Well, the problem all started back when Citi bought out AMC, our original mortgage company. They started sending letters and calling, trying to set up an escrow account, which we would always say no to.
On November 6 they paid our taxes, claiming we hadn't paid 2006's yet. But we did, so the payment went toward 2007's... days before I even received the 2007 tax statement!!! Come January, we got our statement from Citi, and our house payment had jumped from $578 to $1100 because of this escrow account. So my husband and I started calling to find out what happened. Of course, they said they were paying late taxes and we had to pay them back.
I contacted our county's tax office to see what I could do. They sent me proof that our taxes were in fact not late and that they did pay 2007's 3 months before they are even due (due at the end of Jan. without interest). I was told they could request a refund and the county would refund the whole amount, and then we would be able to pay the taxes ourselves.
I called Citi, and they said they would not request a refund, and that if I didn't pay the whole $1100 monthly note, they would foreclose on the house. Our taxes for 2007 are only $1200, so I have no idea how in the world these people think that would make our house note go up $522 a month!!!
We then tried to close the escrow account, since they were never supposed to open one. At first we were told that we couldn't until the amount was paid off, then they told us we couldn't, period, and then someone finally told us to fax in a letter requesting that it be closed. We faxed in the first letter in early January, and we were told it was closed. We got the February statement, and it stated it wasn't closed. So we started calling again.
This time they said we had to pay off the remaining balance in the account before it could be closed. It took over 4 days to finally get an answer of how much. We were told numbers from $100 to over $4000!!! The amount they finally said we needed to pay to close this account was $750, so I sent that in on 2/22, on top of a $700 payment earlier that month.
On 2/26/08 I received a letter stating that the escrow account had been closed, but the remaining balance of $750 would be spread out over 12 months, making our house payments go up!!!
So I started calling yet again to find out what was going on. This time I was told that the $750 that I sent in for the escrow account had gone to the regular payment account. Yet my payments are sent to Illinois, and I sent this money to the escrow department in California!!!
We were told that if we paid the $750, our payments would go back down to the $578 from here on out, and for Jan and Feb. But when we sent in that money on top of our monthly payments, which I had been paying over the $578, they said we were still behind because the payments went up to $1100 and that needed to be paid.
I feel like this is a losing battle. No one ever tells me the same thing, and I was told that they don't have "personal" extensions, so you can never talk to the same person twice.
I have contacted the BBB and Texas's attorney general. I've also contacted the tax assessor for my county, and I have all the letters that she sent me on what could have been done on their part to avoid this. It looks to me like they are crooked and trying to cheat people. I will not back down!!!
Does anyone have any tips for me, or is anyone going through the same thing???
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