Complaint Review: Centex Home Equity Corporation

Understand that these companies hire non experienced Loan Officers...and the pressure is high to close everything they can. You are in a position where there is no way out. Centex can't "redo" it. I'd say, find a investor. Maybe they could help you out...as long as you find a good one (they are out there). Or you could try going with another bank with a new refi. Let them handle the appraisal. You want to find a sub-prime compnay. Follow up on everything. Post what they offer, let someone look it over. You do not want to be forclosed upon!

Understand that these companies hire non experienced Loan Officers...and the pressure is high to close everything they can. You are in a position where there is no way out. Centex can't "redo" it. I'd say, find a investor. Maybe they could help you out...as long as you find a good one (they are out there). Or you could try going with another bank with a new refi. Let them handle the appraisal. You want to find a sub-prime compnay. Follow up on everything. Post what they offer, let someone look it over. You do not want to be forclosed upon!

I asked for $1,000, only, to put insulation in my house. Centex Home Equity's loan officer insisted that "we can not borrow you just a $1,000 you have to have a full mortgage." "Well, I don't want a full mortgage, I just want $1,000. I don't make enuf money for a mortgage. We just got out of a mortgage, and we promised each other, never again, no matter what. So, we don't want another mortgage...just help us put insulation in the house, so we have a warm winter," I said.

He said, "Well, we won't borrow you just $1,000 so lets me see what your payments will be for a $37,000 mortgage. $457 a month, at 13.99% interest, for 30-years."

I said, "I can't afford that!"

He said, "Sure you can, you don't understand, we will pay off all of your other bills, and you will only pay us $457 a month, for 30-years. You won't have to pay those other bills anymore, you'll be paid in full."

I said, "Oh, those bills that I already don't pay? I haven't paid because I can't afford to pay them. What makes you think that I can afford to pay you $457 when I can't afford to pay $150 a month? And, I can't afford to pay the $150 because my job doesn't pay enough so I can afford to pay off my student loan, and my property taxes. No, I can't afford a mortgage. Good-bye."

He called me back 4x's in 3 days, trying to convince me that I needed the mortgage. I didn't want a mortgage, just money for Insulation which was $800, and I needed money for the installation, and I figured I would have interest to pay off for the loan. So, I rounded the amount to $1,000. I originally asked for the loan to be in my name, so when I made the payments, I would get the credit for it.

The final time the Loan officer called me,
"I can offer you a refinance option: If you sign the mortgage and keep your payments on time for a few months, we will take that to Centex and have them look at the mortgage, with your payments on time as good faith, will refinance the mortgage for you at a lower payment."

"Ok." I said.

"There are formal papers coming to you, that are just part of the process of the loan. Just accept them as part of the loan, and as soon as those are done with the waiting period, we'll get your loan to you." He said.

"ok." I said. After 4-months, of 'those papers', which he said is standard forms I don't need to read them, I signed and sent on, he notified me.

"Everything was approved, and your appraisal was $50,000. (the loan officer said we needed an appraisal for $50,000 to get their mortgage.) Oh, by the way, there was an extra charge for the Title Search of $1,000. So, the mortgage settlement costs say you get $9,000 back, you are actually only getting $8,000 after paying off your bills." he said.

At the signing of the loan, I kept feeling sickly and my heart was racing...I felt like we were doing the wrong thing. All we had to do was walk away. I said, "Dale, are you sure about this? He said, sure, we are going to refinance anyway in a few months. We can do this."

After borrowing the mortgage payments for about 3-months, I called to refinance the mortgage...the loan officer said, "we don't refinance mortgages until you've made your payments, on time, for a year or more." then hung up on me.


What part of this information makes you believe that Centex didn't lie to me or that I wasn't harrassed into the getting a mortgage that I couldn't afford???

