Let me start off with a warning:
If your mortgage company is offering to lock in your current, low interest rate before it re-adjusts or to re-write or revise your loan terms in any way...
Do not bite on these offers unless and until you know if you've got a legal case against them.
If you bite on their offer to freeze your current interest rate or re-write the loan without first knowing if your mortgage was an illegal loan in the first place, you may be making your original 'bad decision' even worse!
Don’t sign away your rights!
Many mortgage companies that have been making these offers are charging fees to re-write or freeze the interest rate on your current mortgage loan. I find that ironic and insulting, especially since they may be partly or entirely responsible for putting you into this bad position in the first place!
But here's the real kicker: If you do bite on one of these 'help' offers, there's an excellent chance you'll be signing away your legal rights to go after your mortgage company if you discover that they've violated your rights.
If the person or company originating your mortgage violated the Fair Housing Act, the Truth In Lending Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act or the Real Estate Settlement Practices Act, you may have the right to pursue other remedies available to you.
In order to determine whether your rights have been violated anywhere along the line, from loan origination through assessment of monthly payments, you'll need to have a comprehensive audit of your mortgage loan origination and mortgage servicing files.
Your remedies may include...
If the mortgage audit determines that your rights have in fact, been violated, then, depending on the number, type, and degree of violations, your remedies could include, but not be limited to, the following:
- The mortgage company or the current owner or servicer of your mortgage note may have to refund all monies paid by you to the mortgage company since the inception of your loan!
- If you decide that you do not want to continue living in the house, they may be forced to write you a lump sum check for the total refund amount or,
- If you decide that you do want to stay in the house, the mortgage company may opt to credit the amount owed on the note for the total refund amount.
- The mortgage company or current owner or servicer of your loan may have to recast the terms of your loan.
This means if you have an adjustable rate mortgage or 'ARM,' they may be forced to revise the terms of the note, which may include restructuring it from an ARM to a long-term fixed-rate mortgage at a reasonable market interest rate.
- Your mortgage company – or the current owner or servicer of your note – may also have to revise the principal balance owed. For example:
If the original loan to buy your home was for $250,000, but your mortgage audit results indicate you should have only qualified for a $200,000 loan, then the current owner or servicer of your mortgage may be forced to re-write the loan and reduce the loan balance to bring it into compliance.
In this example, you would be looking at a $50,000 potential
reduction of principal balance now owed under a
restructured loan.
Legal disclaimer!
Understand that we are not offering to save your mortgage, to save your home, or to provide any type of monetary or other relief.
Every person, every loan and every situation is different... which means that your specific remedies will be based upon current laws and regulations as determined by qualified legal counsel.
Why should the mortgage company have to pay?
If they made you a predatory loan, then they may have injured you by making a loan that you should have never received in the first place.
If they made you an illegal loan, your mortgage company cannot profit from such a transaction and as a result, they may be required to refund some or all of the monies they've received under such a contract.
Either way, there's a price to be paid for violating federal law, if a violation has occurred.
Click here to take the next step and find out how to launch the mortgage audit process.
