Why mortgage companies (servicers) are so willing to violate RESPA — they “know” you won’t sue

Why mortgage companies (servicers) are so willing to violate RESPA — they “know” you won’t sue

Because they don’t think you will know they violated the law, and even if you do, they are banking on the fact that you won’t do anything about it.

And even if you do take some action, it will be the wrong action.

Let’s look at the mindset of the mortgage companies to understand why they will violate the new RESPA/CFPB laws.

Their research shows that for every 1000 violations of the RESPA laws related to mortgages, only 10 consumers will take action against the mortgage companies.

But out of the 10 who take action, only 1 will hire a lawyer.

The other 9 will file the case on their own (pro se) and will normally be easily defeated in federal court by the “tall tower” lawfirms who defend mortgage companies.  Often this is the only work these lawyers do.

Well, what about the 1 who hires a lawyer?  The problem for consumers — and the benefit to the mortgage companies — is that the lawyer normally does not even know how to properly bring a federal case under the RESPA laws or the new laws implemented by the CFPB in January 2014.

What does all this mean to the mortgage companies?

It means that it is much cheaper to continue to break the law than to obey the law.

Look, it is nothing personal against you.  It’s not like Wells Fargo says “We want to personally hurt Joe Smith or Sally Jones or any other person.”

Instead the conversation in the heads of Ocwen, Bank of America, Green Tree, etc. is “Let’s not change our practices because it is cheaper to deal with the few lawsuits we get.  We know this is hurting people and that’s too bad.  Its all about dollars and the dollars say to keep breaking the law.”

They would tell you:

“It’s not personal.  It’s just business.”

What does all this mean to you?

You have to protect yourself.

You have to understand that your mortgage company, to who you are just a number, will gladly break the law against you.

So if this happens, you need to be willing to fight back.

To fight back, you must understand your rights and options.  And you must be prepared to take action — the right action.

So how do you learn about your rights?

Two best ways:

• Read our articles and watch our videos
• Call our office in you live in Alabama — the phone number is 205-879-2447.  Talk to us about what you are going through and we can help you understand if your rights have been violated and if it makes sense for you to fight back by suing your mortgage company.  (You can also fill out our contact form here).

Bottom line — change the “equation” for the mortgage companies by making it more expensive to break the law than to obey the law.

You may remember the situation with the Ford Pinto years ago.  Ford realized their car was defective.  It killed people.

The solution was obvious and very cheap.

But the geniuses who figure this stuff out decided it was cheaper to let people die and pay some damages than to fix the cars.

Until it was discovered and then it became extra-ordinarily expensive to break the law.

Let’s do the same to the mortgage companies.

Like I said — it isn’t personal when they hurt you.  So I’m sure they’ll understand when we sue them over and over it ain’t personal.

Just business.

“Right, mortgage companies?”

🙂

John Watts