PNC dismissed their recent civil action against Herb and Christine Will on June 8 — the day after the Chestertown Spy reported on allegations of forgery against the lender, according to the couple’s attorney, Amber Litchfield.
PNC’s attorney, Rosemary Allulis of Weinstock, Friedman and Friedman, “decided to enter a voluntary dismissal on the confessed judgment so they can further investigate the [allegations of forgery],” Litchfield said. “So the confessed judgment has been dismissed for the time being, and we hope to work together towards a resolution for the Wills.”
The dismissal now gives the Wills the ability to seek relief under the Maryland Consumer Protection Act, which provides all Maryland homeowners an opportunity to seek a remedy to avoid foreclosure on a home.
The Wills had previously been denied access to these protections because the loan on their primary residence had been lumped in with their business loans, which carry a confessed judgment clause. The MCPA prohibits any lender operating in Maryland from using confessed judgments against a primary residence; the practice was banned in Maryland in 1973. When seeking financing remedies through government relief programs and other banks, the Wills were turned away because the loan on their home had been written as a commercial note.
PNC may have to re-write the loan on the Wills home to reflect the proper legal protocols allowed under the MCPA, according to Litchfield.
News of the dismissal left the Wills more hopeful than when their ordeal began a year ago, but Herb Will says PNC is grabbing at yet another straw to foreclose on the couple’s business.
PNC is now claiming the Wills defaulted on their commercial line of credit when PNC did not renew it in March of this year, even though the Wills have made, and continue to make, timely principal and interest payments on the loan.
Herb says a Mercantile loan officer advised them to get a $10,000 line of credit for their business back in 2005.
“The line of credit was re-written every year, and we had to bring the loan to a zero balance, which we always did, and then they took that requirement out,” Herb said. “We didn’t actually ask for the line of credit in the beginning…we didn’t apply for it, they offered it.”
The entire amount of the credit line became due in full in March of this year when PNC did not renew the couple’s three commercial loans, which consists of the original construction loan, the purchase of the High Street location, and the line of credit.
Herb says the line of credit is the next angle of attack PNC is using to foreclose on their business.
The Wills continue to make timely payments on all of their loans with PNC.
PNC did not respond for comment by the deadline of this article.
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