Ronemus v. FTB Mortgage Services (In re Ronemus)

201 B.R. 458, 10 Tex.Bankr.Ct.Rep. 314, 1996 Bankr. LEXIS 1337
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedOctober 23, 1996
DocketBankruptcy No. 190-10365-13; Adversary No. 196-1014
StatusPublished

This text of 201 B.R. 458 (Ronemus v. FTB Mortgage Services (In re Ronemus)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ronemus v. FTB Mortgage Services (In re Ronemus), 201 B.R. 458, 10 Tex.Bankr.Ct.Rep. 314, 1996 Bankr. LEXIS 1337 (Tex. 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF OPINION ON MORTGAGE PAYMENTS

JOHN C. AKARD, Bankruptcy Judge.

John Wesley Ronemus and Pamela Jean Ronemus (Debtors) who were the Debtors in a Chapter 13 ease, No. 190-10365, filed this adversary proceeding. The confirmed Chapter 13 plan called for two delinquent home mortgage payments owing to FTB Mortgage Services (FTB)1 to be paid through the plan with distributions by the Chapter 13 Trustee. Later it was discovered that one postpetition mortgage payment had been overloaded and the parties agreed to an order allowing that payment, together with associated late charges, FTB’s attorney’s fees and costs to be paid through the plan with distributions by the Trustee over the remaining life of the plan. The Debtors increased their monthly payments to the Trustee to accommodate this additional debt. The Chapter 13 case was very successful, the Debtors made their Chapter 13 payments regularly, and they received a discharge on November 20, 1995.2 [459]*459The Chapter 13 case was reopened to permit them to file this adversary proceeding.

During the Chapter 13 case the Debtors timely made their mortgage payments to FTB, except for two occasions. On those occasions, the Debtors contacted FTB in advance and secured permission to delay one mortgage payment on the condition that the following month they pay two mortgage payments and one late charge of approximately $25.00. They did so.

The complaint in this adversary proceeding seeks injunctive relief, a declaratory judgment, and damages against FTB.3 After hearing the testimony and reviewing the evidence presented at trial, the court finds this to be the most egregious ease of creditor overbearing and creditor harassment that this court has seen in ten years as a bankruptcy judge. Not only did FTB fail to maintain adequate records, it failed to obey orders of this court, and violated the discharge injunction as well.

The only conclusion the court can draw from the testimony and evidence presented is that FTB’s records were in disarray. The schedule which FTB introduced at trial was an extract made from FTB’s records by an employee of FTB. It is not an original record so the court cannot rely upon it as reflecting FTB’s records. Additionally, the extract contained errors which bring its accuracy into question. FTB’s witness stated that the items about which the Debtors complained had been credited to the Debtors’ account. She offered no records to support that statement. Such an unsubstantiated statement carries less weight than the August 28, 1995 letter from an attorney for FTB to the Debtors’ attorney, admitted into evidence, which stated “I have checked with FTB Mortgage Services & was advised that the above-referenced loan is current postpe-tition.” Yet a few months after that letter,4 FTB initiated a course of harassment against these Debtors during which it insisted that the loan was not current, leaving the Debtors in constant fear of losing their home. For these reasons, the court cannot place any credibility in FTB’s records or in its testimony.

The evidence in this case shows the following:

1. The payments FTB received from the Debtors and from the Chapter 13 Trustee were not promptly applied to the Debtors’ note. That failure resulted in unnecessary and improper accrual of interest on the note. As a result of the improper accrual of interest, the principal of the note was not reduced as it should have been.
FTB’s witness stated that it placed payments received from the Chapter 13 Trustee in a “suspense” account until they equaled a regular Note payment, at which time it applied them on the loan. She stated that their computer program required this procedure. FTB’s attempt to evade its obligation to promptly apply those payments by blaming its actions on a computer cannot be tolerated. The computer program could and should have been adjusted. Further, FTB offered no reconciliation of the monies placed in suspense. From the evidence presented, the court cannot determine if all payments made by the Debtors and by the Chapter 13 Trustee were properly accounted for and properly applied to the Debtors’ note.
2. FTB charged a $60.00 filing fee to the Debtors’ escrow account without permission of the court.
3. When the court authorized reimbursement to FTB of attorneys fees and expenses, they were to be paid by the Trustee over the remaining life of the plan.5 Instead, FTB immediately paid [460]*460itself out of the Debtors’ escrow account. That was a direct violation of this court’s order. Further, its actions threw the escrow account into a negative position, which resulted in a demand from FTB that the Debtors increase their monthly-payments by $55.00 per month. The Debtors paid this additional $55.00 per month for at least a year. Thus the Debtors were severely damaged by FTB’s violation of this court’s order.
4. Because FTB continued .to assess unauthorized late charges, many of the Debtors’ payments were placed in sus- . pense. Thus the Debtors were injured by increased interest charges as a result of FTB’s collection of unauthorized late charges and FTB’s failure to properly apply the Debtors’ timely payments to the reduction of principal.
5. The court signed the Debtors’ discharge on November 20, 1995. On December 8, 1995 (less than 20 days after the discharge) FTB wrote the Debtors demanding $298.47 in late fees incurred “during the course of your bankruptcy.” That action constitutes a clear violation of the discharge injunction.
6. On December 20, 1996 the Debtors’ attorney wrote to FTB about its claim for late charges. Instead of responding to him, FTB sent the Debtors a late notice which they received on December 29, 1995. This note demanded $156.68 in late charges and stated that the December 1, 1995 payment had not been made. The check for the Debtors’ December payment was timely and had cleared FTB’s bank before this notice was sent.
7. The Debtors’ attorney wrote to FTB on January 2,1996 and again on January 23, 1996. FTB responded to neither letter.
8. On January 22, 1996 the Debtors received a late notice with respect to their January 1, 1996 payment and a demand for $185.11 in late charges. The Debtors’ January payment cleared the Debtors’ bank account before the date of this notice.
9. Delinquent payment notices and demands for late payment fees in various amounts continued with regularity through July 2, 1996, even though this adversary proceeding was filed May 13, 1996.
10. In January or February 1996 the Debtors began receiving telephone calls from FTB’s collectors. Each time, the Debtors referred the caller to the Debtors’ attorney but none of the collectors contacted the attorney. In March 1996 Mr. Ronemus, one of the Debtors, received a very insulting call from one of FTB’s collectors. In that call the Debt- or was called names and cussed out. FTB’s witness stated that it is company policy not to use such language. No doubt the company has such a policy, but whether it is followed is another matter. The court finds the Debtor’s testimony about this matter to be credible.

There is no doubt that these Debtors were substantially damaged by FTB’s actions.

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Related

Procedures
28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(1)

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Bluebook (online)
201 B.R. 458, 10 Tex.Bankr.Ct.Rep. 314, 1996 Bankr. LEXIS 1337, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ronemus-v-ftb-mortgage-services-in-re-ronemus-txnb-1996.