The American Dream?

Yes, a $500 late fee … that led to a long drawn out fight with the national bank who bought the little community bank that we signed a mortgage with in 1987. The case is ongoing and has taught us lessons about “allowed abuse,” how to report abuse, how to file complaints and the complex ways banks operate that may violate rules and laws that we aren’t expected to know about or understand.

We knew we were paying late. We knew a late fee, as written in our original mortgage contract, was due. That original agreement states that if we were late, we’d be charged no more than 3% of a monthly payment and states that this is reflective of state law.  We were shocked to see a $500 fee added to our statement as a “late fee.” That was in 2007. We refused to pay that fee. The bank continued to add fees because we refused to pay. They claimed by not paying those fees we were in default, threatened us and in 2008 began seven years of abusive treatment that included pre-foreclosure actions while adding fees and fines that now total over $6,000 – money that we do not intend to pay.

We’ve watched the laws change and learned as we watched the process of change, that what has been done to us by this company is in fact, illegal and each and every complaint we filed became part of a larger pattern that drove changes in mortgage regulations. But we live in a non-judicial foreclosure state and when a bank retaliates by filing documents that suggest foreclosure, even if you are people – like us –  who makes your mortgage payment on-time every month, it’s up to us to take the case to court.

The bank and their staff of lawyers can Continue reading →