I just found this website and was glad to see I'm not the only one having problems with CitiFinancial Mortgage.
About 6 years ago, my husband and I financed our house thru a mortgage company of our choice and with whom I never had any problems. Two and a half years later, our mortage was sold to CitiFinancial. Okay, no problem, just make my payment to another company.
I first received a letter from CitiFinancial stating they had purchased the mortgage and to begin making payments to them. Fine, but at least they could have given me an address and a new account number! The letter advised I'd be receiving a letter soon with additional information. Didn't receive it any time soon.
I called the phone number in the letter (at least they had that) and asked where to send payments because I hadn't received a statement from them. Their response?: "It doesn't matter if you receive a statement from us. You still need to make your monthly payments. Statements are sent only as a courtesy and we don't have to send them to you." He hung up and I still didn't have an address. I finally found an address on-line and sent my payment. OOPS! Wrong address to send payments. Finally got correct address and sent payments.
A month later, I get a nasty letter stating I was 3 months behind on my mortgage. I went on-line and checked my bank account. Only 1 check had cleared. I paid the outstanding amounts due over the phone, which requires paying a $15 fee for the transaction plus 3 months of late fees (even though I had paid on time). The second time this happened, I refused to pay the processing fee (which was charged for EACH payment since they wouldn't do it in one lump sum).
This has gone on until the present time, except I no longer make payments over the phone because I refuse to pay the late fees or the processing fees.
I think I finally figured out their scam a few months ago. When they receive payments, they are not posted. I have no idea what they do with the checks. This way, they say you are late and charge a late fee and try to persuade you to make a phone payments which incurs another charge or else they threaten you with foreclosure.
Speaking of foreclosure, I've even gotten letters stating they are going to foreclose. After receiving one such letter, I got a letter stating that I was past due and the balance owing was $94,000! (which was actually the balance due on my loan). A few weeks later, I received another letter stating the previous one was "generated by the computer in error."
I am still fighting this.
Another problem I have with CitiFinancial is the way they handle their escrow accounts. I had (and still do have) over $3000 in escrow. They didn't pay my homeowners insurance, allowed it to cancel, then bought "forced insurance." I didn't even know about it until 3 months later. My money is still in escrow. I advised them that I would not pay them any money in an escrow account if they aren't going to pay my homeowners insurance premiums. Right now, I am only paying them the principal and interest.
Also, I pay my property taxes myself every year. Haven't had any problems. They aren't much because I have homestead exemption. This year (for 2005 taxes), I received a statement from CitiFinancial reflecting they paid my property taxes, AFTER I had already paid them 2 months prior!
So right now, even though I make monthly payments, I am still receiving letters that I am 3 months behind on my mortage (sometimes my checks clear and sometimes they don't), I still have over $3000 in escrow, still have forced insurance even though I shouldn't (they won't even tell my the name of the company my own insurance is with!), and I can never get any help from anyone there (although once I did get to speak with an intelligent person in escrow who seemed to agree with me, but nothing was ever done).
I am so ready to refinance with another company but still have a few months left so I won't incur any "penalties" for early payoff.
This problem is only with CitiFinancial MORTGAGE. I have another small loan with CifiFinancial Consumer Services and deal with them locally and have never had any problems. They are the nicest people in the finance arena I've encountered. I wish the mortage company could be the same.
Denise
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
U.S.A.
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