Countrywide Home Loans ripoff, trying to force me out of my home, claims I owe taxes and additional escrow in less then a year raised my payment nearly double the original Dallas Texas
On august 04 me and my hubby bought our second home, a primary residence, and at closing I was told that our payment including taxes *new home may jump slightly then the assessed taxes* and home insurance would be 1347.00 per month. We gave the 56000.00 check to them to avoid PMI, and went our merry way. In May 2005, less then 10 months in our new house, we check our online payments, and voila we had an overdraft on our mortgage of 300.00 that we didnt know why.
We called Countrywide, and asked 1.) why this new payment is 1647 vs 1347. per month.
2.) Who approved this, and 3.) where did I sign on the closing for a balloon rate because I wanted a 30 Yr. conventional FIXED rate mortgage, and wheres my monthly statement from you notifying us of this stuff?
Their reply was 1.) we have the actual taxes now, and we need the additional 300.00 to make up for it. 2.) We did, and you were told that due to a new build, your taxes may increaseyour monthly statement *this was not a lie*, 3.) no you signed and closed on a 30 yr fixed conventional mortgage, and we will start sending them to you as well as have them on line for you.
So we both said ok, well we just have to pay it, work some more overtime, and give up the frilly stuff.
Christmas was 2 days ago, I opened my mail today from Countrywide, *important tax documents inside* so I read it. Payment recieved on 12/16/05 for 1647.05, amount due on 01/01/2006 2350.92!
I nearly fell to the floor, I am never late on payment, never ever missed a payment, and now my payment is nearly 1000.00 over what it was 9 months ago. NO explanation other then my taxes again went up! but when i went into my account link tonight, my city/school taxes and my home owners shows that I annually pay a total of roughly 5000.00.
The website shows i already in the year 2005 paid a total of 7000.00 in taxes this year, 2 seperate times, 02/05 and 09/05 each time roughly 3500.00. Now I have to call them in 6 hours, and get an explanation on to why this is, then talk to a new mortgage company because I dont want to loose my house. And the best part of this is I DONT HAVE THE EXTRA MONEY, cause its 2 days after christmas! I dont want to loose my house, and i have no where to go if its taken from me. How does this happen to a person that is never late with bills, never misses a payment, and never is dishonest?
I am all up for a class action suit against these criminals, because right now it looks like they are about to steal my house from me, and I have no where to go and nearly nothing to loose.
say a prayer please because i need it.
Melanie
effort, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Sara
Springtown,Texas,
U.S.A.
Know what your Taxes/Insurance are...
#2Consumer Suggestion
Tue, August 08, 2006
The most important thing for a homeowner to know about their mortgage with an escrow account is to KNOW what your taxes are by contacting your tax collector/township and knowing what your home owners insurance premium is.
Since you live in PA, you have township and school taxes. Most of the time, they're semi-annual so that's 2 tax payments from escrow per year. Sometimes your school tax is the same way.
Add them all up and get your annual tax amount.
Next, find out what your home owners insurance is. Make sure your carrier KNOWS that YOU want to be notified when YOUR rates change.
Add that to your taxes per year.
You now have your "Escrow" amount per year. Now, divide it by 12.
So if your taxes total $7000 and your home owners is *imaginary #* $695 that would be $7695 a year, right? And divided by 12 months is $641.25 a month escrow payment. That's your "MINIMUM Escrow Payment". Since taxes and insurances are ALWAYS subject to change you have to understand that so can your escrow payment per month/year.
Your Mortgage payment has 3 facets: Principal, Interest, and Escrow. They're bunched into ONE monthly payment but have different purposes. Your escrow is *NOT* a part of your principal and interest and it is *NOT* affect by your interest rate!
So, now you know what your minimum escrow payment should be... Look at your escrow balance. Do you have enough in there to cover the taxes and insurance based on what has been disbursed?
Escrow is based on a rolling 12 month period. Since your taxes are semi-annual and your insurance is annual, you need to know when these tax & insurance payments are due.
Even though a mortgage company offers escrow, it is still YOUR responsiblity as the home owner to KNOW what your paying for with YOUR money. IF you DON'T know, you can't really blame anyone but yourself for the negative escrow and payment increase.
The mortgage company provides the service of paying your taxes/insurance on an annual/semi-annual/quartly basis as a courtesy. Your money goes into the escrow on a monthly basis so that it can be drawn upon to pay those taxes/insurances that come due. If the money isn't there, the mortgage company will still pay whats due and pass the increase on to you in the form of an additional monthly payment. In essence, you're paying them back for making sure your taxes/insurance were paid when they were due.
Sure things happen and things get out of whack. One way to prevent a MAJOR jump is to KNOW ahead of time and always, always know what your escrow balance is.
I hope this helps understand a little better. It helped me understand when it was explained this way.