After reading all the reports on this company I must say I feel somewhat better knowing that I am not losing my sanity alone.
We started being ripped off by the insurance division. I was told that they received notice that my insurance was cancelled that I had with American Family. I told them I had insurance but they were in need of the declaration page to be faxed to them. I called AmFam and they gladly faxed the needed page.
The next month again the insurance was added to my statement. I called again and was told they had not received the declaration page from AmFam. I again called AmFam who again faxed the needed page.
The next month again the insurance was added to my statement. I called and was told again that they did not received the declaration page. AmFam once again faxed it to them.
After the 4th month I decided to drop the AmFam insurance as it was approximately the same amount as the Homecomings Financial Insurance so I opted for the Homecomings Insurance rather than to continue paying double insurance. At this time we had the house up for sale and we told Homecomings as much. They talked about "short selling" but we didn't want to use that option at that time.
A couple weeks later or so our realtor called us saying he received a phone call from Homecomings telling him to reduce the price of our home by $5,000 - 7,000 which would have been short selling our home. He also told us that they told him to have our home winterized which he informed them that he couldn't do that because we were still living there. He was also called and told by Homecomings that they had permission to come and appraise the house so he let them in to do so. However, we were never told about this until our realtor told us.
Shortly thereafter they increased the amount of insurance from $45.00 to $128.00 a month. I still was unable to get them to remove the insurance they placed on my account.
We started to fall behind on payments due to the company my husband worked for going out of business. We were approximately 2-3 months behind. After my husband retained employment elsewhere, I started paying my payment plus $100.00 extra a month. My husband had contacted Homecomings who said that would be fine that they would put it in an escrow account until we had enough for a payment. We started to show an escrow amount on our non-escrow account. Also, late fees which we understood and had been paying since we had been late. Little did I know that they were not applying the extra $100.00.
We were approximately one payment behind when we received a foreclosure notification from Homecomings. We promptly got in contact with someone at Homecomings who said we were much farther behind than we thought. They also informed us we had over $400.00 floating in an escrow account (Our payments were $469.99 at that time). That was the extra money we sent in.
When asked why they were not applying that money they told us it was because we had not made prior arrangements. When we asked if they would go ahead and use that money they said they had to wait until they figured out all the numbers. At that time we were told not to send in any money and they would send out the package for a repayment plan.
We waited for the papers to arrive and called the next week as we had received our income tax returns and had all the money to catch up all the payments. Again they told us not to send any money until they figured out the numbers.
The next thing we received was a notice telling us they had started foreclosure proceedings and that we should contact them immediately. Which we did. They said they would send out the packet that we needed to fill out overnight mail. This was Thursday. We did not receive this mail until the following Tuesday at which time we had to fill it out and fax it before the end of the day in order to stop the foreclosure. Which we did.
We were then told that the foreclosure had been stopped. We contacted the attorney that sent the letter and he knew of nothing about stopping the forecloser. We called Homecomings again. They said don't worry about it, it had been stopped. A couple days later a Sherriff arrived serving us papers. We immediately called Homecomings again telling them we were served and they told us to ignore it. That we didn't do. We immediately went to the court house and filed a response.
The whole time this is going on we keep telling them we have the money and they kept telling us not to send anything until they have the numbers. They only could get the numbers from the packet we faxed.
We finelly were given the numbers: $2349.75 for 5 payments, $258.52 for Late Charges (which they told us they were not charging us any longer), $1,242.00 Attorneys fees, $772.00 Other fees (Insurance), $97.00 Fee Bills, $130.00 Corporate Advances (?), Subtotal: $4,849.27 less Partial Payment (the floating $400) $405.04 (guarneeted I did not send in $5.04 cents) total was $4,444.23. I then had to pay $2500.00 (western collect only) the first payment and $610.00 a month for 14 months (all western collect). This would get us caught up.
After the 14 months was all said and done on the 15th month I had to pay $897.00. I didn't understand but they told my husband this would get us completely caught up. This included a $72.00 property inspection fee which we thought was the appraisal they did but turned out to be for them to drive by the property to confirm that someone was living there which they did 8 times in less than 2 months. After the 15th month they told us we had actually paid 1 month in advance and if we get insurance on our own they would owe us the $128.00 we already paid. We went to Farm Bureau and attained insurance through them, they contacted Homecomings insurance to let them know and Homecomings confirmed this.
I received a payment statement for the following month which meant they were using the month I paid ahead. So when the next month came I called to confirm what my payment should be without the insurance. I was told to send in my regular payment of $480.00 something (it had gone up do to intrest increase). I sent in that payment as instructed. I then received my next statement - I now had a negative escrow of over $400.00.
I tried to talk to customer service telling them that I could not possibly be $400.00 behind when just a month ago I was a month ahead. They said they did not know how that could be but that I owed $128.00 or I would be charged late fees (remember I was a month ahead and they were to owe me $128.00). I sent that in so as not to owe more but I still have a negative escrow of over $400.00.
I contacted customer service to tell them that they are charging me for insurance when I already have insurance and they transferred me to GMAC Insurance. I asked GMAC Insurance if they have anything to do with Homecomings Financial and I was told no, they only deal with GMAC Mortgage. I was finelly able to get ahold of someone in the insurance division who was trying to say I needed the declaration pages from the months explained at the beginning of this report in order to get refunded that money. I told them to forget about that it's in the past, I've paid it, it's over.
I was concerned about the here and now and I wanted them to stop charging me for insurance when I already have insurance. They then told me the insurance I was paying was from default during the time I was on the repayment plan. I explained to her that I already paid during that time and that I had the paper work to prove it. I was put on hold for a long time so they could confirm that. When she came back she told me it was true and that I needed to talk to customer service once again. I told her to please not send me to customer service because no one there knows what's going on and so they just transfer me back to the insurance division. She told me she would talk to them before she transferred me and then stay on the line to help if needed. When she transferred me a very accented woman asks me if I filed the FEMA papers.
I was stumped and told her I didn't understand what she said. Again, she asks me if I filed the FEMA papers. Once again I was unable to understand her so I told her I didn't understand what she just said and that's when she asked if I filed the papers for the Tornado. I was on the phone now for over 5 hours and lost it in a fit of laughter.
The woman that stayed on the line explained to her again that I had paid the insurance. The woman with the accent said she would put me on hold while she confirms it. When she returned she stated that it was confirmed and that the proper adjustments would be made. I was so totally relieved that I was finelly able to get this matter resolved I nearly threw a party. Unfortunately, my victory was short lived.
I received a letter yesterday and I quote "A recent review of your account has indicated a need for an adjustment due to spreading the negative escrow balance over 1 month. Effective August 01, your new payment will be $505.55. Please begin paying the new monthly payment amount to ensure proper credit to your mortgage account. Disregard any other coupons now in your possession. A temporary coupon is provided below for your convenience. If you have further questions regarding this matter, please contact Customer Care at 800-206-2901. Customer Care Loan Servicing. What happened to my $480.00 something payment?
Now after 2 days of tears and thinking my sanity would not return I find pages, upon pages of problems from everyday people such as myself and I say thank-you to everyone of you and thank-you to this usacomplaints.com site. I too would like to join in any Class Action Suit to put these people out of the dream distroying, raping business.
To those of you who are trying to get a mortgage, please, please make sure there is never anyway Homecomings Financial could ever get ahold of you. Be afraid! Be very afraid!
Cecilia
clarinda, Iowa
U.S.A.
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