POINT PLEASANT – A Point Pleasant woman is suing her mortgage company over an allegedly botched loan modification application that has put her property into serious arrears.
Alyssa Russell filed the suit Dec. 9 in Mason Circuit Court against Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Inc., based in Des Moines, Iowa, citing misrepresentation in debt collection, illegal late fees, illegal return of payments, refusal to apply payments and breach of contract.
On March 31, 2006, the plaintiff entered into a mortgage loan agreement with the defendant with the principal amount of $73,800 and an adjustable interest rate, the complaint states.. In early 2015, the plaintiff contacted the defendant about modifying the loan. She says a representative of the defendant instructed her not to make payments while the modification was being processed. She then provided the requested paperwork for the application.
In June, the defendant requested a new modification packet, which the plaintiff filled out and returned. In July, the suit alleges, the plaintiff began receiving debt collection calls from the defendant.
When she called the defendant to ask about the status of her application, she was told that her account had been removed from the program and placed into foreclosure status.
She called again, and was told by a different representative that the defendant had all her paperwork and she should not have been removed from the program.
Still, the plaintiff's July payment was returned to her, and the defendant did not credit her payments from July through October. In addition, the plaintiff discovered the defendant had charged late fees on at least four occasions, which she claims is illegal.
She seeks equitable relief, actual and punitive damages, attorney fees and court costs, and a trial by jury. She is represented by Daniel T. Lattanzi of Pepper & Nason of Charleston.
Mason Circuit Court Case number 15-C-138