When I was laid off in December, 1994, from a job I had held since 1986, my mortgage company, Associates Home Equity, lowered my interest rate so I could continue to make payments on my greatly reduced income. My payments were lowered to $500 per month from $749 per month. However, they sold my note to OCWEN in 2000. For the next year I continued to make payments to OCWEN, the same amount I had been paying Associates Home Equity, each month for the entire year. With the exception of the notice they sent that they had purchased my note and where to send my payments, I never had a phone call from Ocwen, never received a letter or any other kind of communication.
The first I knew that the amount of monthly payment I was making was insufficient was when I was served papers indicating I was being sued for over $3000; the $249 difference plus attorney and court fees. I had found work, but still wasn't making much more than poverty wages, so I had no hope of coming up with that kind of money. I did everything I could to try to prove that my interest rate had been re-negotiated but found that it had never been recorded so proof wasn't available. Because I learned from Associates Home Equity that when they sell a note, the entire file is transfered to the buyer, I suspect that OCWEN got the agreement when they purchased the note, but considering everything I have been reading about OCWEN, it stands to reason they would never have come forward with it.
Had I known the amount they expected was not what I was submitting every month, I could have rectified the matter, but I had no way of knowing since they chose not to communicate with me. The upshot is I lost my home, or I should say, it was stolen from me. There's not much I can do now, but I hope this story along with all the others goes some way toward protecting someone else's property.
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