Well, that was an expensive legal challenge.
A Fayetteville couple was hit with a judgment of more than $700,000 and their home was foreclosed on earlier this month because they went to court over which company, if any, should get their mortgage payment.
Marvin A. Harlan told Whispers last week that some Internet research made him want proof as to which entity should receive his mortgage payment.
In 2006, he and his wife, Carol, borrowed $675,000 from America’s Wholesale Lender to buy their Fayetteville home. The note, though, eventually was transferred to the Bank of New York Mellon, formerly known as the Bank of New York, which served as the trustee for a portfolio of mortgages.
Harlan asked the Bank of New York to prove that it was the company that should receive his mortgage payments.
“Because I don’t want to be paying somebody and then find out later I was paying the wrong … entity,” he said. “They did not, or would not, or could not produce documentation to prove that I owed them money.”
So acting as his own attorney, Harlan filed suit last year in Washington County Circuit Court and challenged the mortgage. Harlan, who isn’t a lawyer, said in the court papers that “the new owner or assignee of the debt shall notify the borrower in writing of such transfer.” Harlan said that didn’t happen. “Therefore, the sale, if one occurred, is not valid.”
Harlan was seeking a legal order saying that he was “the superior title holder” and the banks didn’t have any security interest or title to his home.
The case was transferred to U.S. District Court in Fayetteville. And the Harlans quickly lost on a motion for summary judgment from the Bank of New York Mellon, which had filed a countersuit. The bank said not only had it properly obtained the note, but the Harlans had not made a payment since Oct. 1, 2013.
The bank also said the Harlans were warned they were in default, but still didn’t bother to pay.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks ordered the $713,000 judgment and the sale of the Harlans’ house.
The proceeds from the auction will be credited toward the judgment, minus the cost of the sale, of course.
Marvin Harlan said he plans to appeal.
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