Mortgage lenders are suing their former loan officers to recoup five- and six-figure sign-on bonuses.

AnnieMac has filed clawback lawsuits against two former originators for $75,000 and $500,000, according to new case filings in federal court. CrossCountry Mortgage meanwhile is seeking to enforce an arbitration award of $120,000 against an ex-LO in a similar complaint in a state court. 

The two lenders are among the more prolific clawback litigants in state and federal courts, as disputes between other lenders and employees likely proceed in private arbitration. The three new lawsuits are some of the first public clawback attempts after the companies filed many more cases in the wake of the refinance boom. 

Whereas Anniemac dismissed some of its earlier complaints, CrossCountry has notched victories over numerous of its former loan officers. The retail giant sued dozens of its former originators earlier this decade in state court over their sign-on bonuses for a combined millions of dollars, and it secured default judgment in at least a dozen of those cases. 

AnnieMac's latest clawbacks

The New Jersey-based lender and servicer last month sued Derek Huit, an Alaska-based originator who's today an executive at another independent mortgage bank. In a 5-page federal breach of bonus agreement complaint, Anniemac claims Huit resigned in March, over a year before the required 36-month period, from February 2024, for his sign-on bonus to vest.

The company is seeking $75,560 from Huit, stating he only repaid $16,939 of the bonus back. When asked for comment, Huit told National Mortgage News that he'd just become aware of the complaint. 

AnnieMac is meanwhile doubling down in a $500,000 breach of bonus agreement case against Mona Edick, a former originating regional manager who has since moved on to another IMB. The lender initially sued Edick last year and raised accusations of fraud, although those allegations were pushed to arbitration and the lender has since halted its pursuit of those claims. 

AnnieMac this spring revived its attempts to recoup the six-figure bonus, a claim Edick is still fighting. The originator filed a counterclaim in April for $900,000, suggesting she turned around the $500,000 deficit in her profit and loss statement and generated a $400,000 profit. 

Edick has also accused Anniemac of filing the suit in retaliation for her departure as a significant producer for the firm. The sides continued to debate the latest claims in opposing letters over the last two weeks. 

Attorney James T. Prusinowski of The Chilla Business Counsel LLC, representing Edick, reiterated that Edick used the sign-on bonus to support her team and her business. AnnieMac was already reimbursed for the sign-on bonus from the commissions it took, he said. 

"From our perspective, the way they write these agreements is rather draconian," the attorney said, noting the lawsuit was in its early stages. 

Neither a spokesperson nor attorneys for Anniemac responded to requests for comment. 

CrossCountry's arbitration win

The Cleveland-based company targeted former originator Matthew Murray in the local Cuyahoga County Ohio Court of Common Pleas, asking a judge to confirm a $120,000 arbitration award it secured in April. 

The company says it hired Murray in April 2022 with the bonus supposed to vest after 30 months, but he resigned 14 months later. After his separation, CrossCountry said it recovered $3,991 from Murray's final paycheck. 

Murray, now a broker/owner at Apex Mortgage Lending, said he was terminated in 2023 as he was exploring opening his own shop. He told National Mortgage News he briefly spoke with the lender at that time about repaying the sign-on bonus, but he did not hear back until the company started the arbitration process right before a statute of limitations was set to expire. 

"Not the best of experiences with those guys," he said. 

A spokesperson for CrossCountry Mortgage declined to comment.