Tacoma Couple Enforce Truth In Lending Rights Against Foreclosing Lender As State Regulators Crack Down On Improper Loan Practices

In Tacoma, Washington, the Seattle Post Intelligencer reports:

• Michelle Miran didn't realize that there was something wrong with her mortgage until the interest rate reset last year. Her truth-in-lending statement – the legally required disclosure of loan rates and estimated costs – noted a 30-year fixed rate with monthly payments of $1,311 for 359 months. But two years into it, her monthly payment shot up to about $1,700, and she and her husband fell behind. They're now fighting foreclosure on their Tacoma home and fighting back in court, suing the mortgage broker and lender.(1)

• Their battle comes as state regulators have cracked down on mortgage abuse, bringing charges against lenders and brokers for charging unlawful or excessive fees, failing to disclose costs and fees to borrowers and imposing illegal prepayment penalties.

For more, see State, homeowners taking on lenders (Questionable mortgages appear headed for court).

For other posts on homeowners using Federal & state consumer protection statutes to try and undo bad mortgage loans, Go Here, Go Here, and Go Here.

(1) According to the story, (1) The Mirans claim that the truth-in-lending statement they received represented the loan as a conventional 30-year, fixed-rate loan; (2) their lawsuit alleges that the monthly payments shouldn't have gone up after two years; (3) their HUD-1 settlement, a document borrowers get at closing that itemizes all charges, did not credit the couple for a $6,000 payment to mortgage broker America One, according to their lawsuit; (4) Miran said the loan officer rushed her through the closing process, sending her a 2-inch- thick stack of documents while she was out of town on business; (5) Miran claims to have signed the documents alone in her hotel room, and not in the presence of an escrow agent, even though an agent's signature appears on the documents, according to the lawsuit; (6) She also claims to have paid loan-origination fees that didn't reduce the rate she was charged; (7) Washington State regulators issued a cease and desist order against the loan officer, Eliza Bautista, in 2006, about a year after the Mirans took out their loan. undo mortgage loans TILA batallion