I made the payments, as best I could. I was told by the Collection department, a Mr. Harvey, that if I made my payments into their office by the 15th of each month, there would not be any interest charges (late fees) on my account. But, after a few months, I found out that the true date was the 10th of each month that the full mortgage payment had to be in by before they tack on their late fees. You see, I couldn't do a full payment...my paychecks were $217 a week, if I worked 40-hours a week, which most of the time, I didn't. My husband had to pay the utilities, groceries, gas $ to go to work with his check, and our eating when we were at work. If we got bonus' at the end of the year, that was only $25. (no lie! We worked for Mr. Scrooge!)

There was only my checks to pay the mortgage. So, I broke the full payments down to pay one check this week, and a second check the next week, before the 10th of each month. It would have worked except the People at Centex got greedy and said that my mortgage isn't set up that way, and started taking my mortgage payments. Even tho' I specified what month I was paying for, the mortgage statements kept reflecting that I hadn't paid at all.

Some company. And, they got away with it all, plus took my house.

Centex has tens of thousands of satisfied customers. We pride ourselves on customer service. Is there a mortgage company in the world that will not ask you to pay the money back that you owe? NO! We must be paid for a loan. All mortgage companies must be paid or they will go out of business! If you can't pay your mortgage don't sign the papers. We try to get everyone approved for a mortgage. We are the company to call when no one else will help you. We are a great company if you don't have perfect credit. I think it's sad that when you try to give people a second chance you come to a forum like this and read how bad unappreciated the help is. Maybe it's time to stop blaming other people and look at your own role in your problems.

Here are some tips.
1) Don't sign anything you don't understand.
2) Don't ever borrow more than you can use.
3) Don't be afraid to speak up and let your loan officer know your concerns.
4) Never take a mortgage you can't pay back or you WILL lose your house.
* side note *
Centex absolutely does not want to own your home. Do some research and you will see that we lose about $50k on every foreclosure.
5) Ask questions and listen when your loan officer and closing agent answer you and make sure you understand.


I promise that every customer I talk to I really care for and want to help. I can't speak for every employee of Centex or other companies for that matter, because there are good and bad people everywhere and mortgage companies are no exception. I assure you that Centex as a whole is one of the best companies you will ever find and if you find me you will never find a better person in this business to look out for your needs. Most of us are good people and most people who have bad credit are good people that need some help. It is rare to find people that dislike Centex. I have scanned this site and others and found only a hand full of unhappy people. That's not bad considering that we are one of the top lenders in the US. My heart goes out to those that don't get the help they need but seriously, think about what you are doing and if you follow the above mentioned rules you will protect yourself from bad people. Also don't think Centex is an evil company because they try to protect their assets by collecting on mortgages. You signed the agreement that in writing says you promise to pay back on time please follow through with your promises and we will follow through with ours.

but, after reading this, I will take my business elsewhere. I am making 27,000/yr, am 10 months out of a chapter 13 bankruptcy and have a 165,000 home which i owe 60,0000 on. I wanted 15,000 home equity loan but Centex only will lend me $25,000, fixed at 5.9 for 25 yrs as it is "not worth it to them to lend less than $25,000." Yeah RIGHT!!!! Stealing people's homes in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Thank GOD for Watch Dog Groups. Evil thrives when good men do nothing, folks. Thank you for sharing your story and as far as your husband goes, I am sorry the stress cost you your marriage but, in all honesty, if he couldn't handle that, he has't much strength of character. He was probably gone long before he physically left. Again, thank you for writing about Centex - I will abort the application process immediately.

Problems not solved with the mortgage company, my husband and I have got a divorce. I was fighting, and he went looking for love elsewhere. Divorce court ordered us to sell the property and divide up the Equity, each of us walking away with "$6,000."

Unfortunately, how can we get that when the current appraisal of the house is now $15,000 and the mortgage company wants $42,000?

My ex-husband still lives there, but has not been able to keep up with the mortgage payments. On Sept. 29th, 2004 a Sheriff's sale was held to sell our house. I'm told that we can now Refinance the house or sell the house. How can we if there was a Sheriffs sale? Doesn't the Sheriffs sale sell the property? I don't understand.

