AboutJim Meadows Expertise I can respond to most questions concerning consumer and business relationships with US financial institutions. My expertise touches on deposit and loan issues and particularly on strategies to navigate through bank policies personell and practices. I have a degree in Economics, attended law school, Graduate Shool of Banking, and Commercial Lending and Compliance Schools.
Experience I have twenty years experience as a bank CEO. Most of those years were spent operating a bank focused primarly on serving consumer/retail needs. I helped pioneer deposit and loan products for low/moderate income individuals. I currently serve on multiple bank boards and am Chairman of a Commercial Bank in Atlanta.
Question My mortgage company notified me this month of a transaction error that occurred in Feb 2002 (Pennsylvania). They're claiming they paid our real estate tax that month even though it was removed from the escrow account. I can't find a seven year old canceled check to prove that I paid and they're dragging their feet on providing me with an electronic download of my account, during the time period. Despite all this, is there a statute of limitations for their claim? If they haven't noticed this discrepancy for the last seven years, can they still recoup the tax amount if I can't prove I paid? Any information would be helpful.
Answer Sheila, Your state or local tax records might indicate when a payment was made and for how much. Have you requested your bank to produce a copy of your check. Most will for a fee search for approximate date and amount(may be too old but you should ask).
Even though you can't produce evidence that you paid the taxes it seems reasonable to ask your mortgage company for proof that they in fact did. The statute of limitations in Pennsylvania for notes/mortgages and contracts is six (6) years. Jim
