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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
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    6

    Default Is Lender’s Change to Mortgage Documents Actionable

    My question involves a foreclosure in the State of: IL
    Being that my home is currently in foreclosure I decided to have a forensic audit done on the copies of the loan documents I received at the closing in 2003. The results found that during the closing I had signed and dated the “I Wish to Cancel” line on “The Notice of Right to Cancel” page. I was not aware of this at the time, nor was I informed of it at any point thereafter.

    Prior to this I had also requested and received a copy of the mortgage documents from my lender. When checking their copy of the “The Notice of Right to Cancel” page, I noticed my signature and the date had now been lined out and the change initialed (with my initials). Apparently the lender had made these corrections without my knowledge or consent sometime after the closing, as these changes do not appear on the copy of the original loan documents I received at the time of the closing.

    Is this a violation of federal law/regulations and if so, which one(s)? Is it actionable and can it be pursued while defending the foreclosure action on my home?

    Please advise. Thank you very much in advance.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
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    Default Re: Is Lender’s Change to Mortgage Documents Actionable

    So your claim is that even though you did not intend to cancel your mortgage, you inadvertently signed in the wrong place, and later crossed out the erroneous signature and initialed your change? If you placed your initials on the correction, even if the correction was made after your initial copy of the documents was made, they're still your initials.

    What are you hoping to do here? Pay back all of the money you received from the lender and be released from the mortgage, based on that (subsequently corrected) error?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    6

    Default Re: Is Lender’s Change to Mortgage Documents Actionable

    Even though I had wanted to cancel the loan days before I closed (but was told I couldn’t or be faced with exorbitant fees) my signature on the “I Wish to Cancel” line was inadvertent. However, I did not line out the signature and initial the correction at any time during or after the closing, the lender did without my knowledge or authorization. In fact I didn’t even know I had signed on the cancellation line until it was found during a recent forensic audit. Nor did I know a correction had been made and my initials placed next to it until I checked copies of the loan documents provided by the lender.

    I have done everything I can in hopes of getting the lender to work with me as the house is in foreclosure. Like many others I’ve tried for a modification without success. Now that this error has been found I am wondering what, if any option(s) it may provide me in helping to fight the foreclosure.

    Thank you for your response and assistance. I very much appreciate it!

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Is Lender’s Change to Mortgage Documents Actionable

    When you described the initials as "your initials", you left open the inference that we were talking about your actual initials. But let's assume also that you can prove that they're not yours - a big assumption unless the difference in hand is obvious. (Even then something that could be difficult to prove in court. You're going to be hard pressed to find a forensic handwriting expert who claims the ability to discern whether a single set of initials is forged - at best you're likely to come up with a nebulous "appears inconsistent with" - as the sample size is too small to draw a meaningful conclusion.) When you unwind a mortgage, you pay back the money you borrowed. You didn't want to do that then, you apparently aren't able to do that now.

    Further, the fact that you took no action in (or since) 2003 serves as pretty clear evidence that you had neither the wish nor intention of cancelling the mortgage.

    It wouldn't surprise me a bit, if you were working with a mortgage broker, if your paperwork was "corrected" by the broker. I wouldn't even surprise me that much, for a loan of that era, if such a "correction" were made by the lender. But you cannot deny that you knew you were borrowing the money, so if you were to try to go back to 2003 to claim that you truly intended to cancel you would face serious obstacles of laches and/or the statute of limitations. You have no credible argument that you didn't realize that you borrowed the money.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    6

    Default Re: Is Lender’s Change to Mortgage Documents Actionable

    Interestingly enough I had gotten into a car accident the day of the closing and did ask to cancel the loan/closing, (for what’s it’s worth). However, the rep informed me that if I did not go through with it, I would be subject to penalties and exorbitant fees. So yes, I did show up the next day and willingly sign and back date all the documents. It is ironic though, that I signed the cancellation page on the wrong line. I didn’t even know cancellation was an option! My only issue is with the fact that the broker or the lender made a change to the loan documents without my knowledge or consent. If it all was so innocuous, they should have just asked me to do it.

    I totally agree with you that things were done much differently years ago. If the lender/broker did do something wrong though, I am very interested in knowing all I can about it especially if it could affect and/or assist me in any way in keeping my home.

    Thank you very much for your insight!

    Also, just to clear the confusion, the lender/broker/whomever, did forge my actual initials next to where they had lined out my signature on the "I Wish to Cancel" line.

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