Look. I consider myself to be an upstanding citizen. I have a college degree; make a steady income, am a responsible single mom raising a family, keeping a roof over our heads...well, maybe keeping a roof over our heads. The reason I say maybe is because the mortgage company almost took our home on a legal technicality!

I Started it

What happened was this. One December, I was financially stretched and made payment arrangements to pay two mortgage payments mid-January. It was agreed I would send cash through Western Union. and sign an agreement, which the rep would fax to me. However, the fax did not come, even after my persistently calling five times to request it, while being on hold 20 minutes each time. He would promise to fax it that very day. yet it never came. However in mid-January, still expecting the fax to be forthcoming, I did as instructed, and made the cash payment with account number, and the proper city code via Western Union.

Then near the end of the first week in February, Western Union contacted me requesting me to retrieve my money, because it had been returned by the mortgage company. Meanwhile, shortly after, my February payment check was returned from the mortgage company, with a form letter stating they were not accepting the payment because I was two months behind from December and January. I failed to understand their logic, but that's what the letter said.

O.K. No problem, right? I would make all three payments, about $2100. Not so easy. My home was suddenly in foreclosure and they wanted a total of $5500 to include attorney's fees, late fees, penalties, and foreclosure filing fees to cure the loan default! The case had already been filed.

Legal Nightmare

Fortunately, I was able to legally navigate through the entire situation, but it wasn't easy. Being a single mom, and not receiving my court ordered child support, I was barely making ends meet; and could not finance an attorney. Fortunately, I was a member of a prepaid legal service and was able to get counsel from one of the attorneys. The prepaid legal attorney informed me that since the mortgage company had made payment arrangements with me, they would not be within their rights to negotiate the loan contract in the form of a successful foreclosure. Their foreclosure suit was based on the loan contract I had signed which said they had the right to repossess my home if I were three payments in arrears. That legal premise would be invalid to the court, if I could prove they had made a different payment arrangement with me.

I Represent Myself in Court

They say a person who has himself for an attorney is a fool, for an attorney, but with the help of the prepaid legal service, I took that chance. I needed to either fight for my home at the foreclosure hearing, pay the $5500, or lose my home. The prepaid legal service advised me to not be emotional but to stay strictly on the point of law--to prove the truth--that they had made payment arrangements with me and rendered the prior loan agreement unenforceable. This was tricky because the negligent rep had not faxed the agreement, as promised, and it would be their word against my word. In order to strengthen my word, the attorney suggested I call the rep with whom I had made the payment arrangements, have him admit he had done so, record the conversation, and transcribe it to a written document. Then, I could present that document as evidence to the court. Now that would be some legal muscle!

How I Stopped it (Or did I?)

And that is just what I did. I presented the transcribed document to the court, along with the Western Union document showing the returned payments, and the February payment returned check. I represented myself in court, and won! The judge declared the mortgage company had no right to take my home, nor could they charge, late fees, interest, attorney fees, foreclosure fees, or any other kind of penalty. Instead of walking away with an easy $5500, the attorneys representing the mortgage company were ordered to accept my payments (5 payments by now) and were ordered not to charge any additional fees. This was the first time I had ever been my own attorney, but I had no other viable options. I was afraid, nervous, and intimidated by the legal bullies from the big city; but exhilarated when I won, thankful to keep my home, and encouraged that truth and justice had prevailed. The prepaid legal service that gave me legal muscle had been instrumental in saving my home from the legal bullies. However, it wasn't over yet, the bullying continued on...

How I Stopped It, To Be Continued Part Two

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