Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois

payoff dispute

I closed on my home on Jan 31st. The title co. requested the payoff on Jan 28th. It was not recieved by closing so everything was estimated. I am being told now that I owe more money. The 2003 property taxes were dilinquent so they withheld them at closing. The motgage co. claims to have paid them previous to closing and the title co. claims to have paid them after the closing. In any case they are asking me to pay the amount again and when the county (Winnebago) realizes they have been paid twice, I will then get a refund.

Also, the closing was scheduled at least 2 weeks prior to the 31st. Because the payoff was not requested until the Friday before (closing was on a Monday), the payoff had not yet been recieved. The closing Co. claims they normally get payoffs in about 15 minutes, the mortgage co. claims they have 10 days by law to provide that info. Who dropped the ball here and why should I have to pay an additional months interest?


Asked on 2/18/05, 3:24 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Thomas Moens Moens Law Offices, Chartered

Re: payoff dispute

Who dropped the ball indeed. Bottom line is, YOU are responsible for all of these things. However, since you do not have experience in these matters, you engaged the assistance of others who you felt had some level of expertise. Did you hire a real estate attorney to assist you with this transaction? We take care of all of these things for our clients. A title company cannot represent you, and is not ethically bound to protect your interests. Therefore, if you did not hire a real estate attorney, perhaps it can be argued that you dropped the ball. Sometimes payoffs come quickly, sometimes they do not. And as an aside, your lender is not entitled to "10 days by law" to get a payoff statement to you. I do not understand why the title company advanced the taxes for you, nor why they underestimated the payoff on your mortgage (is it an FHA loan?), but again, a real estate attorney would have ensured none of these problems transpired. If you did have an FHA loan, your real estate attorney would have endeavored to get the payoff to the lender on the 31st, since he or she would know that if it arrived after that date, an additional month of interest would accrue.

Next time, buying or selling, spend the couple hundred bucks to have someone who represents only you and avoid problems like these.

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Answered on 2/21/05, 10:50 am


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