OK, Bullsie got me to start this. Here's the scenario:
We refinanced our mortgage with GMAC/DBA Ditech in 2002. In 2005 we refinanced it again with Ditech, paying off the 2002 loan. About 2-3 years ago we paid off the loan, owning the house free and clear.
During the title search process when selling the house, we discovered that the 2002 loan had never been noted as being satisfied in the county deed book. In fact, it was worse - it was never even registered until 2006 - a year after it had been paid off - and the notary that filed it stated that we had signed it in 2005 (in a town I've never been to), and used photocopies of our signatures on the mortgage documents, he had never provided a copy of the HUD-1.
Since that time, GMAC mortgage went belly up, so there's nobody there that can state it was paid off. Their records were distributed to Ditech, OCWEN, and CENLAR, but they all deny having them.
We have a 1098 tax document from 2005 from GMAC/Ditech showing that it was paid off, and we have the 2005 settlement docs from the new loan showing they distribution to pay off the other loan, and my credit report shows nobody is after the money, but that was apparently not enough for the title insurance company.
Apparently, courtesy of the "fast and loose" nature of the mortgage industry back in that era (remember the recession they caused???), this is not uncommon, and has actually fostered the creation of an industry specifically for resolving such issues. Unfortunately, they typically take 60-90 days to do so, and in order for the sale of that house and purchase of this one to not fall through, we had to take a bunch of cash out of my IRA's, and put 150% of that mortgage amount in escrow.
We have also hired a lawyer, who has requested the docs from all three companies, and if they don't respond in a timely fashion, we can take the evidence we have and have a judge declare it satisfied...
All I can say is that THANK GOD we had the wherewithal to do that. It is delaying us doing some upgrades to this place, and purchasing our boat, but beyond that, it's just aggravating.
WORD TO THE WISE: If you have any plans of selling your house in the future, do yourself a favor and have the county deed book researched well in advance. It'll save you a lot of aggravation in the future.
We refinanced our mortgage with GMAC/DBA Ditech in 2002. In 2005 we refinanced it again with Ditech, paying off the 2002 loan. About 2-3 years ago we paid off the loan, owning the house free and clear.
During the title search process when selling the house, we discovered that the 2002 loan had never been noted as being satisfied in the county deed book. In fact, it was worse - it was never even registered until 2006 - a year after it had been paid off - and the notary that filed it stated that we had signed it in 2005 (in a town I've never been to), and used photocopies of our signatures on the mortgage documents, he had never provided a copy of the HUD-1.
Since that time, GMAC mortgage went belly up, so there's nobody there that can state it was paid off. Their records were distributed to Ditech, OCWEN, and CENLAR, but they all deny having them.
We have a 1098 tax document from 2005 from GMAC/Ditech showing that it was paid off, and we have the 2005 settlement docs from the new loan showing they distribution to pay off the other loan, and my credit report shows nobody is after the money, but that was apparently not enough for the title insurance company.
Apparently, courtesy of the "fast and loose" nature of the mortgage industry back in that era (remember the recession they caused???), this is not uncommon, and has actually fostered the creation of an industry specifically for resolving such issues. Unfortunately, they typically take 60-90 days to do so, and in order for the sale of that house and purchase of this one to not fall through, we had to take a bunch of cash out of my IRA's, and put 150% of that mortgage amount in escrow.
We have also hired a lawyer, who has requested the docs from all three companies, and if they don't respond in a timely fashion, we can take the evidence we have and have a judge declare it satisfied...
All I can say is that THANK GOD we had the wherewithal to do that. It is delaying us doing some upgrades to this place, and purchasing our boat, but beyond that, it's just aggravating.
WORD TO THE WISE: If you have any plans of selling your house in the future, do yourself a favor and have the county deed book researched well in advance. It'll save you a lot of aggravation in the future.
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