Do we need an Attorney if so, what type?

[artmage]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
I have a mortgage with Chase. I tried to refi with them in Nov. 2017. I got fed up with them asking for information/documents over and over that I have given. Obviously the different departments don't communicate with each other.
None the less, I decided to refi with our credit union.
I found that there was a lien on us that the county inadvertently put someone elses account number on us. We had no idea we had a lien until I tried to refi. This took about 5 weeks to investigate and clear. Afterwards, I thought our refi would close but then found that Chase didn't pay our property tax (we have PITI on our mortgage payments) With countless calls and being put on hold forever, it took Chase 7 weeks to email me a copy of the cancelled check to the Tax Collector. I called the tax collector and they said they're investigating. I told them I have a cancelled check and I'm trying to refi. They're response was Los Angeles County has 20 million people wait your turn!
From the time I tried to refi interest was 3.85 now it's 4.5%
During this process of refi I paid $500 for an appraisal.
What recourse do we have? My husband contact I believe is a real estate attorney and sent documents but he/they don't respond.

Any suggestions?

 

[Taxing Matters]

What recourse do we have? My husband contact I believe is a real estate attorney and sent documents but he/they don't respond.

Any suggestions?

Frankly I’m not seeing a good claim against anyone here. Refinancing delays are fairly common for lots of different reasons. Lenders and government agencies have bureaucracies and back logs of work to go through; there are not a lot of things they do that are taken care of instantly. Rates changing (either higher or lower) is a risk you undertake anytime you start a loan process — you are not guaranteed rates won’t change while you work out the details of getting the loan in place. You may contact a California civil litigation attorney to see if he or she thinks there is something worthwhile to pursue and what it will cost you in fees/costs to get it.

How much was the amount borrowed and what was the term of the loan (e.g. 30 year fixed)? Note that on a $500,000, 30 year fixed rate loan the payment at 4.5% would $2,533.43 and at 3.85% it would be $2,344.04. The difference in payment is $189.39/month, which over 30 years would cost you $68,178 dollars more, all of that interest. But if you sued, you wouldn’t get $68,178 because your cost on that is spread out over 30 years. You’d get the present value of that amount, which is the amount that invested today would get you payments of $189/month. Let’s say at the time you sue the investment rate is 5%, i.e. you could invest in 30 year annuity today and get a return of 5% compounded monthly. For that annuity to pay out $189/month for 30 years with a zero balance at the end, you would need to invest $35,279.88. That then is the amount of the judgement that would cover you for the entire difference on change in rates. If the loan amount is smaller and or the loan term shorter these numbers would be less. Moreover, it is likely that Not all of the rate rise would be recoverable here even if you could hold either the lender or the county liable for the delay because several factors fed into the delay here, not just one. Given what it can cost to litigate a case like this it may not pay to spend the money to do it unless the loan amount was fairly sizable.