AMC Fails: Appraisers Stiffed Again by Isaac Peck
Evaluation Services/ES Appraisal Services is the latest national appraisal management company (AMC) to declare bankruptcy and leave hundreds of real estate appraisers and agents/brokers with unpaid invoices. While there is no clear accounting of how much debt Evaluation Solutions left behind, the current evidence suggests that the unpaid invoices to real estate professionals total in the millions. Those appraisers and agents/brokers who have been affected have been actively sharing their stories online and putting pressure on the lender who hired Evaluation Solutions, JP-Morgan Chase, to cover the AMC’s bad debts. Last year under similar circumstances, appraisers cited numerous regulations, including the statutes of FIRREA and the OCC (Collecting AMC Debt from Lender), arguing that when an AMC fails to pay the appraiser, the lender becomes responsible, since the AMC is an “agent” of the lender (AMC Bad Debt – Lenders Responsible?). In fact, there is precedence for lenders stepping forward and paying the bad debts of their AMCs—last year MetLife Bank paid on AppraiserLoft bad debts (Lender Paying Appraisers Stiffed by AppraiserLoft) and Wells Fargo paid the unpaid invoices for their agent, JVI (Wells Fargo Paying JVI Bad Debt). So far, Chase, the lender who hired Evaluation Solutions, is refusing to take responsibility.