Mortgage Co trying to charge late fees

[lukeroberts]

State - Maryland
I closed on a house 31Jan06 in MD. My loan origination document stated my first payment was to be 01Mar06 which was duly sent in on or about 21Feb06 with a letter asking for a coupon book. Check was cashed on 28Feb06 and I have a check image with a time stamp attesting to that. They charged a late fee for March saying that the check was received on the 7th. I called them disputing the late fee and they reluctantly took the charge off. (btw, they do not accept e-payments, only by mail or by them pulling the money out of my account instead of me pushing it out of my account)
On 20Mar06 I send them another check for the 01Apr06 payment along with another letter asking for a coupon book or invoice as well as the statement that the check was for the 01Apr06 mortgage payment. Check was cashed on 27Mar06. Weeks later I find out that they applied this payment to principal. I call them 4x to no success to fix the issue. So on 12Apr06 I sent them a CRRR letter detailing the issue, saying that the 27Mar06 payment was for the mortgage payment, thinking this was the end of the matter.
Now I find out that they are charging the late fee for Apr. I called them and they will not back off of this fee.
My questions are:
1) What do I do next? (Besides another CRRR letter disputing the fee, which I have already sent)
2) What governmental agency handles these matters?

The company in question is Weichert Financial Services (they were my realtor in the real estate transaction)

 

[HUD-1]

Some RESPA info:

Loan servicing complaints
Section 6 provides borrowers with important consumer protections relating to the servicing of their loans. Under Section 6 of RESPA, borrowers who have a problem with the servicing of their loan (including escrow account questions), should contact their loan servicer in writing, outlining the nature of their complaint. The servicer must acknowledge the complaint in writing within 20 business days of receipt of the complaint. Within 60 business days the servicer must resolve the complaint by correcting the account or giving a statement of the reasons for its position. Until the complaint is resolved, borrowers should continue to make the servicer's required payment.

A borrower may bring a private law suit, or a group of borrowers may bring a class action suit, within three years, against a servicer who fails to comply with Section 6's provisions. Borrowers may obtain actual damages, as well as additional damages if there is a pattern of noncompliance.

Other enforcement actions
Under Section 10, HUD has authority to impose a civil penalty on loan servicers who do not submit initial or annual escrow account statements to borrowers. Borrowers should contact HUD's Office of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs to report servicers who fail to provide the required escrow account statements.

Filing a RESPA complaint
Persons who believe a settlement service provider has violated RESPA in an area in which the Department has enforcement authority (primarily sections 6, 8 and 9), may wish to file a complaint. The complaint should outline the violation and identify the violators by name, address and phone number. Complainants should also provide their own name and phone number for follow up questions from HUD. Requests for confidentiality will be honored. Complaints should be sent to:


Director, Office of RESPA and Interstate Land Sales
US Department of Housing and Urban Development
Room 9154
451 7th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20410

 

[lukeroberts]

Thank You

Your information is much appreciated. I'll try to update in the upcoming weeks.

 

[lukeroberts]

UPDATE:
not really any news as of yet, since my last post. I have sent 2 CRRR letters and made a few phone calls only to see the late fee go from $107 to $99 and back. (this is according to their online page). I'm kind of in a holding pattern until my next bill.
I sent a letter to the address listed above and have not heard back yet. It appears that that gov agency/ACT doesn't have any real teeth otherwise Weichert would have replied by now.
I'm not really concerned (yet) about my money, I know that I have all of the evidence to disprove that any payments were late. (thank god they date stamp the checks when they recieve them)
This has got to be some kind of scam. I'm sure alot of people would just pay the money