Q: I recently refinanced my home and before the closing asked the mortgage broker for the exact settlement numbers.

He happily gave them to me and they were the same on the HUD-1 settlement and other papers I signed at closing.

Four days after closing and one day after the funding I was informed that a fee was left out for the title company. Am I liable for the fee since it was not in any of the documents that I signed?

A: It seems to me that if the mortgage broker forgot to include a fee, and it wasn’t on your HUD-1 settlement statement, then it’s too bad for the broker. Once you’re done with the closing, I don’t think you should have to go back to pay a fee that you were never told about.

If, however, the fee was originally quoted to you in your good faith estimate, and then for whatever reason was left out of the settlement statement, you may need to pay it, or at least pay part of it.

But if it hasn’t come up before, then I don’t see any reason why you should now have to kick in to cover the mortgage broker’s mistake.

June 24, 2005.