Are Bank Servicers Right When They Ignore Borrower Requests Styled As QWRs?

Over and over again, I see that borrowers will send a bank servicer a letter that is titled "Qualified Written Request" or "QWR", only to receive from the bank a response that states that the request cannot be fulfilled because "it doesn't qualify as a QWR".  The most common reason asserted for such alleged failure to qualify is that the request does not state with specificity what servicing defect the borrower is asserting.

This is only a half-truth.  While the law does provide that a "qualified" written request for information is "written correspondence" that "includes a statement of the reasons for the belief of the borrower" why "the account is in error", this is NOT the only type of correspondence that qualifies.  A QWR can ALSO be a written request for information that "provides sufficient detail to the servicer regarding other information sought by the borrower".

Thus, as long as your written request seeks concrete information and provides sufficient detail to the servicer regarding the information sought by you as the borrower, your request is "qualified", and the servicer must respond to it and provide either the "information requested by the borrower or an explanation of why the information requested is unavailable or cannot be obtained by the servicer".  The bank's noncompliance with this requirement of the statute would most likely be actionable in court.

Happy QWRs...