Q: We have been having trouble with our mortgage company and went to the FHA for help.

Upon doing so, we discovered that although all of our loan paperwork has an FHA number on it, the mortgage company failed to send in the final paperwork and we do not have an FHA loan.

Is our mortgage even valid?

A: The short answer is that your loan is valid. It may not be an FHA loan (backed by the Federal Housing Administration), but you received money to buy the home and signed a note and mortgage. You still have an obligation to repay the loan.

You don’t mention what your trouble is with your mortgage company and why you went to FHA for help. You may have some legal options against the lender for promising to give you an FHA loan, charging you fees that FHA requires but not giving you and FHA loan. Talk to an attorney further about all of the facts surrounding how you got the loan and you can decide how to proceed from there.

If this company promised you an FHA loan and did not deliver, you can also file a complaint with the agency that regulates financial institutions in your state and with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

April 26, 2006.