Mortgage Company Payment Ledger Contains Falsified Documentation

Would you be surprised to learn that your mortgage company changed your mortgage payment and added fees during your Chapter 13 bankruptcy without telling you.  Apparently that’s what happened to a Mrs.  Hill, a resident of Pennsylvania.

After completing her five year Chapter 13 plan successfully and receiving a discharge, Mrs. Hill received a letter from Countrywide, her mortgage lender, saying that she was in default!  Why? Countrywide changed the payment due to an escrow revision, but never bothered to tell the debtor, although they claimed to have sent letters to the debtor.

Then, when the debtor demanded proof of these notification letters, Countrywide “recreated” (made up) these letters.

Needless to say, the judge considering the evidence was not particularly pleased with Countrywide’s recordkeeping practices.

The point here - just because a mortgage company says you owe them money, it may not be true.  I have personally reviewed mortgage payment history documents and I have seen firsthand duplicate billings, overcharges and downright illegal add-ons.

My advice - keep your own records of all payments made inside and outside of bankruptcy and don’t hesitate to dispute charges that don’t make sense.

Thanks to Profession Katie Porter of the CreditSlips blog for writing about this outrageous mortgage lender practice.