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Also, it doesn't hurt to send such correspondence, certified mail, return-receipt, so you have proof of mailing and proof that they received it.
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@hypnotik_jello: That's true, we send a lot of correspondence via certified mail return-receipt. There have been times when not all of the required fields on the return receipt had been filled out - you'll have the signature of who accepted it, but not their printed name or the date the letter was received. If you are getting in a bad way and cannot afford for anything to go amiss with this, I'd strongly suggest using FedEx or UPS.
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When we bought our house back in 94 the agent had to get the owners to fix a few things. The letter he wrote was great; we still keep a copy in our house papers. He listed what needed to be fixed and then a list of things (expensive) that they'd be responsible for if they didn't get the repairs done.
4 days after the letter was sent ALL the repairs (including some they didn't need to do) were done.
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@Legal_Eagle_In_Training: When I was in a legal dispute with a landlord, the (MD state) law was clear: letters related to my issue needed to be sent Certified Mail via the USPS. FedEx or UPS wasn't good enough for the law.
I'm not sure that a jury woulda held me to that, but I'm also not sure a judge would have let the jury see letters sent via UPS/FedEx.
Who knows if that applies here?
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A qualified written request is not a magic bullet.
I sent one to address an uncredited payment and an escrow miscalculation (which would have raised my monthly payment nearly $400 a month), ran it by an attorney, attached documentation, and sent it certified/return receipt.
Sixty-five days later, my mortgage company had not even acknowledged receipt of the QWR. It took the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to get them to correct it. In the meantime, we were extremely worried about how to make that extra $400/month.
It always pays not to have too much faith in real estate law.
A loan modification is a great alternative to foreclosure. LoanMod.com (aka Mizna) helped me complete a loan mod with my current lender. Of all the companies I researched to help me avoid foreclosure, loanmod.com was the most credible and even has a feature in this month's issue of Forbes:
Two tips I would give other struggling homeowners looking to modify their loan is that (1) non-profits are hopeless and you get what you pay for, and (2) if a loan modification company does not have a mailing address on their website, then forget about it. There are so many scams going on out there that borrowers should be vigilant and not trust every company that claims to do loan mods. You want to make sure you're working with real people who care. The folks at Mizna definitely care about homeowners and they did wonders for me. Check them out at [www.loanmod.com]
I hope this helps!
To be clear, they have 20 working days (~1 month) to acknowledge receipt and 60 working days (~3 months) to respond.