Just to follow up, I hired a lawyer. He contacted the law firm who handled the foreclosure, they had documentation from '05 refi showing that the HELOC had been paid off (the original HUD statement) Then he was able to get a copy of Title Committment from Title Company hired to clear the foreclosure showing that there was NO exception in the policy for the HELOC. That essentially means that they WILL cover any claims arising from the HELOC since they believe it is still on title in error. It should have been released at the time of new loan being written (in '05) and there is proof that is was in fact paid off. That being said the HELOC held by USAA still refused to release the lien. Luckily my title company agreed to insure title (without paying off the HELOC) based on the letter from previous title company and the copy of old HUD statement.
So for the future if you have what you think is a lead lien but an older HELOC is on title... if you don't see a subordination agreement or a lien release on that HELOC it could in fact be lead. I got lucky on this one, my next steps could have been:
` Find out how excess funds collected at foreclosure auction were distributed (they rightfully should have gone to clear liens, usually junior ones, and any excees funds go to the previous homeowner) in Missouri.
` File for "quiet title" and it may or may not have worked.
` Pay the lien off, and lose a ton of money.
