Can I really sue my mortgage company for violating RESPA?
“Can I really sue my mortgage company for violating RESPA?”
RESPA is a law that forces mortgage companies to treat you fairly
One of the questions that may come to mind is, “Can I really sue my mortgage company under RESPA?” The answer is “Yes” — if your mortgage company has violated RESPA then you can sue and that may stop a foreclosure against you.
RESPA is a powerful law.
It’s very helpful when you’re facing foreclosure, and especially if the mortgage company has made any mistakes.
Usually they do make mistakes, or at least they make things confusing.
Maybe you’ve sent Notice Of Error and Request For Information letters which they haven’t responded to.
Maybe the mortgage company forecloses on you which violates the dual tracking prohibition when you are in the middle of loss mitigation.
There are many issues that you could be dealing with.
If the mortgage company violates RESPA, you can sue them.
Which is very powerful, because for every violation of RESPA, the mortgage company has to pay up to $2,000 in “statutory” damages even if you can’t show any actual harm. This is to discourage your mortgage company from violating the law.
Under a similar law, Truth In Lending, they will have to pay up to $4,000 per violation.
We have cases where there are 10, 20, 50, even 100 violations.
That starts to add up.
In addition to having to pay for violations, the mortgage company may also have to pay actual damages.
You can get mental anguish and money damages.
You can also get attorney’s fees.
Other resources that can help you.
You can go to ForeclosureDVD.com, where there are four videos and a workbook available free of charge.
You can slo go to RESPAVideo.com, where we have an hour long video that covers the types of letters and documents you send to your mortgage company in detail and you can download form letters if you want to send your mortgage company letters to try and set things straight.
Both the video and downloads are free of charge, just enter your name, email and phone number.
Feel free to get in touch with us.
If you live in the state of Alabama and you have more questions that you need answered, feel free to contact us.
You can reach us by phone at 1-205-879-2447 and ask for Carolyn, or you can fill out a contact form and we will gladly get in touch with you.
I look forward to chatting with you soon!
Have a great day.
In need of help with RESPA violations as first time homebuyers. Do you provide help in NJ??
Michelle,
Sorry I’m not licensed in New Jersey. I don’t know anyone personally in NJ that does RESPA work — I’m sure there are good lawyers there.
Google some folks there and then talk to them. See who you feel comfortable with and who answers your questions — I wrote a recent article on the importance of finding a lawyer who answers your questions — perhaps it will be helpful to you.
Best wishes!
John Watts
There is a lender that forces the borrower to use their specified title, attorney, appraisor, and credit reporting agency as a condition to get a loan through them. I believe this is a RESPA violation???
Scotty,
I don’t do much with this portion of RESPA. My memory is the lender should not make borrowers use all of these other vendors. I think the concern is the consumer may be overcharged if forced to only use one appraiser, etc.
Sorry, I don’t know more about this — I focus on after the loan is made and someone is facing foreclosure.
But what you have described certainly sounds wrong and I would investigate more before doing business with that lender.
Best wishes
John Watts
Bank of America has been dragging me along for over 2 years. I received a letter in July of 2016 stating my home would be sold at Auction on Aug 22 2016, this was a few month after speaking with a customer service rep about missing a few payment so I could pay a for some medical bills to allow my father to receive treatment for cancer. I submitted RMA’s only to be told 3 weeks later they needed the documentation again then I would receive denial letters stating I didn’t qualify as my income was too high and conversely it was too low. all along I had requested on several occasion my SCRA benefits only to be told I didn’t qualify. It wasn’t until after threatening to get an attorney that I was told by a CSR that my mortgage had been approve for SCRA during a telephone conversation on Nov 14, 2016 because I called to see if my home was going to be sold at auction the following day. She went on to explain someone would be calling to explain everything to me. on Nov 30,2016 I sent a request for information that has yet to be responded to. I have attempted to make payments on line and forced to call CS only to be told payments cannot be accepted due to the account being “Under Review” that doesn’t include the $2800.00 in payment made but not applied to my mortgage.
Any Guidance would be greatly appreciated
Robert,
So was your home foreclosed or did they cancel at the last minute?
