I purchased my first home 3 years ago. Being my first house, I purchased something reasonable, $85K, that I knew I would have no problem ever making the mortgage payment. I originally had my mortgage account with Fleet. Like so many other mortgages, mine was purchased by Washington Mutual.
I got a refund check from them in 2001 stating that for the fiscal year 2000 my escrow had too much money in it. They also lowered my monthly payment from $799.00 to $790.00.in I did not get a refund, nor did I get a letter asking that I deposit more money in my escrow, nor did they adjust my mortgage.
Since the Federal Reserve has dropped interest rates, I have been bombarded with offers to refinance. I did not have a bad rate to begin with, and was building equity in my home so I saw no need to refinance.
In January, I get a letter from Washington Mutual that said my escrow is $3000 short and that I now owe them over $5000. I can either pay it now, or do nothing, and in March my mortage payment will jump to $1450 monthly for 24 months. There is no way that I am going to pay $1400 a month for a $85K home. If I wanted my payments to be that high to begin with, I would have purchased a $150K home. I purchased the home I did so that I could live within my means and have a life.
I start trying to figure out how my escrow account got so low.in my property tax was $2300. Washington Mutual was only accruing for $565.00. My escrow went negative January; No one ever contacted me. Again for my property tax was $2900. They were still accruing for $565.00. This made my escrow grossly out of balance.
I called a customer service rep to discuss my account. When I asked them what happened, all they could tell me is that my account was negative. I asked them why I was not contacted in 2002 and asked to pay $100 or more a month to bring the escrow into balance. I was told they could not see that history - even though it was printed on the back of the bill they sent me.
I also asked why the kept accruing for only $565 when the property tax was a lot more in reality. He had no answer. I told him that doubling my mortgage was unacceptable when my account had been negative for over a year and I had no prior contact from then notifying me of this. He had no response. I was told that a supervisor would call me back. I never got a call back from anyone.
I talked to some professional real estate brokers and was told that this is common practice. Consumers have no say whether their escrows are purchased or not, and the escrow companies are not held liable for managing the accounts.
I wrote a letter to Washington Mutual explaining my situation and pointing out the gross mis-management of my escrow account. They did not respond.
I started trying to refinance and found out that Washington Mututal showed that I had 2 loans with them. They never closed the loan that they purchased from Fleet. My credit report shows that my income to debt ratio was skewed because it showing 2 mortgages. This was an easy fix but another example of how poorly they managed my account.
The good news is that I have been able to refinance my home loan. I was adamant with my broker that we find a company that does not sell their loans. There are companies out there; you juts have to be specific when you are refinancing.
Washington Mutual should not be able to get away with mismanaging their escrow accounts. They should be held liable. I have been looking for any class action suits and am willing to sign up for one.
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