Using "Qualified Written Requests" In Consumer Bankruptcy Cases

On the Credit Slips blog, consumer bankruptcy attorney O. Max Gardner III writes:

• I have trained over 350 attorneys at my Bankruptcy Boot Camps and to my surprise less than 10 percent know what I mean when I refer to a "QWR." This is shocking in that a reasonable QWR can provide the attorney for the Chapter 13 debtor with some of the very best discovery outside of a contested case or Adversary Proceeding. The QWR can be used to find out how the servicer for the securitized trust is applying the debtor's money and the disbursements on the arrearage claim from the Chapter 13 Trustee. It can also be used to identify all of the "ancillary fees" and "collateral charges" that mortgage servicers are so fond of unilaterally adding to the debtor’s mortgage account, without any notice or the right to a hearing. [...] In my bankruptcy practice, I have only 10 questions in my standard QWR.(1)

For more, see What Does RESPA Have to do with Consumer Bankruptcy Cases?

Thanks to Mike Dillon at GetDShirtz.com for the heads-up on the Credit Slips post.