Orleans attorney is suing Freedom Mortgage, alleging “Active Foreclosure” labeling, forced bundled payments and a payment-portal lockout on an FHA loan tied to Ginnie Mae.
Filed on December 10, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, the lawsuit targets how Freedom Mortgage Corporation allegedly serviced an FHA-insured mortgage loan pooled into a Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities program. The plaintiff, Justin Lamar Winch, alleges Freedom’s systems and communications caused him to believe foreclosure was imminent despite his attempts to cure.
Winch, who identifies himself as a licensed attorney and the owner-occupant of a property at 404 Stafford Place in New Orleans, alleges his first delinquent installment was the payment due July 1, 2025. He says he tried to cure promptly, first through Freedom’s online borrower portal and later by telephone.
One of his central allegations is that Freedom’s portal would not let him pay only the earliest past-due installment “step-by-step.” Instead, he claims, the portal forced him to choose a “bundle” of payments covering July, August and September, along with inspection fees and late charges. When he attempted to deselect fees or later installments, he alleges, the system automatically re-selected them. He describes repeated attempts to correct the behavior, including refreshing the page and closing and reopening his browser, but says he still could not make a targeted cure payment.
Winch also alleges that Freedom shut off his online payment access entirely for a period in November 2025. Specifically, he says he was locked out of the portal between approximately November 6 and November 20, 2025, leaving him unable to make online payments during that window.
The filing repeatedly returns to the question of whether the loan was lawfully accelerated. Winch alleges Freedom never issued a written acceleration notice that declared the loan accelerated, demanded the full unpaid principal balance, and provided a cure deadline and consequences consistent with the note, deed of trust and Louisiana law.
He points to a letter he says he received on or about November 12, 2025, stating that his loan “remains in default” and warning that failure to cure “may” result in acceleration and foreclosure. The letter, he alleges, also states it is for “regulatory compliance and/or informational purposes only” and “does not constitute a demand for payment.”
Around the same time, Winch says he received a letter from Halliday, Watkins & Mann, P.C. styled as an “FDCPA NOTICE.” According to the filing, the letter identifies the firm as a debt collector and provides collection disclosures, but does not state that foreclosure has been initiated, does not provide a Louisiana sheriff sale date, and does not attach or identify any foreclosure pleading.
Yet Winch alleges Freedom’s borrower-facing mobile app and/or portal labeled his account as being in “Active Foreclosure,” even though, he says, no acceleration notice had issued, no foreclosure petition had been filed, and he had not been served with any foreclosure pleading.
For mortgage professionals, the filing’s most operational allegations focus on fees, escrow handling and servicing records on federally backed servicing. Winch alleges his loan history includes “property inspection” fees added without a lawful trigger or necessity. He also alleges escrow mismanagement, including recurring monthly mortgage-insurance premium disbursements of approximately $148.16, monthly escrow contributions of approximately $1,100, and monthly escrow deposits of approximately $1,153 to $1,155 alongside the $148.16 MIP disbursements—an accounting pattern he claims distorted what was required to reinstate.
The lawsuit asserts claims under the FDCPA, RESPA/Regulation X, and TILA/Regulation Z, as well as Louisiana unfair trade practices and fraud statutes. Winch seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, damages, and class certification for a proposed nationwide class dating from January 1, 2018, to the present, along with an FHA/Ginnie Mae subclass. He is also asking the court to halt foreclosure activity, restore payment access, prohibit further improper fees and negative credit reporting, and require an escrow audit and corrections.
No court has ruled on these allegations, and the case remains in its earliest phase.
