We sent the following to consumeraffairs.com and also to 3 local news stations tonight. We will also be filing a complaint against both Taylor Bean & Whitaker & Bank of America w/ the BBB. Just thought I would post it on here, too, in case anyone else has any ideas of where else we should send this to.
In case you are not aware, Taylor Bean & Whitaker (also known as TB&W) was one of the largest mortgage companies in the US before they were raided by the FBI in August 2009.
In November 2008 I obtained a VA loan with Taylor Bean & Whitaker mortgage company. Although I had planned on just paying my home owners' insurance and property taxes once a year when they were due, I was told by my broker that the VA required those payments to be averaged into the loan and paid monthly into an escrow account with my lender (TB&W). When I decided to refinance in July 2009, I had $911.55 in my escrow account with TB&W. My broker suggested I refinance with TB&W because he said they would be able to transfer that escrow money to my new loan instead of requiring it up front, so I agreed. However, when it came time to sign the refinance papers on July 25, 2009, my broker told me that TB&W had not been able to transfer my escrow money after all, so $1081.68 was added into my loan for new escrow, but that within 30 days TB&W would send me a refund check of $911.55 for my old escrow account. Of course I have never received this check yet, but that is not even the worst of my concerns at this point.
In August, after TB&W was raided by the FBI and suspended from making or servicing most loans, I began getting notices from many different companies claiming they now owned my loan. The first notice was from Colonial Bank dated August 12, 2009. The second notice was from Roundpoint Mortgage Servicing Corporation, also dated August 12, 2009. When I called Roundpoint, the person I talked to could not give me any information about my loan (how much it was for total, how much was in my escrow account, what my interest rate was, etc.), but told me to send my usual payment to them anyway. After I searched online, I found many people reporting Roundpoint was a scam, so it was lucky I had not sent them any money. Finally, I got a call from Bank of America stating that they had my loan. For a few seconds I felt relieved, until I asked for my account information and realized they had all the information for my OLD loan before I refinanced. $911.55 in my escrow account, my old interest rate, etc.
I explained to Bank of America that I had refinanced and that loan they had the information for no longer existed. They told me it must be some mistake they would get figured out soon and not to worry about it. However, after a couple of weeks, I started getting delinquency notices from Bank of America stating that I was overdue, I owed them 2 months worth of mortgage payments, I would lose my house if I did not pay, etc. Every time I would call them and explain the situation to a new person and be told not to worry about it, yet the notices kept coming. We even received a notice stating that if we do not pay them by October 16, 2009, they are going to start foreclosure proceedings! Finally we faxed them our settlement statement from our refinance to prove that the old loan no longer exists. Our title company also talked to a Bank of America representative by phone, and also faxed proof to Bank of America that the loan they are claiming we owe them money for has been refinanced, but the delinquency notices and threats from Bank of America are still coming.
Meanwhile, I began getting statements for my NEW loan from Taylor Bean & Whitaker as if nothing was wrong and they were doing business as usual! I called them and they insisted they do still own my new loan, and said that they will try to "pull back" my old loan from Bank of America, whatever that means. When I asked about the $911.55 they owe me from my old escrow account, they claimed that they did transfer it over to my new loan, so they don't owe me any money!
I am nervous to send TB&W any more money because of all the articles I have read about them not paying people's bills out of their escrow accounts. Both my insurance and my property taxes are due in November. I have already paid most of this money to TB&W TWICE now, the $911.55 of escrow in my old loan which has never been refunded to me, and the $1081.68 of escrow in my new loan. I am concerned that in November I will have to pay all this money a THIRD time, directly to my insurance company and Pima County because I have doubts TB&W will pay them when they are due. I have called both my insurance company (State Farm), and the Pima County Treasurer's Office about my concerns. State Farm said they would make a note on my account of this and notify me if my mortgage company does not pay it. The Pima County Treasurer's Office said they could not do this, but said I could check on their website to see if it gets paid. However, the woman I spoke to from the Pima County Treasurer's Office then told me that if I pay it and then my mortgage company later pays it that I will be "out of luck," because the Pima County Treasurer's Office will not refund my payment to me or credit my account to be applied to next year's taxes.
I have contacted several lawyers, but none of them will even meet with me. They all just say they don't handle cases like this. I also called the VA Regional Office in Phoenix, but as soon as they found out it was a Taylor Bean & Whitaker loan, the person on the phone said they were directed to tell anyone with a Taylor Bean & Whitaker loan to "handle it through the banks." I have two months worth of mortgage payments sitting in my checking account now, because I don't know who to send them to. I have never been late on a mortgage payment before this, and I have a good credit record, but now I am afraid of losing my house and having my credit ruined over this situation. I don't know what to do at this point, please help!.. .... ..
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