SAN ANTONIO — The Harder family had been waiting two months for their missing check to come back home.
When a hail storm damaged Karen Harder's roof back in April, she made a claim with her insurance company, which then sent her a check for more than $16,000 to pay a contractor.
Harder then just needed her mortgage company, Newrez, to endorse the check and send it back to her so she could finally pay the roofing contractor.
But when Harder sent the check to Newrez, it was accidently used for something else.
Instead of sending it back, Newrez initially used the entire check amount to pay down her mortgage. Harder then got a statement from the company showing a huge $16,000 payment for just one month.
She wasn't happy.
"This was crazy! How do you apply an insurance check to a mortgage? Who would do that?" Harder said.
The payment was, of course, a mistake. Newrez promptly fixed the error on the family's next statement.
The Harder family then said they called Newrez at least 10 times to ask when the check would be returned, but it never seemed to happen. Finally, they contacted KENS 5.
"I heard good things about your station and I wrote an email hoping you could help us," Harder said.
KENS 5 contacted Newrez and provided a detailed account of the issue the family was dealing with.
Once Newrez reviewed the information, they immediately took action to correct the issue and had a check sent out the same day.
The company told KENS 5 via email: "Thank you for bringing Karen and Lee Harder’s situation to our attention and for your dedication to assisting homeowners. We appreciate the opportunity to address this matter and provide clarity."
The company told KENS 5 the Harder family was accidentally told to send their check to the wrong company office and it was accidentally processed as a payment. The company worked to reroute the funds, but then needed to confirm that the roof repairs were complete, according to their procedures. That caused an additional delay.
Fortunately, Harder's roofing company, Linear Roofing General Contractors, was willing to do the entire job after an initial down payment and was then willing to wait to be paid while the family tried to sort this out.
"They were very nice. I can't say enough nice things things about them," Harder said about the contractor.
Then, just three days after KENS 5 contacted Newrez, the check showed up on Harder's doorstep.
"There was an envelope on the bench. I got very excited because I knew what it was! Sure enough, there was the check," Harder said.
Newrez also told KENS 5, "We apologize for any inconvenience the Harders' experienced and appreciate your support in ensuring the Harders' claim progresses smoothly."
Harder said she's thankful the mortgage company was able fix the issue. She's also glad she called KENS 5.
"I called KENS 5 and they were able to help me out! I really appreciate their help," Harder said.
If you have a problem like this, we want to help you fix it! In our series, Call KENS, we do our best to solve problems for our viewers. The number to call is 210-470-KENS, or fill out the form on this page.