Thursday, January 17, 2008

Countrywide Stops Automatic Drafts, Then Forecloses On Homeowner, Says Lawsuit

In Beaumont, Texas, The Southeast Texas Record reports:
  • There seems to be no relief in sight for Countrywide Home Loans, as a West End couple has just filed a new lawsuit alleging that the lender stopped automatically withdrawing loan funds and wrongly foreclosed on their home. Brian and Ahli Sparkman assert Countrywide had been automatically drafting their mortgage payment from their bank account for one full year, then for reasons unknown, stopped and foreclosed on them.

Reportedly, the lawsuit alleges that Countrywide's failure to automatically withdraw the monthly mortgage payments after agreeing that it would do so (and having done so for a year) constitutes a misrepresentation under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code §§17.41—63).

For more, see Beaumont couple claims Countrywide wrongly foreclosed on home.

For more on the Texas statute, see The Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act: Still Alive And Well.