KINGWOOD, Texas – Following Channel 2 Investigates report on Tuesday regarding insurance money being withheld by his bank, our website and Facebook page started buzzing with similar stories.
Shari Harris took our cameras inside of her home in the Westchase District Wednesday afternoon. Harris says for the past month she has been battling with her mortgage company to get approximately $45,000 released.
Coincidentally, less than one hour after doing an interview with Channel 2, she found out that her mortgage company made her aware that they were overnighting a check for half what she is owed. The remainder she will receive near the completion of her repairs.
Mark Aschermann, a consumer lawyer for 32 years based in Bellaire summed up these cases with two words, “Not unusual.”
Aschermann says mortgage company operate by their own rules adding, “It should not be a difficult process.”
More often than not, it is.
Aschermann says the Texas Department of Mortgage Lending is where consumers can submit complaints.
He also says Texas statute state that companies have a timetable to comply once put on notice, “There is a Texas Statute under the insurance code that gives the insurance company ten days after you make demands for those insurance proceeds, and within those ten days they either have to pay you or explain to you what items they need in order to pay you.”