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Lydia Said:

how do i serve a writ against my mortgage lender for mis-information?

We Answered:

Financial Ombudsman Service Ltd. South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR,


These are the people to write to, they regulate the Banks, and will investigate your complaint for free. I have used them with good results. Note that it could be a few weeks before they get back to you as they are very busy.
Good Luck

Justin Said:

Mortgage Lender company asking for too much money in short notice?

We Answered:

Most likely, the taxes being collected are legit. Going FHA does not matter.

Unfortunately, these are not fees, but are costs related directly to the home you picked. As you know taxes are taxes.

There are two parts to tax responsibilty when buying a home. First, lenders collect a reserve amount for your esrcow account, which pays out your city/county property taxes on the cooresdonding due dates.The second part is called tax prorations, which equates to you reimbursing the seller for property taxes that they have already paid in advance. For example, in Michigan all propety taxes are paid in advance, therefore you must reimburse the seller from the date of closing up til the next tax bill due date. When you combine the two, your looking at roughly 14 months of taxes! (Depending on your state laws, it could be more or less)

The true problem lies in the structuring of your loan program. At the time of pre-approval, your loan officer should have made sure that you applied for an amount that not only fit into your budget for a monthly payment but also fit into your budget for total out of pocket costs. Using with those two constraints properly should result in a general purchase price that you shouldn't have exceeded. She or he should have also explained the big impact that property taxes have on buying power and the total transaction. Plus, showed you how sellers money would apply to you program (FHA programs gnerally allow up to 6%).

Your realtor, if you had a buyers agent, should have informed you about prorations because this it is negotiable. So, even if you didn't have a great loan officer, your realtor could have tried to eliminate the prorations.

Bottom line: Do some verifying, then cough up the loot or start fresh from the beginning. Sounds like you have a crapy loan officer, which means you probably were screwed from the start. Plus if you didn't use a buyers agent who could professionally negtotiate on your behalf, then you basically put yourself in a worst situation.

Word to the wise if you choose to start over:
(1)The pre-approval process is the most important. That appointment sets the tone for the tansanction and possiblly the next 30 years of your life. Make sure to get with a proffesional that gets it AND makes sure you get it!
(2) Use a buyers agent. They are free and are proffesional negoitators. Real Estate finance is not a "do-it-youself" project. If you do it yourself, then you (regualr joe) are going up against the seller's agent (profeesional negotiator). Be smart, use a buyers agent.