I've already had 4 mortgages in my life and my experience is most companies make mistakes and Realtors all lie... Or shall we say misrepresent facts. The property I purchased was advertised with taxes of $2,500-, but in reality it was assessed at $5,000 at time of purchase. I called the Realtor to ask him about this oversight and he completely lied, saying "me no speak English..." Funny how his English was so good during the transaction. Lucky, I made over $100k in equity in under 2 years, due to good timing on my part, the scum bag Realtor actually ran into me a few months after an offered to sell the place for $20k more, wow that would allow him to generate another $19k commission, I told him to take a hike. Now, I get satisfaction ripping down all his advertisements on our condo listing public board. My advice NEVER TRUST A REALTOR, they are idiots, anyone can pass that test you don't even need a High School Education. They don't have a clue about various mortgages, taxes or market directions, they are just used car salesman selling houses. One of the things I've also learned about real estate is NEVER sell a property once you buy, you just don't win in the long run, the numbers are always more favorable for the longterm.
Now back to COUNTRYWIDE and what a slime company they are. They will require FLOOD INSURANCE if you are in some special flood zone, since Katrina that means living within a mile or so of a coastline or water way. So, I sent proof of Flood Insurance, Countrywide said they never received it. They automatically hand off all the LEAD's of their mortgage customers to their INSURANCE DIVISION. Yes, this is true COUNTRYWIDE IS FORCING FLOOD INSURANCE POLICIES FOR ABOUT $2,500- on their Mortgage customers and generating revenues for their insurance division. Whether this is legal, I doubt, but they should be forced to get the lowest cost insurance in this case. I ended up faxing, emailing and mailing proof of my condo's Flood Insurance Declarations pages. They screwed up my entire Escrow account. They never updated the Flood insurance premiums they so eagerly charged automatically, they messed up the escrow on my tax payments that would have resulted in another shortage if I hadn't caught it.
I finally, went directly to Yahoo Finance and looked up the main number for CountryWide and called Mr. Carlos M. Garcia, the Chief of Banking & Insurance Operations and Exec. Managing Director at 818-225-3000. They refused to connect me saying he was unavailable and gave me this "supper" president's office type customer care agent name Cara. She was somewhat helpful and over the course of two days and many hours attempted to fix all the screw ups of countrywide.
The funniest part was when she told me that they fixed my Flood Insurance situation. They I get this letter in the mail, saying they refunded part of the money, but were still charging over 1,000 in premiums for previous lapsed coverage. I quickly called back Cara, who said it was an automatically generated piece of mail and was not accurate. I had expressed that the fact that my Proof of Flood Insurance Declarations page showed the previous years policy. I also explained that fact that accordingly Time Travel into the past has not been anything but scientific fantasy, so how could Countrywide charge past due premiums for events that did not occur. Yes, this is not a joke, CountryWide upon receiving proof of insurance, still attempted to go back and charge me Flood Insurance premiums for periods of time that has already elapsed with NO FLOOD OR LOSS. This is the equivalent the Airlines calling you up and charging you randomly for plane tickets for trips you haven't taken, no joke they claimed this was a legal practice.
Now, the real kicker, I live on the 8th Floor of a Concrete Luxury high rise condo built in 1988 with full firewalls, etc. I also always carry my own separate Condo Insurance policy. My building has always had a multi-million dollar Flood Insurance Policy since inception that was required by our bylaws. Guess what, the policy is renewed every July, so I'll have to go through this crap next year again. What a nightmare Countrywide has been screwing up my Tax Escrow and illegally charging me for Flood Insurance when I provided proof of coverage. I would NEVER recommend this company, they are the worst and have motivated me to pay off my entire mortgage extremely early. I have a great rate with them of 5 3/8 on a 30 fixed, but that was thanks to BankRate.com, Countrywide was charging about a point higher at the exact same time. I hope they loose lots of money on me over the next few years now that interest rates have increased. Hey, perhaps I will take my time paying off this one since I can get a better return with my other investments...
I hate you Countrywide for your deceptive and questionable practices and think you should clean up your act. I guess you were hoping that by illegally raising my mortgage payments by $200 per / month I would just roll over and take it up the butt like many of your other customers, but I want the world to know the truth about the hell you have caused me and the aggravation. This posting is true and correct to the best of my knowledge however they may be some inaccuracies which are often unavoidable, therefore F/U Countrywide lawyers if you try and sue me for telling the truth of what a scumbag company you are. I'm entitled to my opinion, and this little diatribe should be take as not a matter of legal fact but of my opinion of your company based on my personal experience of dealing with your miserable company.
Alex
Miami, Florida
U.S.A.
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