Escrow (insurance, property, bank, default)

[lenny8000]

Hello,

I have a mortgage with WAMU(first mistake), and they required me to open an escrow account. My taxes were due august 1st and wamu still hasn't paid them. I called them on numerous times and i get the same response it will be paid shortly. The only way they recieve calls is through a call center and i spoke to a manager and they are saying there is nothing they can do. Is there a way I can report this and to whom or force their hand to cancel my escrow account(i do not have 80 percent LTV ratio).

thanks in advance,

Lenny

[Debsi]

I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble with your bank.

I can tell you that the mortgage bank I work for (not WAMU!) does not allow you to cancel an escrow account once you have one. I believe most, if not all, banks have the same policy, but perhaps someone here has better information than I do.

[renriq02]

you should call the county, and find out when's the latest they can pay it.

If the county says that you need to pay October 1st, they can still give you a deadline of up to January w/out paying a late fee/penalties.

Some lenders pay close to the penalty date.

[rcarrillo]

As renriq mentioned, just because the taxes are due on 8/1 does not mean they need to be paid by then. Your mortgage is due on the 1st of every month, but the bank can not call you and tell you to pay up on the 5th... you have until the 15th of the month with no penalty in most cases.

Same with taxes. Here in Wake County they are due in September but are not delinquent until January... so lenders can pay anytime during that period. Most of them choose to keep the money as late as possible, not just WAMU. Until they are in default, there is nothing you can really do to force them to pay the tax early. Check with your county to find out when the latest they can pay without affecting your property is.

[lenny8000]

Thank you for your help guys, this is my first home and i wasnt sure how exactly it works.

[cats_pawn]

I have a mortgage with WAMU also.
Their insurance and escrow dept is (In my experience) quite disorganized.
I fax them copies of my insurance declaration and so does my agent.
Then just to be 100% sure, I check back online to make sure that the information is showing correctly about 2 weeks later.
Even when it is showing correctly online, without fail, I'll get a letter
2 months later from them saying they don't have proof of insurance on file. So I'll mail them a xerox copy (again)& my agent will also fax them
a copy. (again)
This was the routine for several years.
A few years ago, they requested the insurance information because their records indicate there was no insurance on file. I called them and spoke to the insurance dept and they acknowledged they had insurance on file,
and apologized.(so sorry)

Then 2 months later I received my mortgage payment coupon and it was several hundred dollars higher!
I called to ask why (I have a fixed mortgage) and they said they had
paid $800 to my insurance company for flood insurance since their records indicated there was none on file.
I pointed out that I had faxed them a copy in December; my agent had faxed them a copy in December & then I had checked online a few weeks later to make sure that they had the current insurance information on file. (which they did) That policy did not expire for another 9 months!
They checked, and admitted they made a mistake and would correct my mortgage payments amount. I asked if they would then follow up on the $800 they had taken out of escrow to pay for this second policy they had purchased and they said I would have to contact my insurance company and have them refund the money.
[they screw up, I have to go fix it ?]
I asked to speak to a manager, and vented.
I also said this is ridiculous," you work for a bank, you handle money and you're this careless? How can I not have an escrow account so I don't have to repeat this every year?"
He said they'd send me a form that stated I did not want WAMU to escrow funds for taxes and insurance any longer, I signed it, and returned it, and no more escrow. (this was about 3-4 years ago)
[the bank escrow is all or nothing; you can't have them escrow for taxes but not insurance, they said if they escrow for one, they escrow for both]
I don't know if they still do that but you can call and ask.

Hope this helps.
And FYI, even when they aren't escrowing for funds, they still send numerous letters every year because their records indicate you don't
have insurance.{i.e. apparently they "lose" the information regularly]

I received a letter this week saying their records show my policy expired July 14th and I needed to send them insurance proof or...
I called and asked about this and was told that my insurance would expire on 9/12/2009.
(that’s what their records show)
So I asked why I received a letter saying my policy expired 7/14th?

After being on hold for 10 minutes, the person came back, no apology
and said "the insurance policy we have on file expires 9/12/09 - is there
anything else?".
Frankly I'm beginning to see why WAMU filed for bankruptcy with such repeatedly poor customer service.

[acegolfer]

Originally Posted by Debsi

I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble with your bank.

I can tell you that the mortgage bank I work for (not WAMU!) does not allow you to cancel an escrow account once you have one. I believe most, if not all, banks have the same policy, but perhaps someone here has better information than I do.

I have Countrywide (now BofA) mortgage and was able to delete escrow account.

[forcedfx]

Originally Posted by acegolfer

I have Countrywide (now BofA) mortgage and was able to delete escrow account.

What LTV ratio do you have to have?