OT: What to do when phantom liens show up on your house?

[bearishgurl]

When Chase canceled your HELOC with a zero balance, they should have filed a reconveyance of that trust deed within 30 days. You want to talk to the payoff and then reconveyance people at Chase and have your HELOC account number ready. They may have to audit the account to determine there is nothing currently owing on it. Chase (or WAMU) was lax about filing the reconveyance timely and you, as the borrower, should have been on theirs (or WAMU’s) a$$ about this like glue when they sent you the letter stating that they were closing your HELOC. Offer to fax that letter to the clerk you speak to if they don’t have a notation in their computer that your HELOC has been closed. A lot of banks did this to customers with unused HELOCs within the last three years.

If you don’t get immediate satisfaction talking to the payoff/demand and reconveyance personnel (i.e. they will audit and call you back in =< 3 business days), I would send them a certified letter if they gave me ANY RUN AROUND at all on the phone (feigning tied hands/incompetence/lack of personnel excuses). Take down first and last names and employee #'s, if applicable or every bank employee you speak to. I would then send it (return receipt requested), outlining the sequence of what happened with your HELOC with copies of statements from them showing your your zero balance with a copy of the letters they sent you lowering the HELOC and then canceling it (to set forth the 30-day time-frame for filing the reconveyance), with a DEMAND that they file a reconveyance with the San Diego County Recorder, State of California, within 15 days of receipt of this letter or you will take immediate legal action against them and request attorney fees in your complaint. You last para should read, “Upon filing, please send me a conformed copy of your filed reconveyance. Thank you in advance of your anticipated swift cooperation in this matter and I shall await your timely reply.” Keep your returned certified-mail green card or download the signature affidavit for receipt from USPS.com for your record of their receipt.

Make the demand letter and mailing envelope attention to the payoff dept with your HELOC account number in the subject line.

Keep all these documents in their own file folder, back to front chronologically on the right side, with tablet pages of notes of all your phone conversations with them on the left side.

Ricechex, I’m just curious. How were you allowed to take out a HELOC on the property when your joint-tenant (co-owner) was not a cosigner/co-borrower on it?? This is very irregular-sounding to me and I have never heard of such a thing.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=recordsclerk]You can go to the grantor/grantee index to see what liens you have. Depending on how common your name is and how many properties you own, it is pretty simple. You will be looking for a reconveyance from the original lien holder (grantor) to you (grantee). You should be able to see what loans are still outstanding.
Here is a link:

http://arcc.co.san-diego.ca.us/arcc/services/grantorgrantee/search.aspx
[/quote]

Ricechex, take recordsclerk’s suggestion first before calling Chase tomorrow to see if any reconveyances have been filed in your name on this property, and if so, go down to the county recorder and purchase the document for $2 per page and copy it for your joint tenant/friend to take to her bank/mtg lender. Reconveyances are usually only one page. It is possible that your joint tenant’s bank’s lending officer is incompetent and/or she did not understand that the HELOC was only in your name and thus their abstractor/title searcher did not pick it up.

Congratulations are in order if your friend/joint-tenant is successful in “buying you out” of this rental-property/headache!

[bearishgurl]

[quote=recordsclerk]You can go to the grantor/grantee index to see what liens you have. Depending on how common your name is and how many properties you own, it is pretty simple. You will be looking for a reconveyance from the original lien holder (grantor) to you (grantee). You should be able to see what loans are still outstanding.
Here is a link:

http://arcc.co.san-diego.ca.us/arcc/services/grantorgrantee/search.aspx
[/quote]

Ricechex, take recordsclerk’s suggestion first before calling Chase tomorrow to see if any reconveyances have been filed in your name on this property, and if so, go down to the county recorder and purchase the document for $2 per page and copy it for your joint tenant/friend to take to her bank/mtg lender. Reconveyances are usually only one page. It is possible that your joint tenant’s bank’s lending officer is incompetent and/or she did not understand that the HELOC was only in your name and thus their abstractor/title searcher did not pick it up.

Congratulations are in order if your friend/joint-tenant is successful in “buying you out” of this rental-property/headache!

[bearishgurl]

[quote=recordsclerk]You can go to the grantor/grantee index to see what liens you have. Depending on how common your name is and how many properties you own, it is pretty simple. You will be looking for a reconveyance from the original lien holder (grantor) to you (grantee). You should be able to see what loans are still outstanding.
Here is a link:

http://arcc.co.san-diego.ca.us/arcc/services/grantorgrantee/search.aspx
[/quote]

Ricechex, take recordsclerk’s suggestion first before calling Chase tomorrow to see if any reconveyances have been filed in your name on this property, and if so, go down to the county recorder and purchase the document for $2 per page and copy it for your joint tenant/friend to take to her bank/mtg lender. Reconveyances are usually only one page. It is possible that your joint tenant’s bank’s lending officer is incompetent and/or she did not understand that the HELOC was only in your name and thus their abstractor/title searcher did not pick it up.

Congratulations are in order if your friend/joint-tenant is successful in “buying you out” of this rental-property/headache!

