Nashville Mortgage Attorneys

Our Nashville Attorneys have helped many individuals and families resolve mortgage issues and disputes they have had with their mortgage servicer or lender. The law prescribes many borrower rights that few now about or take advantage of.  Contact us today if you have a dispute with your mortgage company and they won’t listen to you!

Qualified Written Request (QWR)

The Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act (RESPA) was enacted to ensure that borrowers were provided certain rights, especially communication, against their mortgage servicers. A qualified written request (qwr) was one of those rights. A QWR is a letter written by the borrower, or on the borrower’s behalf, to the mortgage servicer for the purpose of resolving errors on the account, or for requesting information regarding the account.

 How to Send a QWR

To Send a QWR you must include

• Your name and account number (or other sufficient identifiable information to identify yourself and your account)
• Specific reasons you believe your account is in error
• A detailed description of the information you are seeking

Many servicers on your statements, or on their website, have a specified address or P.O. Box for QWRs. When we send letters, we send them certified mail, return receipt requested, to prove delivery if the issue ever goes to litigation. Additionally, it is also necessary to state in the start of the letter that it is intended to be a QWR.

Servicer’s Response

Once the servicer receives the QWR, it is required to respond as follows:

• They must acknowledge receipt of the QWR within five days (not weekends and holidays), unless it takes the action you requested within that time period.
• Within 30 days (excluding weekends and holidays), they must
  • provide the information you requested,
  • make the correction you requested,
  • let you know why it cannot provide you with the information, or
  • tell you that there has not been a mistake and your account information is correct.
• The 30 day period may be extended by 15 days (excluding weekends and holidays) if before the end of the 30 days the servicer notifies you in writing of the extension and why needed.
• Additionally, during the response period, the servicer is prohibited from reporting any overdue payment to a credit reporting agency.

Failure to Comply

If the Servicer fails to comply with the law regarding the QWR then you may be entitled to:

• Any actual damages caused by the servicer’s failure
• Up to $2,000 for each violation if there is a pattern or practice of noncompliance
• Attorney’s fees and court costs

Force Placed Insurance

RESPA also regulates the servicer’s procedures and borrower’s rights regarding force-placed insurance on the property. A servicer cannot obtain force-placed hazard insurance unless there is a reasonable basis to believe the borrower has failed to comply with the loan contract’s requirements to maintain property insurance. To obtain Force-placed insurance and charge the your account, the servicer must comply with the following:

• Written Notice

  • Send by first class mail a written notice to the borrower containing —
    • a reminder of the borrower’s obligation to maintain hazard insurance on the property securing the federally related mortgage;
    • a statement that the servicer does not have evidence of insurance coverage of such property;
    • a clear and conspicuous statement of the procedures by which the borrower may demonstrate that the borrower already has insurance coverage; and
    • a statement that the servicer may obtain such coverage at the borrower’s expense if the borrower does not provide such demonstration of the borrower’s existing coverage in a timely manner;
  • The servicer has sent, by first-class mail, a second written notice, at least 30 days after the mailing of the prior notice that contains the same information as the first notice ; and
  • The servicer has not received from the borrower any demonstration of hazard insurance coverage for the property securing the mortgage by the end of the 15-day period beginning on the date the notice under the prior section was sent by the servicer.

• Demonstration

You can show a demonstration to your servicer by providing any reasonable form of written confirmation  of existing insurance coverage, which shall include the existing insurance policy number along with the identity of, and contact information for, the insurance company or agent, or as otherwise required by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.

• Termination of Force Placed Insurance

• terminate the force-placed insurance; and
• refund to the consumer all force-placed insurance premiums paid by the borrower during any period during which the borrower’s insurance coverage and the force-placed insurance coverage were each in effect, and any related fees charged to the consumer’s account with respect to the force-placed insurance during such period.

Transfer of Servicing

Mortgage servicers are required to notify the borrower in writing of any assignment, sale, or transfer of the servicing of the loan to any other person. The notice must be made to the borrower not more than 15 days after the effective date of transfer of the servicing of the mortgage loan. However, there is an exception to the 15 days for certain proceedings; the servicer may have 30 days after the date of transfer in a case where the assignment is preceded by