We closed our loans for a first and second mortgage with WMC Mortgage Corp. On September 28. At closing we signed papers stating we were going to take care of our escrow (taxes & insurance) ourselves. We paid our homeowners insurance in full, and paid no monies towards an escrow account.
Our first payment coupons contained in our closing packets reflect amounts with no extra charges (such as taxes or insurance), and our HUD1 clearly has 0's in any tax/insurance related fields.
We received our first statement from Option One Mortgage Company, who services loans for WMC Direct, the second week of October, and to my surprise each of our loans had an extra $200.00 added in for escrow charges. I called Option One right away, and explained that we didn't have an escrow account. The customer service representative (I have all names and times I spoke to people if ever needed) told me that I had closed our loan that way, and if I wanted I could request an escrow deletion which could take up to six months.
I asked to talk to a supervisor, who instructed me to fax over our HUD1 to the research department and it would take up to three weeks for it to be cleared up. The information was faxed, and I called every day to see if it was received. I was told that they could see a request for the insurance escrow to be taken off, but that was it, nothing requesting the tax escrow to be removed.
Both our loan closing agent from WMC and our attorney were baffled by the escrow charges, they could not figure out where Option One could have pulled the escrow figures from (seeing how neither of the figures for taxes or insurance are even close to what we actually pay) (w/completely points to fraud).
Our loan closing agent from WMC and our attorney in NY faxed all of our papers over again with our loan numbers on the faxes requesting that the nonexistent escrow charges be removed from our accounts, but then I was told by Option One that the paperwork was no longer needed because customer service had received an email stating that Option One had uploaded over 250 accounts wrong, and mistakenly added on escrow accounts onto loans that did not want them to begin with.
I was told it was going to be taken care of right away. They also told WMC the same thing, and WMC faxed my attorney paperwork stating that this situation would be cleared up by Nov1.
That was back on Oct. 22. It is now Nov4, and I spoke to Option One today. Both of my loans still have escrow accounts, both tax and insurance related, and when I talked to customer service they said that the previous faxes (in w/I was told on Oct. 22 were not needed) of my HUD1's could have been changed, and that their company was waiting on our actual file. To top it all off, I was told that our loan was to be sold by Nov. 25, and that if the situation was not corrected by then, we would have an escrow account with the company buying our loan.
There is no money in the escrow accounts that Option One has for us, on either our first or second (w/if we had escrowed, the escrow would have only been on the first anyhow AND if we had escrowed there would be money in our accounts), so how can this company not see there is a terrible mistake?
I believe that they are trying to scam people somehow, and I can't believe the lack of customer service I have received. I have had supervisors say they were going to call me back, and never heard from them again. I have also had supervisors infer that I was lying. This has been my experience with Option One as a servicer, I can't imagine what people who actually get a loan with this company must go through. A $400 a month mistake is a huge mistake, even to one person, and it doesn't seem as if anyone cares, or is going to rectify this mistake in a timely fashion.
The escrow charges were waived for this first month, but what happens next month, especially with a new company who has no clue about this mess? We have great credit, and are smart enough to know that paying those extra charges for an escrow to where there is no escrow accounts, would be plain stupid.
I would advise any individual thinking of doing business with this company, to stick with a BANK. Any company who cannot fix their own mistakes in a timely fashion, is NOT a good company. Please help!
Carmela
Hoosick Falls, New York
U.S.A.
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