Paying mortgage lender attorney fee

[Zombie13]

I called the mortgage lender bankruptcy department and asked if I could pay their attorney fee, which shows up on our online statement.
I was able to pay the fee ($50.00), but we'll see if it actually is credited appropriately. When I tried paying it a year or so ago (online payment), it was considered a partial mortgage payment instead. Interestingly, this fee does not show up on our paper statements.

I wanted to pay it today, since our attorney forwarded to us, the Notice of Final Cure Statement, which the trustee sent to the lender asking if we are current on the mortgage. He also stated, to pay this as soon as possible, to be sure it does not cause a complication with our discharge.

I made the payment, and saved an image of the lender web page that shows the payment amount, payment type (Fees), and confirmation number. I believe the image also shows details about the lender. I did this, to show it's not some bogus image. I sent this image via email to our attorney in case he needs it.

Additionally, the bankruptcy person at the lender stated, we shouldn't be able to make payments online, though we have always made the payment that way. It's cleared our bank, and has always been credited in our paper and online mortgage statements. I also included this information in the email to our attorney, for his awareness.

I thought there would be additional 'junk fees' added but haven't seen that yet. So, if that were to happen, when would it happen? between now and the discharge? Between the discharge and close? After the bk close?

<EDIT> Also: on our 1098 from the lender, there is a payoff amount valid through February 01, which appears to be $2400 above the current principal balance. Is this the standard 'junk fee' attached, or would this be 'bankruptcy junk fees'? I probably need to ask the lender for clarification.

Thoughts, comments?

Thanks

[justbroke]

Junk fees could be hidden from you in the "suspense" account. Under the rules, a servicer should have something on your statement to identify what's in the suspense account (whether it's a positive or negative amount).

Junk fees happen during the bankruptcy. For example, if you were curing arrears the servicer could have been charging a junk fee of $50/month for a late payment (or more). However, all on-time payments to the trustee are considered on-time payments to the creditor. This junk-fee problem usually exists at (usually) smaller servicers that don't have a decent system that recognizes bankruptcy properly.

The purpose of the final cure notice is to make sure that their systems are accurate and reflect that the arrears were cured and you are up to date. If their system doesn't reflect such, then a reconciliation has to be done to figure out what happened (such as using a suspense account to hold payments in abatement until the payments satisfied the arrears). This is why we all dread exiting a Chapter 13 that included a mortgage that was in arrears. The bank systems used to just be bad at this.

[Zombie13]

Thanks justbroke .
There are no arrears associated with the mortgage i.e. we were never late with the mortgage payment.
The bankruptcy department told me before, that the single $50.00 fee is for their attorney. Perhaps the attorney had to put in minimal effort.
Though, I just find it difficult to believe their attorney would only charge a single fifty bucks.... that would amount to about 10-15 minutes of effort, I estimate. <$50 for 15 minutes? I'm in the wrong business! >
The website does not clarify what the single charge is for; that's why I called them about it, a year or so ago.
I reason, when it comes time to sell a home, even one that is not in bankruptcy, there is always a difference between the 'current balance/current principal owed', and 'final payoff amount'. I am interested in what items are included in that difference, aside from projected mortgage interest.

[justbroke]

Corporate bankruptcy attorneys "bill" at around $500+ per hour, and bill as low as 6-minute increments. That $50 would be for 6-minutes of time.

Maybe they just looked at the petition and said "yeah, that looks fine" (and then bill 6-minutes).

[Zombie13]

dang. yeah, I am definitely in the wrong business LOL!
Yes, perhaps that's what happened. 6 minute minimum. I did think about this as a possibility to myself, though only with a heavy dose of sarcasm. But, maybe you are correct. Hope that's the only fee to deal with.