On December 28, my husband and I closed the transaction which sold our house in Washington state and paid off EMC Mortgage. We were curious as to the nature of several unexplained fees on our payoff statement such as "recoverable corporate expenses" and for the fact that we were charged interest on this mortgage from October through February when we paid off the loan legally through escrow on a federal HUD 1 form on December 28. We were charged interest for two months after the loan had been paid!
We brought this matter to the attention of our BK attorney who advised to wait 6 - 8 weeks for a refund. It never came. We have had to hire another attorney in order to collect the funds. The attorney has written two letters demanding explanation of the fees and interest charged under the federal Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act (RESPA).
We finally received a detailed accounting which noted that we were charged over $800 for "Foreclosure" costs. We were never in foreclosure and under the Chapter 13 BK protection, EMC Mortgage was prohibited from filing foreclosure against us. If they did, of which, of course, we never received notification or have no knowledge, they were in violation of the automatic stay of the Western Washington Federal District Bankruptcy Court. Our attorney replied to this accounting with the above objections and notations in addition to reminding them that although they didn't received their check in their "accounting"department until January 24, according to the federal law, they were paid in full as of December 28.
We are still waiting for our refund. They, of course, have been earning interest on our money for almost a year while we have been paying attorney's fees.
In addition to overcharging us for the payoff of this mortgage, EMC Mortgage also reported 5x30 day mortgage lates on our credit report which, again, was in violation of the automatic stay issued by the Bankruptcy court. It took another attorney to force them to report correctly but we don't know when the next "error" will show up. We have been denied credit because of this.
These practices, especially the erroneous reporting to the credit bureaus, is very, very common. Watch yourselves! Don't trust any creditor to report your payment history correctly or to comply with the law, even federal law, unless you make them! We need to join together to sue or force our complacent lawmakers to do their jobs and protect us against this rampant corporate RIPOFF!!
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