Your question did not contain specific information about the loan or the particular procedures you follow for error resolution. So, I will provide generalized guidance and use actual litigation to demonstrate the legal effect of the “catch-all” provision in RESPA.
The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) includes error resolution procedures for mortgage loans. RESPA establishes “qualified written requests” or QWRs as part of its error resolution standards. Regulation X, RESPA’s implementing regulation, breaks QWRs into two categories: Notices of Error (NOEs) and Requests for Information (RFIs).
Let’s list what an error is and what it is not.
Regulation X defines the term “error” by including a list of qualifying instances:
• Failure to accept a payment that conforms to the servicer’s written requirements for the borrower to follow in making payments.
• Failure to apply an accepted payment to principal, interest, escrow, or other charges under the terms of the mortgage loan and applicable law.
• Failure to credit a payment to a borrower’s mortgage loan account as of the date of receipt.
• Failure to pay taxes, insurance premiums, or other charges, including charges the borrower and servicer have voluntarily agreed that the servicer should collect and pay in a timely manner, or to timely refund an escrow account balance.
• Imposition of a fee or charge that the servicer lacks a reasonable basis to impose, such as a late fee for a payment that is not late, a default property management fee for borrowers not in a delinquency status, or a charge for force-placed insurance in a circumstance not permitted by Regulation X.
• Failure to provide an accurate payoff balance amount upon a borrower’s request.
• Failure to provide accurate information to a borrower regarding loss mitigation options and foreclosure.