What state are you in?
I would seriously consider doing some RESPA letters — request for information and notice of error letters. Calling and writing normal letters can feel like banging your head against a wall.
But when Bank of America gets a RESPA letter it will need to respond properly or face a lawsuit.
Do keep in mind if your home was foreclosed, then normally you can only do RESPA letters for 12 months after that. I’m assuming though you are still making payments etc to Bank of America now in 2018 and your home was not actually foreclosed.
I understand how frustrating it can be to deal with Bank of America.
I do recommend getting with a lawyer in your state that understands RESPA and foreclosure laws — if you are in Alabama feel free to call us at 205-879-2447. You can ask to speak to Randi first and then she and I will chat and go from there.
Best wishes and getting this behind you!
John Watts
Good afternoon, they put the entire amount of my mortgage on a letter. I guess that a lot of people saw that. Can I sue that company?
Antonio,
Can you give me a bit of context — what type of letter?
Who saw it?
Thanks
John Watts
I filed for a chapter 13 Bankruptcy back in 2013 it was completed in 2017.
Since then I have been arguing with Transunion they show my Mortgage as
a missed payment in 2017. I have never missed a payment furthermore they
continue to show outdated information my current balance is also incorrect.
Never the less according to the NYS law they can not proceed to report this
account as it was included in the bankruptcy and the attempt to do so is in
Direct Violation of the discharge, this is also stated in the Fair Credit
Reporting Act as a Violation and I should have grounds for them Violating
the discharge. I have spoken to the other 2 credit monitoring agencies and
they show as closed included in the bankruptcy however here I am still
fighting with nasty people from Transunion they are hurting my credit and I
was also given a very high interest loan due to this as well they should be
held responsible Transunion and my mortgage company Shellpoint both
are in violation for in accurately reporting my account I have never been late
after the discharge. From what I know
When you file for bankruptcy, you are required to list all of your debts and this includes your mortgages. When you receive a discharge in bankruptcy it also discharges your personal liability for the mortgages on the home. It does not remove the mortgage lien that exists on your home. This means that if you fail to make the payments on the home, then the mortgage company can foreclose on the home but cannot pursue you for any deficiency judgment.
Mortgage companies will not report your mortgage payments because they are concerned that it violates the automatic stay or discharge injunction. The concern is that reporting the payments on the credit report can be treated as an attempt to collect a discharged debt. This can subject the mortgage company to a discharge violation in bankruptcy court. Reporting negative information for any mortgage payments that are late can be treated as a discharge violation.
Carolina,
Sorry you are dealing with this. If TransUnion is reporting a missed payment that you did not miss, dispute it with TransUnion and copy the letter (all by certified mail) to the mortgage company.
If they don’t fix it, look at suing them.
Same thing with balance.
You are right that if discharged you do not owe the loan but if you don’t pay (what you don’t owe) they can foreclose. It is an odd “no man’s land” when you stay in the home but do not reaffirm the debt.
Bottom line is get with a lawyer in your state to help you navigate this — should be easy if you have never missed a payment.
Thanks and best wishes!
John
There are no lawyers in nc that will represent me . I’ve called them all . I even called the lawyer referral . The law board even admits there are none. This creates even more corruption in nc and empowerment with the mortgage companies . No one to enforce the laws . Lawyer fraud is the highest in nc then in any other state because they know the home owners are desperate . This means any mortgage company can tack on any amount of money , like they did me , and say pay it or we foreclosure . Who’s going to stop them ? Who’s going to save my home ? Not the commissioner ! Not the cfpb ! Not the government ! Not the FBI ! Not the senator governor or state Attorney general . No one can enforce a mortgage companies to abide by the laws . The commissioner and cfpb take mortgage companies to court and win but who is that serving ? Not the home owner that filed the complaint ! No they still lose their homes that the mortgage companies stole ! They get nothing yet the commissioner and cfpb get huge amounts , Fed Government ! Home owners zero ! They use are complaints to serve them ! How is this helping the American home owner ? Even loan mods are designed to fail ! 46 million is nothing for a 4.4 trillion dollar corporation to lose , it just goes to the government that bails them . We are all screwed!
