UPDATE pg 3...my mortage co did not pay our school taxes in 04

[poohandwendy]

OMG, I am beside myself here.

Yesterday, I received a notice from an ATTORNEY that there would be a lien put against my house unless I paid our delinquent 2004 school taxes plus penalties!!!! Yes, this is the first I have heard of this. Grab the Excedrin, it's going to be a long day, if I don't have a heart attack first. Hopefully the Excedrin will buy me some time so that they can rescuitate me.

In 04, my mortage was bought by another company and was transferred in the beginning of August. The old mortage co says they paid county and borough taxes up until that point and transferred the remaining escrow to our current mort co. The school taxes were due in the beginning of Sept. My current mort co says they did not pay any taxes that year because it was the responsibility of the old co to pay them. Huh? WHERE IS MY MONEY????

Yes, I am obviously going to be calling them back, but I just had to take a break because I have been on the phone dealing with this for over 2 hours now. Mostly on hold listening to really lame music and repeated automated response directions. If I have to hear one more automated response while waiting for a real, live person...I think I will scream.

The atty who sent me the nasty, threatening letter, was the most helpful and gave me some advice. But unless I resolve this soon, I am going to have to cough up 2 grand at the end of May. Yes, money that was already placed into my escrow acct 2 years ago!

Has anyone dealt with anything similar? I guess this is a vent more than anything...I am just so POd...

 

[ElizaB39]

Oops, duplicated and edited above.

 

[ElizaB39]

When you call push '0' repeatedly until you bypass the autovoices. DEMAND to talk to a manager.

Do you have copies of your tax returns from 2004? You should have submitted info on taxes paid; that info should have been sent to you by your mortgage co. You would have included copies of that info with your return.

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

OMG - You are living in my nightmare!! We are going through the same crap now. We also re-financed and the 2nd half of general tax due Sept 1, 2005. We switched to new company August 1st!! They never paid it - got the same letter you did - This was 5 days before Christmas!!! I freaked, paid the $1200 MYSELF and now am in the process of getting reimbursed. It is such a nightmare!! Noone wants to take responsibilty - now I am getting my lawyer involved, and if need be... off to claims court I go!!

 

[PryncessChrysty]

Holy Mackarel - how frustrating!!!! I hope they are able to see their mistake!

 

[poohandwendy]

When you call push '0' repeatedly until you bypass the autovoices. DEMAND to talk to a manager.

Do you have copies of your tax returns from 2004? This should have info on taxes paid that was sent to you by your mortgage co.

Yes, that is exactly what I am going to do.

I am going to look through my tax papers and check.

 

[poohandwendy]

OMG - You are living in my nightmare!! We are going through the same crap now. We also re-financed and the 2nd half of general tax due Sept 1, 2005. We switched to new company August 1st!! They never paid it - got the same letter you did - This was 5 days before Christmas!!! I freaked, paid the $1200 MYSELF and now am in the process of getting reimbursed. It is such a nightmare!! Noone wants to take responsibilty - now I am getting my lawyer involved, and if need be... off to claims court I go!!

Oh God...that is depressing.


Sorry to hear you are going through it too.

 

[AllyandJack]

This happened to me repeatedly with my old mortgage company - begins with Country and ends with Wide.

Thankfully, I live in a tiny town and the town officers worked with me to fix the problem with no penalties. I DID end up coughing up the money (it was over $3,500 since we pay twice a year) and I went after the mortgage company. The town told me it was OK, but I preferred to be current with the taxes and fight the battle myself with the mortgage company.

Needless to say, they weren't my mortgage company much longer after that because it happened THREE TIMES with the property taxes and once with my Homeowner's Insurance.

I hope you get it cleared up fast.

 

[marlasmom]

I have had it happen to me. I did get the mortgage company to pay up immediately and pay the extra interest and penalties.

When we got this mortgage we paid $250 extra (aargh) for the "privilege" of paying our own taxes and insurance. Very comforting though.

