So You Want To Use Respa, N’est-Ce Pas?

By Debra L. Miller and John Gustafson

Qualified Written Requests – Powerful Discovery Is There For The Asking.

“RESPA” is an acronym for the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, passed by Congress in 1974.  The full Act is found in Title 12, Chapter 27 of the United States Code.  See, 12 U.S.C. §§2601 – 2617.  The amount that a lender can collect as a monthly escrow is governed by RESPA.

The overall Act had, as its initial purpose, preventing undisclosed kickbacks, and other practices that interfered with transparency and legitimate price competition.

First we will focus . . .

It looks like you are not signed in or registered! This content is only available to members.

Or Sign In Below:

No Author Biography has been linked to this Article.

Related Articles

July 12, 2020
By Daryl J. Smith, Senior Staff Attorney to Sylvia Ford Brown, Chapter 13 Trustee (Memphis, TN) and Katherine L. Rea, Staff Attorney to Pamela Simmons-Beasley, Chapter 13 Trustee (Columbia, SC) Is there ever a reason to oppose a voluntary dismissal of a chapter 13 that has not been converted from a chapter 7? Maybe. But will you be successful? Probably...
Members
June 7, 2020
By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction Chapter 13 practitioners certainly do not need to be told that a lender with a mortgage1 on the debtor's principal residence has a special position in a Chapter 13 case. A chapter 13 plan may "modify the rights of holders of secured claims, other than a claim secured only...
Members
daryl smith
April 23, 2023
Is there a duty to inform the trustee about changes post-plan confirmation? Yes.  There is an inherent duty for the consumer debtor to update the trustee on any and all material changes, particularly windfalls, post plan confirmation.  In a very recent case, In Re Robinson, the United States Trustee moved to dismiss debtor’s chapter 13 case because the debtor received...
Members
August 4, 2019
By Academy Staff Those who have been around consumer bankruptcy for a while remember the halcyon days when a Debtor surrendered property in the Plan; Plan was confirmed; lender would foreclosure and file its deficiency claim; Debtor would complete the Plan; and obtain a discharge of all unsecured debts including the deficiency balance. Lenders were able to realize on the...
Members
January 20, 2019
On October 1, 2018, Dynele L. Schinker-Kuharich was appointed as a Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Northern District of Ohio. She maintains her offices in Canton. Ms. Schinker-Kuharich replaces retiring Toby Rosen who served in this position for 30 years. Prior to her appointment as a Standing Chapter 13, Schinker-Kuharich was on the panel of Chapter 7 Trustees for...
Members
Copy of Hildebrand-2016
December 5, 2021
Although a Chapter 13 debtor has the absolute right to voluntarily dismiss her Chapter 13 case, even after a motion to convert is filed, the Court retains the rights to impose restrictions on the dismissal. (Waites) In re Brittany Frances Minogue, 2021 WL 4453589 (Bankr. D. S.C. September 29, 2021) Summary Brittany Minogue filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 13...
Members
October 3, 2021
By Michael J. McCormick, Esq., McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce, LLC (Roswell, GA) The History of Escrow Treatment in Bankruptcy Prior to 2008 Unfortunately, the case law in this area is sparse. The earliest reported case I found discussing a mortgage servicer’s obligations with respect to escrow accounts after the filing of a bankruptcy case was McCormack v. Federal Home Loan...
Members
September 15, 2019
By Cathy Moran, Esq. (Redwood City, CA) Mention tax calculations to a bankruptcy attorney and 7 out of 10 freeze on the spot. I'm not a tax attorney, they retort. That's right, but, if you are a bankruptcy attorney, that doesn't relieve you from knowing enough tax to get the means test right. Not to mention not giving up your...
Members
October 17, 2021
By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville) While in personam liability of a junior mortgage on the debtor’s residence is discharged by a Chapter 7, the lien survives and constitutes an allowed unsecured claim in the debtor’s subsequent Chapter 13 case. In re Hopper, 2021 WL 3435445 (Bankr. E.D. N.Y. Aug....
Members
November 17, 2019
By Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction This series focuses on four bankruptcy-related bills that were enacted during the 116th Congress and signed into law on August 23, 2019.1 One bill, the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA),2 appears in its entirety in Appendix B to this series and was summarized in
Members