Can your mortgage company change the terms of you loan without your approval or signature?
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Can your mortgage company change the terms of you loan without your approval or signature?
I have an ARM loan with 8.25% interest, about three years ago I received a letter from the bank stating they were going to “lock” in my loan for 5 years so it would not adjust up when the market started falling. Several months later I noticed that they had it listed on my statement as an interest only loan. Last month I got a letter saying that my rates were adjusting and my payments were going up. I then got several notices stating I was 3 months behind in payments I’m not now they are saying they are changing it back to an ARM loan. Can they keep doing this??
Asked on September 2, 2011 under Real Estate Law, Colorado
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
A loan is a contract in essence--it is an agreement between two parties, the lender and the borrower. As with any other contract, one party may *not* alter the terms and conditions without the agreement of the other. So in general, what you describe is not legal. Cases where it could happen, however, are:
1) If the original terms of the loan gave the lender the power to change the loan, either at will, or under certain circumstances and within certain parameters. A party can agree to give the other party the power to change the terms later, so if the loan agreemen gave the lender this power, they could do it.
2) If you in fact agreed to some modification or change, either explicitly or even implicitly, such as by how you responded or did not responde to a lender communication. There may be a factual dispute about what was said and agreed to, by whom, but it is possible you agreed without fully internaizing the fact that you were agreeing.
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