Complaint Review: us bank - Nationwide

I should have explained the previous matter; the bank attempted to pay taxes that were already paid by my wife and I. The letter from us bank was an explanation of their actions and their apologies for the mistake.

 I also stated that the escrow account that was established by mistake was removed. There has never been any escrow account associated with my mortgage.

The payment to the insurance company was returned to the bank. My agent called and questioned the early payment and alerted me to the banks actions concerning payments that were not due.

The county refused my tax payment by Ohio law, they are not allowed to except over payments and the banks funds were already applied to the taxes.

The other response listed here stated that us bank paid taxes on property that has no lien, because of an exclusion of some type; yet us bank failed to pay taxes on several other properties that are connected to the same couple and due at the same time of year.

Thanks for the response

It seems as if there is some very pertinet information being left off here. Specifically you talk about a "previous matter" in late 2013.  What did that involve? You also did not tell us the flip side.  That is you are basically claiming that they would have caused an overpayment with both your Taxes and Insurance.  So what did the County and Insurance Company do with this overpayment? 

If there wasn't an over payment it just leaves us confused as to why it matters how they got paid.  Yes, the bank is coming after you for the money, but the only difference is you would pay the bank instead of the corrosponding agency directly. Also, this is going back over 3 1/2 years for you.  At any point during this time have you even had an attorney review this to provide you with why it is happening or confirm that they are not allowed to do that.  If you did what did they say or suggest?

I don't work for any bank, but here are answers to most of your questions:

1.  How can payments be made from an escrow account that does not exist?  By law, a bank can establish an escrow account if the property owner has been delinquent either with payments against the mortgage, or sufficiently delinquent against paying property taxes to warrant a tax lien being placed on the property.  Once a tax lien is placed on a property, the state can sell the property out from under you and the bank to satisfy the tax lien, and usually the sale is for the amount of the taxes due.  In other words...it's sold for pennies on the dollar.  By creating the escrow account, the bank is protecting your interest and theirs.  Once this determination is made, the bank can place an escrow account not just on the property that has a lien, but any property you as the owner control, whether the property has a lien against it, or not.

2.  Who authorized you to remove/redirect funds from my accounts to satsify your mistakes?  Again, as a function of the law, the bank is now tasked with the responsibility of issuing all payments to satisfy your property tax situation.  It also may not be a mistake - the bank has the right to bill you additional amounts to administer the escrow account they established.  A full accounting would be required to determine this.  I know you haven't received that yet.  A lawyer can help with this.

3.  Why did you pay taxes on property that has no liens, then remove funds from my accounts to satsify this mistake?  This would not be a mistake.  The bank can also create an escrow account for a property not in a tax lien situation if the bank has reason to believe you would become delinquent on taxes with that property as well.  All they really have to prove is that you have had a property with a tax lien on it in the past either for failure to pay, or delinquent in payment.

The reason the bank has dismissed your concerns and this part of your contract is that the law allows them this control.  Thus when the bank assumed control and created the escrow account, it deemed the agreement was already breached, possibly as a result of the unrelated matter not mentioned, or not.  Once you have a property with a tax lien placed against it, you pretty much lose control of payments related to that property and any other.  I would consult an attorney who specializes in this situation and see how you can wrest control of the accounts from the bank.  Best of luck to you....