Yes, I need to know if you can handle case in state of South Carolina. My case is showing that mortgage company is guilty of Respa, dual tracking and host of other legal issue.
Diana,
I’m not licensed in South Carolina. If you have a lawyer there who wants me to help, I may be able to do that.
Or you can call Penny Hays — she’s a very good lawyer I knew from Alabama who now lives in South Carolina.
Best wishes!
John Watts
Hi John,
I live in Arizona. I want to sue Amerisave mortgage company due to they extended my closing date then declined my loan for unable to verify employement. I work as a nurse and my husband work for the city court. There is no way that they could not verify employment. I called them multiple times and called their manager. Left voicemail, email but no answers. They wasted so much of my time and stressed me out. Please advice. Thank you for your time.
Catherine,
Sorry for what you went through. You’ll need to find a lawyer in Arizona as I don’t practice in AZ. Try this — https://www.consumeradvocates.org/find-an-attorney.
Best wishes!
John
Hello,
I am Patricia George and i brought my home in Washington DC in 2003. Recently my mortgage company, Ocwen , was brought out by PHH mortgage. I have sent in a payment (cashiers check) for 6390.00. The amount was large because there was a mtg increase that I was not told about this so they sent like 4 or 5 payments back, I added the differncence with a 6390.00 (per the companies request and without being delinquent) cashiers check and another 675.76 check.
My check for 6390.00 was cashed (according to my bank, navy federal) and I have been in constant contact with the research dept – they have missed every deadline in getting back to me. I asked for a letter explaining what was going on, they sent a generic letter stating that they were in reciept of my letter( I never wrote them a letter) I asked why the letter did not include what was discussed and they said it was a generic letter!!! I asked for an explanation in writing.
They admited to having my money and I am supposedly waiting for the money to be applied to my loan.
However, today when I arrived home there was a letter rom PHH enclosed was the 675.76 check and the letter said that the amount was not sufficient to satisfy what I owed.
Did I mention that my house is in foreclosure? I came home to this letter not long after sending in over 7k!!!!
I reached out to the attorney (who hasnt started anything, he said tat he just got the case and advised I call the mtg co again, his parallegal supposedly added a note)
All i know is that I did not pay late, I can prove this and I have kept records of every conversation.
I am at my witts end because I keep calling and no one ever reaches back and when they do, they send something as ridiculous as the cashiers check i sent them, where is the 6390.00 check?
I live in a newly gentrified area, everyday my property value increases and i believe that this is a machination designed to steal my property, but it will be over my dead body!!!!
I have calculated the amount over the phone with teh company several times so how is it that they don’t know what is going on. Please please please help me, I am a hard working school teacher here in DC, I have a teenaged daughter and i just need to know what to do. Please help me solve this problem. I have talked and talked with this company and they never give me a managers number when I ask, they never let me speak with anyone in higher management.
Best,
Patricia George
I have removed the auto pay from my account because they kept taking additional charges not authorized and on dates not authorized and over drafting my bills account. But it has been well over a month since I cancelled auto pay and I am paid up until next month but they have taken 5 payments, I have called and they have all been refunded but I still haven’t seen the money for all the over draft charges I have received. Would this count as stress?
Hi, my family is currently encountering an issue where we were trying to sell our current house and later in the process we found out that we had a second lien on the home and our father has never signed for one. After hiring 2 lawyers we found out that the mortgage company copied and pasted the signature page from the original deed of trust and used it to create a deed of trust for their company without paying off the bank that we pay our mortgage through currently and without our permission. We tried to get them to cancel it by requesting information which they have not responded to excluding a statement they sent saying that they will no longer collect on the debt but will not cancel it neither. Help?
Latrese sorry dealing with this. If you are in AL contact us (205-879-2447) or email me at john@wattsherring.com.
If you are outside of AL try this to find a lawyer: https://www.consumeradvocates.org/find-an-attorney
Very sorry having to deal with this and I can’t tell you how it will end but I do think chatting with a consumer lawyer will get you answers. Then you can decide what steps to take next.
John Watts