As you can see, I'm confused. The people responding who actually work with Centex, please, please explain this. Or, am I asking the wrong people? Do you know, I've been fighting Centex since I signed the mortgage in 2000? Do you know that my Loan Officer was let go, this year? After I filed the RESPA, it took Centex 4-months to answer me, and all they could come up with was the original note that my loan officer "told me to write, word-for-word." As if that was there final answer.

I notified the Minnesota Attorney General's office that my house value, in 2004, is $15,000 and Centex had it appraised at $50,000 in 2000. The Atty General's office tried to get an answer from Centex. Centex didn't respond. I also reported this to the Texas Better Business Bureau, and Centex didn't reply to them either. The Texas Better Business Bureau told me to get a lawyer. A lawyer costs $160 an hour! I don't have it.

That's why I'm going to continue to report to RipoffReport.com.

While I am NOT an entire, nor qualified to give legal advice, I can make a couple of suggestions. If your house is in the foreclosure process, you will have to cure the foreclosure somehow. The first is to pay whatever monies are due, lates fees, etc. OR you may be able to file a chapter 13 bankruptcy.

In Texas this will stay the foreclosure and Centex will not be able to proceed with the foreclosure. More than likely the arearage will be put into the 13. Yes, an attorney will cost money, but most will work out a payment plan, and my understanding is that these often are less than 1000 dollars for simple ones.

However, if money is an issue, you may want to try any of the universities that are near you. Many times law students will work cases pro-bono for the sole fact of experiance, and if not they should be able to refer you to someone. Just a suggestion. If you do go the Chapter 13 route, this should not damage your credit any worse than now.

Moreover, many creditors look at a 13 much lighter than a chapter 7 which is a liquadation of debts. Again, I am not an attorney or even close, but you still may have some options. Best of luck.

While I am NOT an entire, nor qualified to give legal advice, I can make a couple of suggestions. If your house is in the foreclosure process, you will have to cure the foreclosure somehow. The first is to pay whatever monies are due, lates fees, etc. OR you may be able to file a chapter 13 bankruptcy.

In Texas this will stay the foreclosure and Centex will not be able to proceed with the foreclosure. More than likely the arearage will be put into the 13. Yes, an attorney will cost money, but most will work out a payment plan, and my understanding is that these often are less than 1000 dollars for simple ones.

However, if money is an issue, you may want to try any of the universities that are near you. Many times law students will work cases pro-bono for the sole fact of experiance, and if not they should be able to refer you to someone. Just a suggestion. If you do go the Chapter 13 route, this should not damage your credit any worse than now.

Moreover, many creditors look at a 13 much lighter than a chapter 7 which is a liquadation of debts. Again, I am not an attorney or even close, but you still may have some options. Best of luck.

I made a RESPA letter, according to the HUD rules, and made copies of it. I sent the complaint letters on to the FTC, the Dept. Of Commerce, the Texas Better Business Bureau, and to Centex. I received a response from the FTC-they will look into Centex. I received more responses, similar to that. And, I received a response from Centex after a month and a half.
They are planning on taking my house in foreclosure, and I can't stop it. I can't afford a lawyer, but I'll just keep complaining about them, since what they've done to me, is what they are still doing to others. This is why I reported them in the first place, to keep others from making the same mistake I did.

I made a RESPA letter, according to the HUD rules, and made copies of it. I sent the complaint letters on to the FTC, the Dept. Of Commerce, the Texas Better Business Bureau, and to Centex. I received a response from the FTC-they will look into Centex. I received more responses, similar to that. And, I received a response from Centex after a month and a half.
They are planning on taking my house in foreclosure, and I can't stop it. I can't afford a lawyer, but I'll just keep complaining about them, since what they've done to me, is what they are still doing to others. This is why I reported them in the first place, to keep others from making the same mistake I did.

You need to contact your state's banking or consumer finance division, the Federal Trade Commission and the Depeartment of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

While I do not all the details of your transaction, your scenario SCREAMS predatory lending. I say this becasue I have been a mortgage broker for the past 4 years as well as a direct lender. What they did was to find a way to increase your loan amount to make it marketable to THEM.