[bearishgurl]

[quote=recordsclerk]You can go to the grantor/grantee index to see what liens you have. Depending on how common your name is and how many properties you own, it is pretty simple. You will be looking for a reconveyance from the original lien holder (grantor) to you (grantee). You should be able to see what loans are still outstanding.
Here is a link:

http://arcc.co.san-diego.ca.us/arcc/services/grantorgrantee/search.aspx
[/quote]

Ricechex, take recordsclerk’s suggestion first before calling Chase tomorrow to see if any reconveyances have been filed in your name on this property, and if so, go down to the county recorder and purchase the document for $2 per page and copy it for your joint tenant/friend to take to her bank/mtg lender. Reconveyances are usually only one page. It is possible that your joint tenant’s bank’s lending officer is incompetent and/or she did not understand that the HELOC was only in your name and thus their abstractor/title searcher did not pick it up.

Congratulations are in order if your friend/joint-tenant is successful in “buying you out” of this rental-property/headache!

[bearishgurl]

[quote=recordsclerk]You can go to the grantor/grantee index to see what liens you have. Depending on how common your name is and how many properties you own, it is pretty simple. You will be looking for a reconveyance from the original lien holder (grantor) to you (grantee). You should be able to see what loans are still outstanding.
Here is a link:

http://arcc.co.san-diego.ca.us/arcc/services/grantorgrantee/search.aspx
[/quote]

Ricechex, take recordsclerk’s suggestion first before calling Chase tomorrow to see if any reconveyances have been filed in your name on this property, and if so, go down to the county recorder and purchase the document for $2 per page and copy it for your joint tenant/friend to take to her bank/mtg lender. Reconveyances are usually only one page. It is possible that your joint tenant’s bank’s lending officer is incompetent and/or she did not understand that the HELOC was only in your name and thus their abstractor/title searcher did not pick it up.

Congratulations are in order if your friend/joint-tenant is successful in “buying you out” of this rental-property/headache!

[Ricechex]

Thanks everyone! I checked the site and there are numerous reconveyances, dating back to 2004. Hey BG–really, I know it sounds crazy, but how could I keep on their a$$ when I didn’t know what I should be looking for, or even know the term?

Anyway, great advice–I am definitely following through on all of this. BG–not sure how that HELOC went through–we did a re-fi in 2003 and in 2004 I got the HELOC, but the friend did have to sign paperwork that she accepted this. We are both on title. I got bullied around at WAMU by an idiot which is why the loan ended up in my name. Ya live, ya learn.

I have a statement from Chase that the loan was $30K, but I must have tossed the letters saying the loan was closed. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. I do have loan statements dating back to the time of purchase.

[Ricechex]

Thanks everyone! I checked the site and there are numerous reconveyances, dating back to 2004. Hey BG–really, I know it sounds crazy, but how could I keep on their a$$ when I didn’t know what I should be looking for, or even know the term?

Anyway, great advice–I am definitely following through on all of this. BG–not sure how that HELOC went through–we did a re-fi in 2003 and in 2004 I got the HELOC, but the friend did have to sign paperwork that she accepted this. We are both on title. I got bullied around at WAMU by an idiot which is why the loan ended up in my name. Ya live, ya learn.

I have a statement from Chase that the loan was $30K, but I must have tossed the letters saying the loan was closed. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. I do have loan statements dating back to the time of purchase.

[Ricechex]

Thanks everyone! I checked the site and there are numerous reconveyances, dating back to 2004. Hey BG–really, I know it sounds crazy, but how could I keep on their a$$ when I didn’t know what I should be looking for, or even know the term?

Anyway, great advice–I am definitely following through on all of this. BG–not sure how that HELOC went through–we did a re-fi in 2003 and in 2004 I got the HELOC, but the friend did have to sign paperwork that she accepted this. We are both on title. I got bullied around at WAMU by an idiot which is why the loan ended up in my name. Ya live, ya learn.

I have a statement from Chase that the loan was $30K, but I must have tossed the letters saying the loan was closed. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. I do have loan statements dating back to the time of purchase.

[Ricechex]

Thanks everyone! I checked the site and there are numerous reconveyances, dating back to 2004. Hey BG–really, I know it sounds crazy, but how could I keep on their a$$ when I didn’t know what I should be looking for, or even know the term?

Anyway, great advice–I am definitely following through on all of this. BG–not sure how that HELOC went through–we did a re-fi in 2003 and in 2004 I got the HELOC, but the friend did have to sign paperwork that she accepted this. We are both on title. I got bullied around at WAMU by an idiot which is why the loan ended up in my name. Ya live, ya learn.

I have a statement from Chase that the loan was $30K, but I must have tossed the letters saying the loan was closed. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. I do have loan statements dating back to the time of purchase.

[Ricechex]

Thanks everyone! I checked the site and there are numerous reconveyances, dating back to 2004. Hey BG–really, I know it sounds crazy, but how could I keep on their a$$ when I didn’t know what I should be looking for, or even know the term?

Anyway, great advice–I am definitely following through on all of this. BG–not sure how that HELOC went through–we did a re-fi in 2003 and in 2004 I got the HELOC, but the friend did have to sign paperwork that she accepted this. We are both on title. I got bullied around at WAMU by an idiot which is why the loan ended up in my name. Ya live, ya learn.

I have a statement from Chase that the loan was $30K, but I must have tossed the letters saying the loan was closed. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. I do have loan statements dating back to the time of purchase.

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