MERRIMAC, MASS. (WHDH) – “I get little signs all the time, I took a rubber band off of some of her bills and it made a heart shape,” said Lynda Williams.
After losing her mother Hazel last fall, Williams says little signs bring her comfort.
“She loved lady bugs so all of the sudden there’s a lady bug crawling around and I’m like mom? I know it’s her,” said Williams.
“The first couple weeks after my mother’s passing, I was just sort of a wayward duck. I was just trying to get through every day,” said Williams.
Then, Williams says she got blindsided.
She says a reverse mortgage company started the foreclosure process on her mother’s home months before the agreed upon deadline to sell the property.
“What do you mean you’re going to foreclose on my mother’s house? I was absolutely panicked,” said Williams.
Hazel had signed a reverse mortgage on her home years ago.
Under that kind of agreement an older homeowner can get regular payments in exchange for giving up equity in their home.
After her mom passed, Williams had to sell the house and pay off the loan to avoid foreclosure.
She says was notified in writing that March 20 was the earliest the mortgage company could start foreclosure proceedings.
But records show the company started the process weeks earlier, on January 6.
“After my mother passed and I sent them the death certificate, they should have reached out and said here are your next steps,” said Williams.
Instead, Williams says foreclosure letters kept coming to her door.
And the letters came with legal fees charged to her late mother’s estate.
“I started looking back through the transactions and I see attorney fees, attorney fees, attorney fees…and I was thinking to myself what in the heck? They were charging my mother’s account, her estate, the amount of money they needed to pay the lawyer. I mean I still was really grieving my mother and it was just the hand that pushed me over the edge,” said Williams.
Williams sold the house two months later and paid off the reverse mortgage.
She asked the mortgage company to refund all the attorney fees she’d been charged before selling.
She says someone told her they would look into it, but she never heard back.
“It was almost like being stabbed in the back a second time. Losing my mother was horrific but then having to go through this? My mother would be really really upset, she’d want me to fight it,” said Williams.
Williams didn’t want to fight alone anymore, so she reached out to Solve It 7.
“I needed help. I needed someone to say this is, enough is enough and to let people know that this does happen,” said Williams.
We contacted the law firm representing the reverse mortgage company.
A spokesperson told us, “While we are unable to comment on individual loans, we remain committed to working with our borrowers and their heirs to resolve concerns and answer questions.”
A few days later, Williams got a call.
She says the company agreed to refund $5,100 to her mother’s estate.
“I know my mom would be so proud and I just wish she was around so I could call her and say hey mom guess what? I was able to get your money back. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart,” said Williams.
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