Suit: Mortgage Holder Fails To Remit Property Tax Escrow Payments To County, Leaving Homeowner Facing Tax Lien Foreclosure

In Chicago, Illinois, the Post-Tribune reports:

• An East Chicago woman claims her mortgage company never paid her property taxes, sending her house into a tax sale and furthering her bankruptcy troubles.
  
  Arlene Nunez’s estate and Paul Chael, a bankruptcy trustee, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Hammond against Juan Martinez and Guadalupe Zuniga-Martinez, the owners of the now-defunct JNRC Capital Investments, an Illinois firm. The company, based in Plainfield, Ill., was involuntarily dissolved in 2010.
  
  The suit claims that JNRC never paid her property taxes and failed to give her a detailed accounting of what happened to her monthly payments, including money that was supposed to be used to pay the property taxes.
  
  Nunez bought her home in the 4500 block of Baring Avenue in 2005. The loan was transferred about a year later to JNRC, and, the suit claims, Nunez continued to pay the money meant for taxes. The company never sent those payments to Lake County, however. That led Nunez’s house to be placed on a tax sale list, which in turn caused Nunez to file for bankruptcy, according to the suit.
  
  Nunez had filed for bankruptcy in the past, according to court records. She filed again in 2007, and JNRC claimed Nunez owed the company about $2,856.
  
  Nunez’s lawsuit says she asked the company for a breakdown of her payment history, the claimed arrears and foreclosure fees, but the company never sent the information.
  
  Nunez’s attorney Adam Sedia said federal law dictates that banks and financing companies have to share information with their customers about their mortgages. “It’s all about openness,” Sedia said. “The financing entity has to let you know what you’ve paid, where it’s gone and how much you owe.” He added that Nunez had been paying her taxes as part of her Chapter 13 bankruptcy case.
  
  She is asking for treble or punitive damages and attorney fees.

Source: Woman sues mortgage company for not paying property taxes.