American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc. heard alot of stories about them. They claim they are servicing our loan, but cannot produce the original signed mortgage. Not to mention that 3 registered letters were sent to their CEO requesting verification of the debt (that means the original signed mortgage in ink). They sent photocopies. Also since they received the letter requesting the proof of the debt, did they happen to remember that according to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act that it states:
It is a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act for a collector to fail to notify the credit reporting agencies that a debt is disputed by the consumer. Hint hint, I'm checking this out. I have found out that David Friedman "retired" and that David Applegate is in as ceo now. Since they did not show proof of the debt, Texas awards up to 3 times damages. Thats going to be a big welcome aboard to AHMSI Mr. Applegate!
It is extremely odd that they retain a law firm named Brice Vander Linden & Wernick as their debt collector. According to the Texas Finance Code Chapter 392 (b) a debt collector means a person who directly or indirectly engages in debt collection and includes a person who sells or offers to sell forms represented to be a collection system, device, or scheme intended to be used to collect consumer debts.
Note that fhe Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act applies only to collectors working for professional collection agencies and attorneys hired to collect debts. (Office of Consumer Credit Commisioner or
http://www.occc.state.tx.us/pages/consumer/education/DebtColl.htm).
The law firm/debt collector sends out a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Notification that states:
Legal precedent is not clear as to whether the sending of this letter makes us a debt collector. To the extent it does, we are pleased to advise you that this is an attempt to collect a debt, and any information obtained will be used for that purpose. However, if you are in bankruptcy, or have been discharged in bankruptcy, this letter is for informational purposes only and is not intended as an attempt to collect a debt or as an act to collect, assess, or recover all or any portion of the debt from you personally.
It then states (validates) you represent American Home Mortgage.
According to your firms greeting message it states that you collect debt on behalf of your clients.
You are a firm of lawyers and yet you do not understand whether or not you are a debt collector?
Please refer to Texas Finance Code Chapter 392 (b).
Another thing about this is that it is robovsigned by Selim Taherzadeh at the bottom. (robo signing created a big problem with mortgages and lawsuits are rampant because of it. Judges have ruled for the other party because of it.)
The Attorney General in Texas is suing AMHSI for this:
Violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act, Texas Debt Collection Act. Cause number 2010-3307 and its filed in El Paso County.
If your home was foreclosed on in Texas (especially by AHMSI) and the law firm was Brice Vander Linden & Wernick (Selim Taherzadeh, David Romness, R, Kendall Yow and/or any other attorney in the firm), this may be of great interest to you. They have been the debt collector or one of them for AHMSI. Were they the debt collector and the trustee or substitute trustee if your home was foreclosed on at auction? Well, Texas Property Code Section 51.0075 (b) states a trustee or substitute trustee IS NOT A DEBT COLLECTOR. This means that they could not do both!
key words: State Bar of Texas, Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Attorney General, malpractice attorney.