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HO claim/mtg company won't release payment

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N

ngh

Guest
(Virginia)
I had a claim against my homeowners insurance policy that the insurance company paid promptly. The check was made payable to me and my mortgage company, and was issued before the work was completed. When I got the check, I contacted my mortgage company to figure out how I was going to get the money to the contractor. They sent me a letter instructing me to endorse the check, then send it off to the mortgage company, along with a copy of the contract. They also needed the contractor to sign a standard mechanic's lien waiver. Upon receipt of all this stuff, they would send along someone to inspect that the work was actually done, then release the funds.

Making a long story short, the mortgage company cashed the check six months ago. They don't like the contract we signed with the contractor (it doesn't have the total $ amount in the contract). And the contractor took forever to sign the mechanic's lien waiver (and when they did, they used their own form, not the mortgage company's). So, although the work has been at least substantially complete for months, the mortgage company has yet to schedule the inspection, and hasn't released any of the insurance proceeds.

The contractor has been very patient about not being paid, but this probably won't go on forever. And the mortgage company has been earning hundreds of dollars of interest with the claim payment they deposited.

Anyone have any idea what rights the mortgage company has to continue to hold up this process? And why they should get to keep the interest on this payment (I figure it either belongs to the insurance company, or to me, since I pay the premiums on the HO policy.)?
 


ALawyer

Senior Member
You have written a very articulate question and unfortunately I do not have a simple solution to offer.

It sounds as if you are dealing with a rather outrageous mortgage company, and the first thing to do might be to complain to the state banking department, with a carbon copy to the CEO of the morgage company and its servicer.

As for the interest, if this is a pattern rather than an anomoly, you may want to write to your legistature and congressperson and suggest there ought to be a law. It is possible that a class action attorney might find it of interest too, but I can't say at this point.

 

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