Do Mortgage Servicing Companies Charge Excessive 'Attorney Fees' When A Homeowner Goes Into Default?

(revised 10-10-07)
For those who think that they may have been clipped by a mortgage loan servicer for excessive attorney fees being added to their account while their home mortgage was in default (a predatory practice), Excessive Attorney Mortgage Fees: “I Almost Lost My Home”, at LawyersandSettlements.com may be of some interest.

See also, Excessive Attorney Fees: Homeowner Robbery, at LawyersandSettlements.com.

Go here for more on Excessive Attorney Mortgage Fees, and mortgage servicer Mortgage Electronics Registration Systems, Inc. ("MERS"). Reportedly:

• "MERS allegedly retains attorneys to handle foreclosure actions at a stated price but when the attorneys’ fees are passed along to the borrowers, MERS charges the borrowers more than it pays the foreclosure attorneys. Between what it pays the attorneys and what it charges borrowers, MERS keeps the difference as a profit to itself."

The existence of this practice, if true, lends support to the proposition that, financially, mortgage loan servicers might be far better off driving homeowners into foreclosure, pocketing inflated foreclosure fees and costs in the process, rather than trying to help a homeowner modify or otherwise work out their home mortgage loan. (However, the company or mortgage investment trust - and their certificate holders - who actually own the mortgage might not be too happy about it - they are the ones who will actually take the financial beating when a home is foreclosed.)

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