Check out some similar questions!

BC2008 · Feb 10, 2014, 05:21 AM

I live in Florida and have paid on my mortgage, which was held by a private owner. She has excepted all my payments thus far, will be sending last one tomorrow. Now she is asking for back payments and late fees, what can I do? Yes I was late on different occasions but she never sent me any thing in writing about what I owed for these fees and just kept cashing my payment checks.

ScottGem · Feb 10, 2014, 06:10 AM

I'm assuming you signed a note. In that note it would have specified when the payment was due and the penalties for a late payment. So you should have been aware of this. I don't see anything in FL law that requires to issue monthly statements. What's worse, is that legally, she can apply the payment first to the late charge, making your payment incomplete and therefore late. So if you were late once and never paid the late charge, then your payments would be late for the rest of the loan.

So you need to ask her for an accounting of what payments are late or missed. Then compare them with your records. Bottom line is if you want her to issue a satisfaction letter you have to pay what you still owe.

BC2008 · Feb 10, 2014, 07:16 AM

Please note above it should say interest and late fees not back payments. All payments have been made.

ScottGem · Feb 10, 2014, 08:41 AM

Originally Posted by BC2008

Please note above it should say interest and late fees not back payments. All payments have been made.

Same difference. The point is that as soon as you were late once, a late charge was imposed. If you did not pay that late charge, it could have been taken off your payment making ALL subsequent payments late. And that means that interest accrues on that balance. You can still ask for an accounting. You can even try to fight it on the grounds that she never informed you but I doubt if that will fly if its in the note.

This is mainly on you. You knew you paid late, but you never paid the late charge. Now you are going to pay for it if you want to satisfy the mortgage.

AK lawyer · Feb 10, 2014, 09:29 AM

OP has a good argument that the failure of the mortgagee to notify OP of late payment(s), and resulting late payment charg(es), constitutes a waiver of the late payment charge(s). I am presently looking at a mortgage note secured by a mortgage on Florida property, and it doesn't say specifically when the mortgagee must notify the mortgagee of late charges. It provides that if "the Note Holder (sic) does not require [mortgagor] to pay immediately in full ... the Note Holder (sic) will still have the right to do so if [mortgagor is] in default at a later time. ...". That suggests to me that failure to notify of a late charge at the time does waive the current late charge.

talaniman · Feb 10, 2014, 09:48 AM

I can sympathize with finding out you owe more than you thought, but read your lease and verify that she can indeed do as she has done, and if so then act accordingly in your own interest. I think I would have asked her to waive the late fees the first time I was late, and never been late again, but water under the bridge. I would hate to see you delayed in paying off your mortgage for some late fees since you admitted you were late on occasion, whether she made an issue of it at the time, or not.

If its not spelled out in your mortgage agreement, dispute it in writing. It probably is.

Fr_Chuck · Feb 10, 2014, 10:24 AM

It does appear you 1. knew you were late. 2. knew interest was due
Or at least knew when you were late.

Why did you think you did not owe the late payments?

I would agree, that very likely you will owe them. It may take legal action, to fight it.
I guess how much late fee is due, and how does that compare to attorney to fight this in court

ScottGem · Feb 10, 2014, 10:52 AM

OK, So you need to read your note and see what it says about late charges. It is possible that the note does require the note holder to inform you. In which case, you may have a case to fight it. But if the note simply says something like, Payments are due on the 1st of each month. Payments not received on time will incur a late charge of x. Then it is your responsibility to pay the charges.

The note holder can withhold notice of satisfaction (and therefore maintain the lien) if you don't pay what they say you owe. AND interest will continue to accrue so you need to take care of this ASAP. If you can't negotiate a settlement, then you will have to sue her to release the lien. At which time you would have to present your case that you don't owe the amount she is claiming.