Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Martgage fraud

You can always sue the person on whose behalf you made the loan payment. Unless you wired the money to Nigeria by Western Union.

Re: Martgage fraud

Explain to me what the lender did wrong that would entitle you to demand the money back? They don't know, when you make a payment, if it is on behalf of the actual borrower, someone claiming to be the borrower, or by someone entirely un-related to the transaction. From the limited facts you have posted, I see no claim to recover the money from the lender.

Attorney Stone is, however, correct in that you can sue the person on whos behalf you made the payment.

I guess my question is why would you make a payment for someone who isn't even the borrower on the loan? For that matter, why would you make a payment even for the borrower on the loan?

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Re: Martgage fraud

Sure, you can sue the loan company, and the suit would probably be in Small Claims court, but I don't think you're going to win. You haven't described anything that even vaguely resembles fraud (why would it be fraud for a loan company to accept a payment from someone on behalf of another?), nor is there a breach of contract or any other ground for recovery disclosed in your facts.

There is a legal principle that payments made by mistake can be recovered from the payee unless the payee has materially changed its position in innocent reliance on its entitlement to the payment. However, the type of "mistake" for which restitution of a payment is available includes only mistakes as to fact or law, NOT mistakes of judgment. If someone puts a $1,000 check in an envelope and mails it to XYZ Corp., intending to pay ABC Corp., maybe he can sue and get it back. If he pays the $1,000 to XYZ Corp. thinking he owes $1,000 but really owes only $100, maybe he can get back $900. However, if someone donates $1,000 to a candidate for mayor and then finds out that the candidate is a jerk, it was a mistake to make the payment but this kind of mistake will not result in a court ordering restitution.

If you knowingly paid the lender and later decided it was a bad decision to do so (for whatever reason), you are not going to get your money back by suing the lender.