I wanted to refinance both my own home and an income property that both are serviced by Countrywide Home loans to get a lower interest rate. I applied for two "Streamline" refinances on Oct. 25, over the phone, with information taken and given by Brian White of Plano, TX. He said that both loans would close by the end of November.
He told me to bring the December payments with me to the closings. I told him that I was hoping that I would get a month's relief from payments, as it was my understanding that it takes about that long to process a closing. He said that what we could do is to actually write the December payments into the new loans, and that way I would not have to make those December payments.
He then recalculated the total loan amounts upward to reflect the payments being factored in. I wrote everything down, repeated it to Brian, who confirmed it all and wrote up a separate document reflecting all the terms for each loan.
In mid-November, I received paperwork from the Denver office to sign. I printed out what Brian and I had agreed to and I went down to the Countrywide office in south Denver. I met with a lady named Peggy Dunn, and we went over the documents carefully. I specifically brought to her attention all the terms on the printouts and we went over everything line by line: the interest rate, which was supposed to be 6.75% with tax-advantage mortgage insurance, (slightly more for the income property) the fact that the December payments had been factored into the new loan amounts, what my new payments would be including taxes and insurance, etc.
She took my printouts and made copies of them to accompany the rest of my documents. I asked if we could still close by the end of the month, and she told me that due to the heavy volume of loans they were dealing with, it would be closer to the middle of December.in the meantime, I paid $350 for an appraisal on the income property, and arranged to have the appraisal for my own home that was done in July used instead of having to pay for a new one.
The first week in December I received a letter from Countrywide home office in California that I suddenly was required to have flood insurance on my own home, which I had been in for two years. I did not have to have it when I first bought the home through them. Not only that, but we were in a severe drought, which still continues. I provided them with the original flood insurance certificate which said that I did not need it.
They told me they did use that company any more and it was no good because it was more than nine months old. I did some research, and even the County said that it was possible I did need it. So, resigned to it, I said fine, add it to the loan.
The new woman loan officer told me that writing it into the new loan was no problem. I had to call their insurance arm and set it up. The gentleman there told me that it had to be pre-paid for a year, and they would take my cash or credit card for $1000. I told him that I did not have that money, and also the loan officer verified it could be financed along with the rest of the loan. I then had to go out of town on business for a week in the middle of the month. During that time, I got voicemails from both of them stating opposite things.
I called them both back and told them that if they were interested in this loan closing, and since they are both part of the same company, they needed to be professional and work it out - I was the customer and this was lousy service. I told them when I would return, and that they should have it worked out between them by then. Of course, when I returned, nothing had been done, and it was not possible to reach either party, apparently because it was too near the holidays.
In the meantime, the appraisal on my rental property took place while I was out of town. It was appraised $30,000 BELOW what it had been appraised at in when it should have appreciated, however modestly in this economy. I was furious. This was a house that I had spent over $60,000 and eight months renovating in and practically everything was new. I was told it was because the tenent had guenia pigs that had an odor and that there was a washing machine sitting in the back yard!
When I insisted on talking with the appraisal company, the owner told me that they relied more heavily on "comps"- homes that were comparable that sold in the area recently. I got my real estate agent to provide me with 20 pages of comps that reflected rates more in line with what the house was actually worth. The appraisal company only upgraded it by $5,000 based on that. I asked for my money back for the appraisal and never received it.
December ended without closing on either property. I had used the money I would have made those mortgage payments with to pay for the appraisal and to pay bills. We had a meager Christmas. Not having any response from the loan officer on my own home, I called her supervisor, who sent me on to the office manager, Virginia Kelsey-Holzman. I had received two notices in the mail from Countrywide that my loans were in default.
I was told that I would have to bring both loans current in order to move forward on the refinance of my home. I had to go to my credit union and beg for an emergency loan, for which I had to put my car up for collateral at a high interest rate, in order to make those two December payments. I argued about it, because if you remember, the December payments had been factored into the new loan amounts. I was told that no one in their company would ever tell a client that. I kept reminding them that they needed to make sure that the new loan was reduced by the amount of the December payment that I had to hawk my car to make to them. (Guess what, they did not do that.) My credit had been impacted negatively severely because they did not do what they said they were going to do.
In January, I received a paper statement from Countrywide. I normally pay online, so had not received paper statements for some time, but probably because I missed the December payment, they sent it. On the back was the breakdown of charges, one of which was flood insurance. I had noticed in November that my mortgage payment had increased, and I had called to ask why. They told me there had been a mistake on my tax amount and they were trying to make up for it. However, the extra amount was actually for Flood insurance. I called then, and asked when the flood insurance had been placed on the property and was told November 4!! So the whole "reason" that my closing was delayed past Dec. 31 resulting in my "default" was BS!
There had been flood insurance on the property for a month before I was told I had to buy it up front for a year, and all that nonsense went down. It was already covered.
When I went to the closing for my home loan in mid-January, it was at a title company, not the Countrywide office. The paperwork said the interest rate was 7.35%, there was PMI in additon to the flood insurance. The orginal deal I agreed to was 6.75% with tax-advantage mortgage insurance, which means NO PMI.
I got the girl to get the loan officer from Countrywide on the phone, and argued with her for over an hour. The people in the title company office were waiting for me past 6:00 pm, because one of their young employees had been deployed to the Gulf war and they were having a going-away party for him. And here I was on a Friday night holding everybody up because Countrywide was trying to pull these shenanigans. Peggy Dunn told me on the phone that the reason I had to have the PMI was that because my loan had been in default, I no longer qualified for that program!
Even though it was their fault, they never would admit that. I finally was able to convince her, after her calling Brian White in Texas to confirm, that the base rate was 6.25%, and if I had to have PMI, thats the interest rate I should have. (Remember, she was the same person who had made copies in November of all those terms Brian and I had agreed to, yet she had to hunt him down and get him out of a meeting while all these other people had to wait.) We rescheduled the closing.
When I came to that closing, the interest rate had still not been changed, and even though the mortgage officer had told me, shortly before I left for the closing, that the PMI would be $85 monthly, the paperwork said $154. I had the girl call Countrywide yet again, who then refused to talk with me. They told her to change the interest rate to 6.25%, but that the PMI was correct.
The amount of the loan had not been changed due to my making the December payment, but of course, they had backed all the charges and everything else in so it would amount to exactly that. It was nearly the end of January, and I had no choice but to sign if I were to avoid financial disaster, so I did. The payment, with the PMI and the flood insurance, is now nearly $200 MORE than it was before I refinanced. SO I went through all that grief, took major irrevocable hits to my credit history, paid them about $6,000 in closing costs for WHAT? To pay $200 MORE on my house payment monthly? This has continued to impact my credit as it is harder and harder to pay bills with this higher mortgage payment.
I have attempted several times through other lenders in this past year to refinance my rental property, but because my credit is so poor now, I cannot do it. I have over $40,000 usable equity in that house, which recently appraised for $75,000 more than what Countrywide appraisers did. If I could get to that equity, I could pay off my creditors, and start anew. I can't go into bankruptcy without losing my income property, and there is no guarentee that I could get market value for it at auction if that happened. SO I am stuck with Countrywide on that property paying a high interest rate, and unable to get it refinanced anywhere else.
I don't know what to do, but look at selling it now. Gee thanks Countrywide. Your streamline refinances are real helpful.
Lori
Lafayette, Colorado
U.S.A.
0 comments