Way back in time, when we lived in Alton and Randy turned a run-down house into a showpiece, we were able to pay off the house loan much earlier than the original date. So Randy called our lender, Wells Fargo, to get the payoff amount. Surprisingly, they wouldn't give it to us unless we paid an additional $60 fee. Randy had read the loan papers back when he originally signed them so he knew that wasn't included in the documentation. Nevertheless, he read it all again. Nope, not there. So, being really smart, he calculated what the payoff amount would be, allowing for postal time, and send a check by "signature required" mail.
Three weeks later the check was returned to us with the information that it could not be applied as a payoff because we had not paid to get the payoff amount. Not that it was the wrong amount (it wasn't) but we had not paid them for the information. And oddly enough, it was stamped as if it was received 2 weeks later than the postal service said it was signed for. Hmmm. Time for another phone call.
The Wells Fargo lady said we would have to pay the $60 to get the payoff amount. Randy explained that this was not in the contract.
The lady said we were required to send a Cashier's check to pay off the loan, after we'd paid for and received the payoff amount. Randy explained that according to the contract, this was not required unless we had previously sent them a bad check. Which we had not done.
The lady said they could not accept a check that large. Randy explained they had previously accepted and cashed a check from us that was, in fact, a little larger.
The lady said, look, we're just gonna had to pay that $60 because they were not going to accept the check we sent them. Randy explained that if they refused to accept a valid check, then in 90 days the loan will go into default, it will go to a judge, and he will laugh them out of court because they returned the check without a single legal reason to do so. And then there will be legal fees for them to cover.
Finally the lady gave up and humbly asked if we would please send a certified check. Randy said yes, as long as we could do it at no cost. And Randy reminded her that because they had signed for it on a specific date, they were required by law to remove all charges which had accumulated after that date.
The next year the company made a big nationwide announcement that the $60 payoff fee for home loans was no longer required, because they are such good guys. Randy should have charged them for a class in legal contracts, 'cause he sure took them to school!
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