A Michigan mortgage lender is facing a class action lawsuit alleging it used AI-generated, artificial-voice cold calls to pitch refinancing without consent.
A Michigan-based mortgage lender is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging that it used artificial-voice cold calls to pitch refinancing offers to consumers without their consent. If found guilty, the claim could carry significant financial penalties under federal telemarketing law.
The lawsuit, filed Feb. 24 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, accuses Mortgage One Funding LLC of placing unsolicited calls to consumers’ cellphones using a synthetic or prerecorded voice in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
The complaint alleges the calls were made either directly by the lender or by third-party telemarketers acting on its behalf.
Artificial-voice calls at heart of lawsuit
According to the lawsuit, consumers received unsolicited calls featuring an artificial or prerecorded voice promoting mortgage refinancing services. The complaint alleges the calls were made without the recipients’ prior express written consent, as required under TCPA for telemarketing calls placed to cellphones using artificial or prerecorded voices.
Plaintiffs claim the calls were directed to consumers’ cellphones, including individuals who had not consented to receive such outreach. The proposed class would include U.S. consumers who received similar artificial-voice calls from Mortgage One Funding LLC or entities acting on its behalf within the applicable statutory period.
Under the TCPA, statutory damages generally begin at $500 per violation and may increase to as much as $1,500 per call if a violation is found to be willful. The complaint alleges that aggregate damages could exceed $5 million.
Mortgage One Funding has not yet publicly filed a response to the allegations.
AI prospecting under a 30-year-old statute
The case highlights a growing legal question facing mortgage and real estate marketers in how AI-driven outreach tools fit within a federal telemarketing framework written decades before modern AI voice agents existed.
The TCPA, enacted in 1991, restricts certain calls made using automatic telephone dialing systems or artificial or prerecorded voices. For telemarketing calls placed to cellphones using artificial or prerecorded voices, the law generally requires prior express written consent from the recipient.
Courts in recent years have examined how newer AI-based voice technologies and automated outreach systems fall within those statutory definitions.
For lenders, the compliance risks can be substantial.
TCPA lawsuits are frequently filed as class actions, and because statutory damages are assessed on a per-call basis, even relatively small outreach campaigns can result in significant financial exposure if found noncompliant.
Scaling outreach, scaling risk
Mortgage companies commonly use outbound calls and texts to generate refinance and purchase leads, particularly when rate moves or slower markets intensify competition.
At the same time, TCPA litigation has continued to target mortgage outreach, alleging calls or texts to numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry or contact without adequate consent documentation.
As lenders experiment with automated outreach, plaintiffs have argued that AI-generated voice calls fall under the TCPA’s restrictions on artificial or prerecorded voices, an interpretation the FCC has endorsed in recent guidance.
Industry attorneys also caution that using third-party marketing vendors does not automatically shield a lender from liability where telemarketers act on the seller’s behalf.
The case against Mortgage One is still in its early stages, and the plaintiffs have requested a jury trial.
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