Dear Mr. Azrael:

What recourse do we have for dealing with a mortgage that's charging late fees, but the cause of the fee is actually their delay in processing?

We were recently charged a late fee by [our mortgage company], but my payment was not processed for over 20 days after it was mailed. It was mailed from Baltimore to Pittsburgh in late January and was not processed until Feb. 17, 1999.

They charged me a late fee of $67.50. To this point we have not been able to get any help through their customer service line, which takes over an hour to get through at times.

Bill Sharp

Ellicott City

Dear Mr. Sharp:

On a scale of 10, this mortgage company earns a minus-five for customer service. I tried calling their 800 number eight times over two business days and got only busy signals. Finally, at 5: 45 p.m., after listening to syrupy elevator music for 10 minutes, I spoke to a live "customer service" representative.

I explained I was calling for information to answer a real estate question for The Sun. I asked the gentleman to recommend what the customer should do to receive credit for a late charge imposed because the payment was not processed on time. The representative suggested you write a complaint letter to the mortgage company, enclosing a copy of the front and back of your canceled check. I asked, "What's the address?" He replied, "Wait a minute."

More elevator music. After a while, the man's voice came back on the phone and said he'd call you to see if he could straighten out the problem.

Then I asked the representative, "May I have your name?" "Click!" went the phone. No more elevator music. Silence.

Has anyone from the mortgage company called you? Don't hold your breath.

Questions?

The Sun invites you to send Real estate questions to Mailbag. Questions will be answered by Jonathan A. Azrael of Azrael, Gann and Franz of Towson.

Questions -- including name, address and daytime telephone number -- may be sent in the following ways:

Mailing address: Real Estate Mailbag, Fifth Floor, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore 21278-0001. Fax: 410-783-2517. E-mail: real.estate@baltsun.com

Call our Sundial audio-response number, 410-783-1800. Enter code 6170 after the greeting.