Written by: Sam Orlando
Richmond, VA - In what might be dubbed as the "Mortgage Mess-Up of the Century" (or just this year), NewRez LLC, a Pennsylvania-based mortgage loan servicing company, has found itself at the wrong end of a federal lawsuit, and the story is as amusing as it is alarming.
Shervette Rich, a local Richmond resident and the current star of this courtroom drama, claims that NewRez has apparently decided that math isn't really their forte. According to the filed complaint, since becoming Rich's mortgage servicer in 2020, NewRez mistakenly assumed that he was falling behind on his payments. The reason? They generously (and unnecessarily, according to Rich) lumped a charge for force-placed insurance onto his account, even though Rich has been handling his own homeowners' insurance just fine, thank you very much. It's reminiscent of being handed an umbrella in the desert and being charged for it.
NewRez's reaction to this quagmire? Instead of applying Rich's timely payments to his loan, they funneled those funds to pay for this force-placed insurance—insurance Rich neither asked for nor needed, according to Rich's lawsuit. And as the cherry on top, they then had the audacity to slap Rich with fees. The complaint mentions late fees, legal fees, inspection fees - the works!
Rich, being the responsible homeowner that he is, tried to address the issue not once, not twice, but multiple times, according to his telling. The twist? Each letter, loaded with proofs of payment and explanations, seemingly vanished into NewRez's corporate black hole.
Feeling déjà vu? Well, Rich’s credit report surely did. Despite Rich's best attempts to dispute these discrepancies with major credit agencies, NewRez managed to, in expert dodging fashion, overlook his proof and continued reporting inaccurate, derogatory information, as detailed in the complaint. One could imagine Rich's credit score doing the cha-cha slide in the wrong direction.
But wait, there's more! RIch says NewRez's treatment of these consumer disputes wasn't just negligent—it was deliberate. According to the complaint, NewRez places more emphasis on speed than on accuracy, apparently racing through disputes with the same gusto as one might rush through chores before a big football game.
Rich, having endured what most would deem a dizzying nightmare of bureaucracy, now seeks justice in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
While the courtroom saga unfolds, residents of Richmond might be doing double takes at their own mortgage statements, hoping they're not caught in a similar comedic horror story.
Stay tuned as the trial progresses, but for now, perhaps it's best to keep an eye on your mortgages and a calculator handy. After all, as this tale reminds us, sometimes numbers do lie—or at least get hilariously lost in translation.
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