We recently filed a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy for someone who continued to pay their mortgage throughout the 3 months of their Chapter 7.
We knew that the mortgage company was in no danger of taking a loss, as all payments were current, and the mortgage company did not have to do any extra work because of the bankruptcy.
Surprisingly, and unexpectedly, the mortgage company then charged our client $125 in attorney’s fees.
Understandably, Andrew Walker felt these attorney’s fees were wholly unjustified.
You know as well as we do, that that it isn’t reasonable to charge a fee where the mortgage company didn’t have to do anything extra, didn’t lose anything, and weren’t in danger of losing anything because of the bankruptcy.
In order to fix this situation, we sent a Qualified Written Request and Notice of Error to the mortgage company, saying that we thought that the fee was not allowed by the mortgage contract, because the fee was not reasonable.
The Qualified Written Request and Notice of Error are special types of letter that the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) says homeowners can use to get information and resolve disputes with mortgage companies.
If the mortgage company doesn’t provide the information or fix the problem, then the homeowner may bring a civil action against the mortgage company.
In our case, the mortgage company wrote back to inform us that they would not charge the fee. Perhaps this was because they didn’t want to get drawn into a litigation case over whether the fee was reasonable or not.
Obviously, our client is delighted that they don’t have to pay an additional fee, and we’re delighted as well that the mortgage company saw sense, and decided not to charge the fee.
Conclusion
If you’ve been charged a fee that you feel is unreasonable because of your financial situation, or perhaps even during your Chapter 7 Bankruptcy or Chapter 13 Bankruptcy in Minnesota, then you’ll need the right legal advice.
Contact us at 612.824.4357 today, and tell us how we can help you.
