Mortgage borrowers win at Supreme Court

Mortgage borrowers win at Supreme Court
Published: Jan 13, 2015 5:36 p.m. ET
Home loan borrowers need only send a letter to their bank to rescind a contract when disclosure violations are at issue 
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mortgage-holders-win-at-supreme-court-2015-01-13

By

DanielGoldstein

Personal finance reporter

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The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that Countrywide Home Loans erred when it required a couple to go to court to rescind a mortgage they said was inadequately disclosed under the Truth-in-Lending Act.

The U.S. Supreme Court handed a win to mortgage borrowers when they unanimously ruled a lender erred when it insisted that borrowers who opted to back out of a mortgage because of disclosure errors by the bank had to go to court to do so.
Instead, the Court said a mere letter to the bank was sufficient notice under the Truth in Lending Act so long as it was within the three-year window the Act allows.
“So long as the borrower notifies within three years after the transaction is consummated, his rescission is timely,” Justice Antonin Scalia wrote on behalf of the court. “The statute does not also require him to sue within three years,” Scalia added.
The Supreme Court decision overturned a ruling by the Eighth Circuit Court, and that of a lower federal court that both sided with the lender, saying that a lawsuit within the three-year window, not just a letter, was needed to rescind a mortgage with continued disclosure issues.