 

[AllyandJack]

I have had it happen to me. I did get the mortgage company to pay up immediately and pay the extra interest and penalties.

When we got this mortgage we paid $250 extra (aargh) for the "privilege" of paying our own taxes and insurance. Very comforting though.

I did that, too. We paid something at closing to avoid the escrow. So much better. Plus, if I'm setting aside hundreds of dollars a month for bills, I want the interest on it.

 

[PlutoPony]

Is the money really still in your escrow account? Our mortgage company checks the escrow account balance once/year in a kind of reconciliation - current account vs. projected payouts for the next year (taxes, insurance, etc). They then adjust our mortgage payment accordingly - if taxes are slated to go UP, they build that into the calculation. So if we had an excess of funds in the account due to them not paying something (and not realizing it) they would have probably lowered our payment by that amount for the next year - kWIM?
At the very LEAST, the mortgage company should pay any penalties - that's a no brainer. I'd also want an explanation of how this happened and what steps they'll take to assure this doesn't happen in the future, assuming you want to continue to do business with them (any chance you were planning to refi soon?)
Good luck - this too is one of my worst nightmares!

 

[poohandwendy]

Thanks for all of your replies. I still have no solid answers, I am supposed to get a call back tommorow from the 'supervisor'.

A few things I do know, they didn't pay it and the money IS in my escrow acct. Seems like a no brainer, they should pay it immediately right? We will see. I am pretty mad about the whole thing though.

We are thinking or refinancing anyways...

 

[MosMom]

By any chance did Washington Mutual buy your mortgage? We have several nightmare stories regarding them and not paying taxes/insurance and mysterious escrow shortages etc. If it is them, refinance!

 

[Boston Tea Party]

I don't have any advice. I just wanted to chime in and say we are trying to buy our first home and you have just given me fodder for some new nightmares. Thanks!

 

[Bildmouse]

We have two lots. Washington Mutual paid the taxes on one but not the other. We didn't know anything was wrong until the tax sale notices appeared in the paper. I never take the time to look at them because we always assumed our taxes were paid but my DB was going through them and told us. They had not paid taxes on that lot for three years so we had to come up with the money within 30 days. The county had done a reassessment and we thought the empty lot now had lower taxes so never questioned the amounts at the end of the year when the statement came from WM.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

Can y'all please post the names of your mortgage companies so I can run like hell if they are involved?

 

[MosMom]

Washington Mutual is a horrid company. I started doing research after we got stuck with them (our mortgage was sold to them...we didn't go with them) and there are hundereds of complaints and several lawsuits. They are a nightmare...stay away, far away!

 

[Lanshark]

Have they comfirmed the money is still in your escrow account? I thought if there were an overage, the escrow amount deducted the next year (2005) would be less. I didn't think it carried over like that. What a mess.

 

[poohandwendy]

Can y'all please post the names of your mortgage companies so I can run like hell if they are involved?

It's Wells Fargo, in my case. But, I am not going to bad mouth them unless they give me a hard time. I haven't had any trouble with them up until this. I am supposed to be speaking with a supervisor today Hopefully this will be resolved quickly.

 

[poohandwendy]

Have they comfirmed the money is still in your escrow account? I thought if there were an overage, the escrow amount deducted the next year (2005) would be less. I didn't think it carried over like that. What a mess.

Actually, they haven't confirmed it, I didn't want to deal with anyone other than a supervisor and I have to wait until today to speak with one. (not really their fault, because I had other things I had to do yesterday and my call back came when I was gone)

But I am sure the money is there because looking through my statements, I can see that it has been carried over. I agree with you, it should have been reconciled in the next year (05)...and my payments didn't reflect a decrease in any way last year. I am not sure what happened here. Glitch? I dunno.

I appears that my taxes were paid, in 05. But, I am not totally sure on that, yet.

Yep, it sure is a mess. but I do feel ALOT better about it knowing that my escrow account still has the money. I think I would be panicking if it appeared to have vanished.