Problem with Mortgage Co - HELP!

[lrprn]

A very unpleasant surprise in today's mail - a letter from a lawyer representing our home mortgage company stating that our mortgage company says we were in arrearages for our June 1 mortgage payment when we filed and our trustee noting this wasn't included on our Ch 13 filing forms. It wasn't included on our filing forms because THIS IS NOT TRUE!

How can you be in arrears for your June mortgage payment when you file on June 1? We mailed our mortgage check on June 2 and it cleared our checking account on June 9 - I can see the electronic copy of the cashed check online and it was taken out of our account. Their lawyer filed the objection with the court on June 28 - same day as our 341 meeting. I pulled the mortgage company's June payment request from my paid bills file - it shows $0.00 next to Overdue Payments. Our April and May payment receipts show nothing overdue owed as well.

Has anyone else had this happen to them? Any ideas why our mortgage company is doing this? We've had this mortgage almost 20 years with only one late payment. One of our non-secured credit cards is with another division of this same company - we owed $700 and some change on it. Could that have something to do with it?

I sent an email and called our lawyer immediately to see if we can file an objection, but his office is on phonemail so he could be out of touch through the whole holiday weekend. Nothing to do but wait this out, I guess. Can everyone please send positive thoughts and a stiff dose of patience my way? (I need both badly right now!) Thanks for listening.

[SinkingFast]

You filed on June 1,......... Did you mail the payment to the regular payment address on June 2??

That could be the problem right there. By the time your payment was received and posted, your acct could have been moved to the BK Dept. Right hand doesn't know what the left is doing kind of thing.

And, of course, because of the automatic stay, the mortgage Lender cannot contact you.

You probably need to print out all the documents you mentioned. A copy of the cancelled check, the June payment request showing $0.00 due, and anything else you can still get access to online. ASAP. Many folks loose internet access to their accts when they file BK.

Then call that attny that represents the mortgage company and get their fax number. Also contact your mortgage Lender and ask for the BK Dept. Get a Fax number from them as well. Then Fax all the info you have to both parties. Maybe even fax or drop off copies of the same stuff with your attny.

Be sure to include your name, property address, and Loan # on each and every page you Fax. That's the way Countrywide wanted all paperwork we faxed back and forth with them handled.

Hopefully the Lender will realize their mistake and have the attny withdraw the complaint.

[Rob-NC]

I had my mortgage company state after we filed that they hadnt received any payments and wanted to lift the stay so that they could foreclose. Well...I got with my lawyer and proceeded to produce payment records for the payments they said I didnt send. They then say.....Oh...well.....Ummm.....you are sending them to the wrong address.........well GEEEZ Almighty! Nice of them to them to tell me and its nice to know that NONE of their deptartments talk to each other......anyways......

when all was done, they ended up adding THEIR lawyer fees to my chapter 13...even though I proved it was THEIR fault to beginwith..........

[SinkingFast]

If you're gonna be making your mortgage payments outside of your payment plan, be sure to get the new payment mailing address when you call your Lender.

Don't want the same thing happening again.

[Rob-NC]

Exactly!! dont do like I did and just assume its the same as its always been. the mortgage company had a bankruptcy addy in a completely different state.

[lrprn]

Exactly!! dont do like I did and just assume its the same as its always been. the mortgage company had a bankruptcy addy in a completely different state.

No worries there at least. About a week ago our mortgage company sent us their July payment invoice that had bankruptcy language ("this is NOT a request for payment - just informational, etc") all over it. I did see that the mailing address for our payment had changed. When I mailed our June mortgage payment on June 2, it did go to the address we always used before we filed because that's the only billing address I had at that time. The July payment I sent today will go to the new bk address, so at least this month we should be ok...whew!

I've gathered all the documentation proving we did indeed make our June 2006 mortgage payment (a print of the electronic picture of the actual check paid to our mortgage company, cashed, and removed from our checking account on June 9; the April, May and June 2006 mortgage company payment invoices showing $0.00 overdue on each; the July 2006 mortgage company payment invoice indicating our bk and also showing $0.00 overdue; and our bank's monthly paper statement which arrived today showing the June payment made to the mortgage company with the same check number and amount taken out of our account on June 9. Our mortgage company hasn't ever provided for online access to our account, so there's nothing to be gained there - they can't cancel access to what we've never had anyway .

Is there anything else that would support our position that I should dig out? Thanks for the good advice, Sinking and Rob - I'm breathing a little bit easier now.

