In 1997, Ocwen acquired my mortgage from HUD after I had asked HUD to take assignment of my mortgage to prevent a foreclosure. At the time I was working two jobs after having had a major financial setback (special needs child needing surgery) but was unable to prevent bankruptcy. The bankruptcy occurred in 1996.
Immediately upon acquiring my mortgage, Ocwen began phoning me several times a day both at home and at my workplace to discuss my "late payments." The payments were not late. During those early calls, thinking I was dealing with reasonable people, I tried to explain that I was complying with my HUD agreement; that the payments were being made and were on time. They not only refused to confirm this, but accused me of giving them false information. The phone calls continued day and night, weekdays and weekends, unceasingly.
Simultaneous with this, they repeatedly sent out new forbearance agreements (with constantly changing and upward-trending mortgage payments) and requests for financial information despite my earlier agreed upon ANNUAL forbearance agreements. When I corresponded with them via certified US mail (as earlier attempts at telephoning had proven futile) to clear these matters up, I did not receive a response.
Additionally, they were assessing "late fees" and other miscellaneous fees to my account each and every month. Again, attempts to clear this up on my part failed each time due to lack of response and more often than not hostility directed towards me by customer service people.
In addition to these behaviors (which have continued) Ocwen has threatened foreclosure, refused to recognize my escrow account which has been in effect since 1988, and "provided me with hazard insurance" at an exorbitant rate on many occasions, then, administrative fees to "remove" their graciously provided insurance.
They continually claim not to receive my payments in a timely manner, thus tacking on more "late fees, " they continue to report incorrect and negative information to all three credit bureaus, completely destroying any hopes of rebuilding credit. I have been forced to correspond with the three credit bureaus a total of three times each and provided them with documentation (executed by a US bankruptcy judge) proving Ocwen's information to be incorrect, yet the credit bureaus choose to accept Ocwen's incorrect information. They also charge bogus expenses on a monthly basis in addition to mortgage payments ("legal fees, property inspection fees, mail fees, " etc) which continue to this day.
In addition to these difficulties, Ocwen has "capitalized" some $12,000 in interest on my account and thus applies only $100 out of a $700 monthly payment to principal on the loan, effectively creating a situation where it is very nearly impossible to pay the loan down. According to Ocwen, this interest arrearage occurred during the pendency of my bankruptcy, and it continues to charge interest on the purported "interest arrearage."
I have diligently worked to repair my credit rating and now, seven years later, thought I had done so, when today I was refused a refinance loan due to Ocwen's false and negative information, despite otherwise excellent credit scores. I will be forced to take a higher interest loan to rid myself of Ocwen but will gladly do so if I will be truly rid of them. Time will tell.
I did not choose to do business with Ocwen; this company was forced upon me through the sale of my mortgage by HUD. Nevertheless, without a doubt this is the most dishonest and unethical company I have ever have the unfortunate experience of dealing with.
By way of addendum, when my bank contacted Ocwen for a payoff amount they were charged $20.00 for Ocwen to send a fax giving that info, together with a $10.00 "miscellaneous fee." They also indicated that my current late fee from the date of the last payment (30 days ago) was $899!! Unbelievable. All of the above has resulted in my paying $4500 MORE TODAY in 2004 than I did in 1988 for my house.
W
Mahtomedi, Minnesota
U.S.A.
0 comments