St. Louis woman battles over mortgage payment dispute

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says more than half the complaints they receive about mortgages are about trouble during the payment process. It received 12,500 complaints about payment issues in 2025.

When a St. Louis woman couldn’t get a dispute about her mortgage payments resolved, she reached out to First Alert 4 Investigates. We contacted a lawyer with the St. Louis Mediation Project, who stepped up to help.

Doris Taylor has been living the American dream for 19 years.

“It means a lot. It’s home, and I’m comfortable where I am,” she said, describing her house.

Over those 19 years, her mortgage loan servicer has changed several times.

“The first one was Bank of America, then Nationstar, then after Nationstar was Mr. Cooper, then Mr. Cooper went to just Cooper, and now Rocket Mortgage,” she listed.

One thing that’s been consistent: she says she’s always made her payments, and she has the receipts.

“I sent April, but I didn’t know they changed on my payment. It was a little bit more, so I sent $130 more with my May payment. And then June, July, August, September, and October,” she explained.

But Taylor said that Rocket Mortgage has been sending notices that she’s at risk of defaulting on the loan, despite calling Rocket and showing them her payments.

“I don’t want to lose my house. I’ve been here too long,” she said.

First Alert 4 contacted finance attorney Kevin Erker with the St. Louis Mediation Project, who brought Taylor, her bank, and Rocket Mortgage together over the phone to resolve the problem. Erker says a review of her records revealed a payment she made in March for April was not properly recorded.

When First Alert 4 reached out to Rocket Mortgage about it, they responded with the statement: “Ms. Taylor has been a longtime client of ours and her concerns matter to us. Unfortunately, her recent payments were returned for insufficient funds and could not be applied to her loan. We chose to waive any late fees as we work to bring the account current and address her questions.”

But Taylor disputes that, and Erker writes, “In response to a non-payment event in April, Rocket attempted to access two different deposit accounts ... and it is those attempts that resulted in insufficient funds returning... I can confirm that based on my review Doris should be currently through the end of November 2026 at this time and expect Rocket to take some time, like 4-8 weeks, to resolve.”

First Alert 4 asked Erker what homeowners can do to resolve disputes over mortgage payments.

He said that homeowners can submit a written Request for Information, or a Life of Loan Transaction History, to match their payment records with the lender’s. Then he said to send a Notice of Error or submit a Loss Mitigation application.

“Where you find errors, that goes into a written Notice of Error by mail. You’re not calling someone on the phone, they forgot that they ever heard about it, right?” said Erker.

The federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, or RESPA, requires mortgage companies to respond.

“It kind of pauses the clock. And if they proceed anyway, you might be able to get relief in federal court. Foreclosure is a state court process,” he said.

Erker explained foreclosures must go before a judge in Illinois, but not in Missouri.

“In a non-judicial state like Missouri, and there’s no mediation, so you have to go file your own case to block the process,” he said.

Homeowners with unresolved disputes can also file complaints with:

• the Missouri Division of Finance,
• the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation,
• the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,
• or reach out to an attorney or the St. Louis Mediation Project for help

Erker recommends homeowners make loan payments through their bank or credit union accounts, rather than through wires or money orders, to create clean records and check that each payment is recorded.