Something You Don't See Everyday

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on a Mr. Patrick Rodgers who is forclosing on his mortgage company. Well, not quite but it's still a man bites dog kind of story.

Frustrated by a dispute with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and by his inability to get answers to questions, the West Philadelphia homeowner took the mortgage company to court last fall.

When Wells Fargo still didn't respond, Rodgers got a $1,000 default judgment against it for failing to answer his formal questions, as required by a federal law called the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.

The dispute is not over late payments, a defaulted mortgage or any other of the usual causes.

Rodgers owns a three-story, six-bedroom Tudor on a beautiful street not far from City Avenue. He paid about $180,000 for it in 2002, and for years handled his mortgage without dispute.

But in mid-2009, his insurer delivered troubling news: His homeowners premium would more than double, because Wells Fargo was insisting that he insure the home's full replacement value - about $1 million worth of coverage, the insurer told him.

It get interesting when Wells Fargo doesn't pay the judgment.

And when the mortgage company didn't pay - does something sound familiar? - Rodgers turned to Philadelphia's sheriff.

The result: At least for the moment, the contents of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, 1341 N. Delaware Ave., are scheduled for sheriff's sale on March 4 to satisfy the judgment and pay about $200 for court and sheriff's costs.

Based on the article, I think Wells Fargo is clearly outside the boundaries of their responsibility to the stockholders as well as common decency. As long as Rodgers keeps up his payments, pays his taxes has sufficient insurance to pay off the mortgage should the house burn down or something, Wells Fargo has no business making any demands. The guy make his payments on time which is how a mortgage company stays in business. Doesn't anyone there understand the idea of treating a good customer well?

This will probably end with Wells Fargo paying the $1,000 judgment and associated court fees. Hopefully, they will then answer Mr. Rodgers questions like they should have done in the first place. However I admit that small part of me would like to see Wells Fargo being forced to move out of the building as it is sold from under underneath them.

H/T to Surviving California