Mortgage Evolution: The Origin of These Fees – The Ninth Circuit Interprets RESPA In Medrano v. Flagstar Bank

By John P. Gustafson, Chapter 13 Trustee for the Northern District of Ohio, Western Division

The Ninth Circuit recently addressed the proper interpretation of RESPA’s requirements that a servicer response to a qualified written request in Medrano v. Flagstar Bank FSB, 704 F.3d 661 (9th Cir. 2012).

On its face, the letters sent by the attorney for the mortgage debtors look like the kind of issue that would make RESPA a natural selection – an escrow dispute. But, because the dispute arose from a pre-mortgage soup of loan-broker statements that the monthly payment would never . . .

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