JAMAICA PLAIN, Mass. The Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America, a consumer watchdog group, is working to expand nationwide a class action filed in December by Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch against FleetBoston Financial Corp.s mortgage unit for alleged deceit of borrowers.
As reported in The Boston Globe, the group last week sent postcards to more than 100,000 Fleet mortgage customers in New England to notify them that their privacy may have been violated by Fleet in arrangements the mortgage unit made with telemarketers and that they may be paying charges they did not authorize.
The group has also brought in the Boston law firm of Adkins, Kelston & Zavez to pursue further class-action possibilities against Fleet.
In an interview, Bruce Marks, chief executive of the Neighborhood Assistance Corp., said the Minnesota case only covers loans on homes in that state but that Fleet services loans nationwide. It is important to expand the scope of suits nationwide, he said.
In addition to working with attorneys, the group is planning an April 17 protest against Fleet at its annual board meeting in Boston.
A Fleet spokesman said that a separate Federal class action suit, filed in Minnesota, already covers the borrowers solicited by NACA.
