A Philadelphia man has taken one of the tools a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer uses in the foreclosure fight and used it to "foreclose" on his local Wells Fargo Mortgage Office. When the Philadelphia man got a notice in his monthly mortgage statement that his insurance premiums were increasing by $500 per month because Wells Fargo was forcing him to insure his home for $1 million, a home he purchased for $180,000 in 2002 and had been paying faithfully since, he used one of the legal tools available to all homeowners...he sent Wells Fargo a Qualified Written Request asking for a detailed explanation of the reasons behind his premium increase.
Under Federal Law, lenders must acknowledge a Qualified Written Request within 20 days and respond with an explanation or fix the issue within 60 days. If lenders do not respond within the allotted time, they can be sued for $1000 and all fees and costs by the homeowner. That is exactly what happened in this case. The homeowner got a $1173 judgment against Wells Fargo, who failed to even show up at the hearing, and then failed the pay the homeowner to satisfy the judgment. Eventually the homeowner decided to file for a sheriff's levy, which instructs the sheriff to seize and sell the debtors property to satisfy the judgment. The local sheriff took the levy to the local Wells Fargo Mortgage office in order to notify them of the levy and sale date, inventory all the contents of the office, and post a notice preventing anything from being removed from the office! Wells Fargo has since sent the homeowner a check for the judgment but has refused to talk to him about the insurance premiums or correct the situation.
This is one of the most humorous examples of homeowners fighting back against the large banks. If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer today to learn about Qualified Written Requests and many other foreclosure tools that may be available to you.
