Plaintiffs in the case are Rodney G. Coster and Teresa L. Coster of Essex, Md., and Amanda Connor and Kevin F. Ashe of Rosedale, Md.

The Costers claim that Admiral charged them an origination fee of $5,936 on a $74,200 second mortgage -- 8 percent of the loan amount. They also allege they were charged more than $1,400 in credit report, processing, document preparation and underwriting fees.

Connor and Ashe said they took out a secondary mortgage loan for $29,000 on Dec. 17, 2004. They claim they paid a $2,340 origination fee, also 8 percent of the principal amount, and then another $1,395 in underwriting, processing and document preparation fees.

Plaintiffs’ attorney representing homeowners said the class of those who were illegally charged by Admiral could include over 500 people and said his firm will file several similar complaints in the upcoming weeks.

According to the plaintiffs' attorney, additional charges imposed on the Costers’ and Connors’ violate Maryland’s Secondary Mortgage Loan Law. That legislation, the complaint states, permits companies like Admiral to charge an origination fee “not to exceed 10 percent of the net proceeds for making a loan.”

Once such a fee is assessed, the law says, a lender cannot collect any other charges. Admiral and other companies get away with overcharging consumers, because many people are not aware of the law.

Furthermore, in both instances cited in the complaint all the charges were “pro-rated over the term of the loan so that every monthly mortgage payment included and continues to include, a portion of the illegal and excessive fees disguised as principal and interest payments, thereby wrongly increasing the monthly payment,” the complaint alleges.