So instead of borrowing the 1000 dollars you needed you ended up with a loan for 10000. The loan officer also probably knew that you could not make your payments comfortably anyways, but proceeded to "sell" you a loan that was not needed for the sole purpose of making a commission for himself and the company.

In addition, you had an inflated appraisal on your property that was probably done just to make the deal work. Hopefully tou are not upside down on your property.

The fact that old creditors where paid off, did not help your situation. In fact, it probably hurt it.

The fact is, once debt is charged off, it is written off as bad debt and does not have to be serviced on a monthly basis. While it is debt, that will either need to be paid, or liquidated through Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, there does not need to be monthly payments made on it, when there are more important things such as, food, utilities, medical, and transportation.

You should have been advised and politly redirected to a better source for the money. The last thing is the fact that you have to make payments via Western Union for 13 bucks a pop and at 52 dollars a month, this adding an additional 10% to your payment.

If you don't have a checking account you need to get one to avoind this. If there servicing department will not take checks than this is unacceptable. Unfortunatly a refinance will not help you much.

However, you appear to be yet another victim of predatory lending, and should contact as money state and federal agencies as possible. I am quite certain that there are law firms that have class action cases pending or are trying to get clients to petition the court to take on the proverbial Goliath. I wish you the best and hope things can get worked out.

I would have loved to have talked to the person who contacted me, but he/she did not leave his email address. I am still fighting the mortgage company.

I contacted the Attorney General's office, of Minnesota, but he hasn't been able to get any results about the mortgage company. I don't know what else to do. Do I let the Mortgage company take my house? No!

I paid two mortgage payments in June, 2003. Centex claims that I didn't pay for June. I have proof that I paid on 5/30/2003, $213 and $6/6/2003, $213 (that's $426 divided by 2).

I was called at work and threatened that my house would be taken away (by Mr. Harvey, collections dept of Centex), if I didn't come up with the June payment. So, I borrowed from my Father-in-Law, I borrowed $426 for June, 2003; and did a check over the phone "plan", which includes an extra $15 withdraw to pay them to do a check over the phone. That broke off our relationship because I can't pay him back, I'm too busy trying to figure out how to come up with the next payment and paying my Utilities is out of the Question!

Centex is charging me "Advanced Home Insurane Premiums" for House Insurance, and I have sent them proof of Insurance on my house, but they refuse to accept the proof. I faxed them and mailed them a copy of the same. Their Insurance dept. refuses to acknowledge this, and continually makes a statement on my Mortgage Loan Statement, "If you have your own Home Owners Insurance policy, please send proof of continuous coverage to P.O. Box 703048, Dallas, Texas 75370-3048. Centex Home Equity must be listed as a loss payee under the Mortgagee Clause of your policy." I have the Minnesota Fair Plan...if my house burns down, they pay me $50,000. Straight. (Should I wish for my house to burn down? to get Centex paid off and leave us alone?....What a thing to hope for!)
So, I filed a Complaint again, with everyone I can think of. I'm not doing this for myself, anymore, but for others who haven't decided to have a loan thru Centex, yet.

Stop! Don't borrow from Centex...They Lie, and cheat! They are Crooks who are going to mess with your loan, so you never can pay it off! They will claim you didn't pay, when you did. they won't accept the proof you have either. And, when you dispute, they come after you even more!

They had me sign a paper that said "I agree that I won't talk to the TV media, or Reporters." How is that suppose to be Legal?!

Consumer Beware!

SHEILA,

I have read your report and have no doubt about the treatment that you got. However, I do not work in the sales side but do work in the servicing side. My position is not high in the chain but requires extensive experiance. I would like to extend an offer to you to write to me about your specific problems with Centex.

I know that you are not the only one that has had to deal with that sort of treatment. I would very interested in giving you any sort of information that would lead to this sort of treatment to stop.

Most of the treatment that you have described is unethical not to mention illegal. I personally have brought this to the attention of the Vice President of Servicing and no results have ever been given. Please email me at my personal email if you would like to respond