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Mortgage Charging Interest Randomly

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  • 02-28-2014, 03:31 PM
    1standarduser
    Mortgage Charging Interest Randomly
    My question involves a mortgage in the state of: Washington

    Some months, my principal is $1000, some months it is $100. Same goes for interest.
    This is true even if the payments are made within a few days of each other (for example, Oct 3rd, Nov 2nd, Dec 4th).
    There has never been a late payment or late fee.

    I have been trying to get answers for over a year. Talked to the managers at 2 branches, called on the phone dozens of times, spent 100+ hours trying to get this resolved.

    When I sent in a qualified written request (they responded, but not within the legal timeframe of 60 days) they did not actually answer why this was.

    To make it worse, they sent me a history statement with all the numbers changed around!
    If I compare this new history statement with my old statements, the dates are the same for payments, but all the $ numbers have been changed including principle, interest and total balance.

    Certainly if they are saying the old numbers are correct, then the new document must be fraudulent (or visa versa).

    I'm not sure what my legal recourse is here.
    Please help.
  • 02-28-2014, 04:16 PM
    adjusterjack
    Re: Mortgage Charging Interest Randomly
    Maybe no recourse at all.

    It doesn't necessary follow that one document is fraudulent when the other isn't. That's just your emotional reaction that the bank is somehow doing you wrong. While that could be true, you haven't gone far enough in your investigation to know that.

    Here are my suggestions:

    1 - Take out your mortgage contract and determine the original principal amount, the annual interest rate (not APR), the expected number of payments for the life of the loan and plug those figures into the following amortization calculator and print out the amortization schedule:

    http://www.bretwhissel.net/amortization/amortize.html

    Understand that the calculations are based on the payment being posted the same day every month. The reality is that, with many mortgages, the interest and principal allocations can change from month to month depending on the day of the month that the payment is posted to the account.

    2 - Gather up all of your 1099s going back to when you took out the loan and gather up whatever annual or periodic statements that you have that show a principal balance at any given time.

    3 - Compare those to the amortization schedule.

    If the annual results, and current balance, are within even a hundred or two of each other then any differences are likely due to the posting dates and that means you have no beef with the bank.

    If there are larger discrepancies between the two then you'll have something to talk about with the lender and then you'll have potential legal recourse against the bank.
  • 02-28-2014, 04:29 PM
    1standarduser
    Re: Mortgage Charging Interest Randomly
    1 - This was my first step to verify. Interest charges can change by $10-$50 a month with my mortgage when paid in a similar time of month (started at interest of $17 a day or so). There is no explanation why the amount can vary by $1,000 USD.

    2 - I've got this. Truth to be told, in the long run both documents are fairly close to where they should be. That said, they show different numbers.

    3 - Did this with step one.


    To be more clear without giving away my personal info:

    I made a payment on X day. Then, 21 days later I made another payment. This 21 day period in theory should have less interest than usual. Instead, I paid nearly all interest and very little to principal.

    I made a payment on X day. Then, 20 days later I made another payment. This 20 day peroid gave me nearly all principal, with only $30 going to interest. I should have been charged more for interest.

    All payments have been early, so there is no issue with getting billing charges.

    I figure if some months they are charging me $500 too much interest, they are probably doing this to other people as well. Maybe for them it's worse. Maybe for them it turned out in their favor. Either way, I don't want this happening to me or them.

    I've talked to the lender over and over again. The guys at the branch level say it's obviously wrong, until they make a phone call. Then the communication stops. This is why I have visited more than one branch, talked to several employees in each and made dozens of phone calls. It's obvious to a lower level guy, but I don't get any answers.

    I would like to:
    #1 - have an explanation and admission that their numbers are factually wrong
    #2 - get some kind of compensation for my lost time and money not being let out of my loan without a fee
    #3 - have this be known by the public and have USBank be responsible for fixing the problem for them as well

    Thank you for the response.
  • 02-28-2014, 04:58 PM
    adjusterjack
    Re: Mortgage Charging Interest Randomly
    Quote:

    Quoting 1standarduser
    View Post
    I would like to:
    #1 - have an explanation and admission that their numbers are factually wrong

    But they aren't "factually" wrong.

    You admit:

    Quote:

    Quoting 1standarduser
    View Post
    Truth to be told, in the long run both documents are fairly close to where they should be. That said, they show different numbers.

    As long as your annual interest shown on the 1099 is close to the annual interest shown on the amortization schedule and the balance principal at the end of the year is close to the balance principal on the amortization schedule, what difference does it make what the figures look like each month. The bank isn't stealing your money.

    Quote:

    Quoting 1standarduser
    View Post

    #2 - get some kind of compensation for my lost time and money not being let out of my loan without a fee
    #3 - have this be known by the public and have USBank be responsible for fixing the problem for them as well

    I can pretty much guarantee you that neither of those are ever going to happen.

    Quote:

    Quoting 1standarduser
    View Post

    I made a payment on X day. Then, 21 days later I made another payment. This 21 day period in theory should have less interest than usual. Instead, I paid nearly all interest and very little to principal.

    I made a payment on X day. Then, 20 days later I made another payment. This 20 day peroid gave me nearly all principal, with only $30 going to interest. I should have been charged more for interest.

    All payments have been early, so there is no issue with getting billing charges.

    I think I know what might have happened there but I'll need some more information.

    Exact date you took out the mortgage.
    Exact amount of the mortgage when you took it out.
    Interest rate.
    Duration (15 yrs, 30 yrs, or?)
    The exact dates and amounts of the two payments you just referred to.

    If you want to keep this just between us, click on my user name and send it in a personal message and I'll get the answer back to you the same way. Make sure you put a link to this thread in the message.
  • 02-28-2014, 05:07 PM
    Disagreeable
    Re: Mortgage Charging Interest Randomly
    It sounds like some payments are being credited as regular payments and others as a reduction to principal.
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