[lrprn]

Quick update on our mortgage company situation (our home mortgage company's lawyer filed an objection to our Ch 13 plan saying we were in arrears for our mortgage payment due on June 1 when we filed on June 1 and the missing payment should have been added to our plan - we weren't in arrearage though and the battle is on)....

Emailed back and forth with our lawyer today - he's hasn't seen the filed objection papers from the mortgage company lawyer yet because he's been out of the office. Says he'll review them and meet with the mortgage company's lawyer to get things straightened out. Says if he has to prove our payment was made in June, he'll ask for the documentation I've collected.

I went out on PACER to check things on that side - saw that the mortgage company's lawyer added a notice of appearance to our plan on June 7 using his own name, not the mortgage company's (is that typical?). He electronically filed the official objection papers with our trustee and the courts on June 28. Interestingly, right on the the mortgage company's bankruptcy division's July 1 payment invoice we received about 10 days ago, our June payment is clearly noted right on the invoice as received on June 8 and disbursed to principal, interest, and escrow. Should be interesting to see how their lawyer justifies a missing June payment when the mortgage company itself acknowledges the June payment was received on its own invoice and nothing is showing as overdue for July.

Will share what happens when our lawyer speaks to their lawyer - not expecting that to happen until after the July 4th holiday is over however.

[Anj]

All I can say is my mortgage company is out for blood - and you should be EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS when dealing with them - it is my experience that they can and will do whatever they can to screw you - and then charge you for the "favor" - my mortgage company has cost me over $15000 (yeah, that's THOUSAND) dollars in fees because if I crap wrong they call their lawyer and pass along the $750 fee.

I got a "filing" in the mail today that states that I didn't pay for 3 months (which I did) and now they will only accept check or money order - I will be calling my lawyer about that because it was THEM that didn't accept my payment. All of my payments have cleared the bank with flying colors - it just really irritates me that they are doing their very best to make it as challenging and as hard as they possibly can - and all I can do is just sit back and take it and keep paying.

Hang in there - and honestly, it sucks - bad part is - because they filed it legally and all, that you will have to pay their "fees" even though it seems they were wrong. The reason I say this is because Mortgage companies are HUGE and pay BIG bucks to lawyers to manipulate the law in their favor ever time. Our bk lawyers are not versed in "mortgage" law (or whatever it is called) - so they really don't know how to fight properly. I had to pay $1000 and a bunch of other late fees and filling fees and such just last month because of another bulls**t thing the mortgage company has done.

So - hang on for a wild ride - if they are busting your butt this early in the game - then it may not be an easy go if it. I know my lawyer and the trustee agree that they are very unethical - and that refinancing would be a good option for me.

GL!!!

[lrprn]

All I can say is my mortgage company is out for blood - and you should be EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS when dealing with them - it is my experience that they can and will do whatever they can to screw you - and then charge you for the "favor" - my mortgage company has cost me over $15000 (yeah, that's THOUSAND) dollars in fees because if I crap wrong they call their lawyer and pass along the $750 fee.

I got a "filing" in the mail today that states that I didn't pay for 3 months (which I did) and now they will only accept check or money order - I will be calling my lawyer about that because it was THEM that didn't accept my payment. All of my payments have cleared the bank with flying colors - it just really irritates me that they are doing their very best to make it as challenging and as hard as they possibly can - and all I can do is just sit back and take it and keep paying.

Hang in there - and honestly, it sucks - bad part is - because they filed it legally and all, that you will have to pay their "fees" even though it seems they were wrong. The reason I say this is because Mortgage companies are HUGE and pay BIG bucks to lawyers to manipulate the law in their favor ever time. Our bk lawyers are not versed in "mortgage" law (or whatever it is called) - so they really don't know how to fight properly. I had to pay $1000 and a bunch of other late fees and filling fees and such just last month because of another bulls**t thing the mortgage company has done.

So - hang on for a wild ride - if they are busting your butt this early in the game - then it may not be an easy go if it. I know my lawyer and the trustee agree that they are very unethical - and that refinancing would be a good option for me.

GL!!!

Thanks for the support, anj. It's a sad, sad day in this country when our non-secured creditors are prevented by law from harassing us after bankrtupcy but our own mortgage companies can harass us in ways that are every bit as reprehensible and unethical as the worst collection agency and it's still perfectly legal for them to do so. Whoever says there's no debtor's prison hasn't had to deal with situations like this.

For some heart-breaking stories about what our mortgage company has repeatedly done to innocent people over the last few years who are in financial difficulty, want to refinance, or buy a new house, visit http://www.consumeraffairs.com/finan..._mortgage.html . I think we are in for a long, dark, and difficult five-year journey here.