REFINANCES

With mortgage interest rates as low as they have been in years, many of you have taken advantage of significant monthly savings by refinancing your mortgage. By law, once you payoff your old mortgage. the lender has sixty days to forward a Release or Satisfaction of mortgage to you or your lawyer. Failure to do so can result in a fine of $200.00 per week up to a maximum of $5,000.00, plus costs and legal fees. So diary your calendar sixty days from the date the lender received payment of its loan. If you do not have a Release, you are entitled to damages. If you do have the Release, make sure you or your lawyer records it on the Land Records, otherwise the mortgage remains as a lien against your property.

Also, in an attempt to deal with attorney defalcations, the Legislature passed Public Act 97-267 which, among other things, requires a disclosure notice be sent whenever a residential mortgage is paid off, The Act applies to mortgage payoffs for one to four family residential dwellings and condominiums, but not to vacant land or commercial property. The notice must be sent within two business days from completion of the closing by certified or overnight mail, with a copy of the payoff statement attached. The purpose of the notice is to apprise the lender that is should be receiving money to payoff a loan and that if it has not the lender should contact the borrower.

If you have any questions about refinancing or any other legal matter, please give me a call at 746-6656 or e-mail me at rsmith@attorneyrichardsmith.com

Richard A. Smith, Esq.
Attorney at Law