I am reporting Ocwen for not having good business practices and having me sign a document fraudulently. We have owned our house for just under three years and have had nothing but problems with Ocwen. We have escrow included in our mortgage payment every month. We were actually paying extra when we first got the loan to try and make our principle go down quicker. Unfortunately Ocwen did not apply the additional to the principle but instead applied it wherever they wanted. Our Home Owner's Insurance went up after a big storm so they raised our escrow... We paid more each month to cover this. However we get a letter saying that our escrow is short. We end up paying extra to make sure that it is brought current and everything seems fine.in January of this year we get a letter stating that we are being offered a modification to our loan to cover a shortage in our escrow of $900.00. We are concerned and call them and ask how this is possible. We were advised that it was possible because our taxes went up... Ok so our options are... Sign the modification or send them and extra $900.00
The problem that I have is that I work for a mortgage company and have dealt with modifications before. The agreement they sent us was date 1/13/09 and was received on 1/23/09. We had until 1/28/09 to return the signed document agreeing to the modification of lowering our interest rate a little and lowering the payment a little to make up the difference in the escrow over the next three years. My concern was that the modification was to go into affect on 1/1/09 but I received the document on 1/23/09 and had already made my January payment more than what was stated in the modification agreement. I called and advised them that their agreement was not correct in that I could not sign something agreeing to something in the past as that would mean I had already breached the agreement by making a different payment amount than I should have. I advised that the agreement should be effective 2/1/09 and not 1/1/09. They advised that they had sent out a bunch of these letters and that I was the first person to voice concern. They advised that they would correct it and send me a new document... Remember it is in Ocwen's best interest to do this because they can earn a higher interest for the Month of January by correcting the document.
The other issue with the document was that it said my payment amount would only be $xx. Xx (the principle and interest portion only with no escrow included.) It did not reference what my total payment each month should be including principle, interest, and ESCROW. Therefore I could send in my payment and still be behind if I was not aware of this since it was not spelled out in the letter. Luckily from my work experience I knew this amount could not be correct and continued to send the amount I had been paying for the past three years.
I never received the document of course. I called back on January 28th and advised them that I was concerned that it had to be returned that day and that I hadn't go the corrected on after being promised it for 5 days. They advised they could not correct it because once a modification is offered it can not be offered again or modified in any way, which I know is false because the company I work for does this all the time for people to actually work with them.
They advised that my only option was to either sign the document or send them the $900.00 and continue to pay the higher interest rate. I decided to sign the document, even though I legally should not have. I had the document notarized showing the date that it was signed and also sent a letter to them again voicing my concerns of the document that they were forcing me to sign fraudulently since I had no other option and no time for an attorney to get involved.
Of course I have heard nothing in regards to my concerns voiced in the letter. We are hoping to be able to refinance with a different company soon to be able to not have to deal with Ocwen ever again.
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