I purchased my first home about 7 months ago. I went through a broker but then my mortgage got sold to Wells Fargo. I refinanced about 3 months ago because I got an interest rate I couldnt refuse. Before refinancing, Wells Fargo paid by Q1 property tax bill out of the escrow account from my old mortgage. During the closing for my new mortgage, my lawyer discovered my town had no record of that payment. I talk to Wells Fargo, my lawyer talks to Wells Fargo and my town, and were told its all cleared up.
Fast forward to the second quarter property tax bill, the copy I received still shows the first quarter as outstanding. I got it shortly after we allegedly resolved the issue so I chalked it up to the bill getting sent out before the mix up was resolved. Just to be safe, I submitted an inquiry to Wells Fargo, who also bought my new mortgage, that the bill I received contained an error and that the 2/1 payment was already made and please just pay the 5/1 payment out of my escrow account. They said no problem theyll take care of it.
May 1st came and went, and I get a demand statement from my town telling me I am now two payments behind on my taxes. I call up Wells Fargo and come to find out they never followed up with my town to confirm the 2/1 payment was recorded properly. Apparently, WF used the incorrect parcel slip when they paid my town.in other words, I basically paid someones taxes for them. Once the error was uncovered, you would think it would be as simple as reassigning my money to my parcel number. Nope!
My town actually told WF they were not allowed to transfer the funds once they had them and that WF would have to go after the third party (whose taxes got paid with my money) themselves, and resubmit a payment for that 2/1 bill. On one level, there are some major confidentiality issues that my town is prepared to breach by disclosing the name of the individual WF is allegedly supposed to contact to get MY money back. Thankfully, they didnt agree to do that. But that still means my 2/1 payment is outstanding, and this is where my main issue lies.
WF told me that in order for my payment to be received, I would have to pay it again with money out of my escrow account and that they would reimburse me whenever they managed to track down the original payment. I flat out told them if they use even one cent of my money to clear up a mistake THEY made, they would be hearing from my lawyer. This is still ongoing and hasnt been resolved, but I was so astounded by the chain of events that occurred between both my town and WF, I had to make it public.
So today, I am still technically 2 payments behind on my property taxes despite having paid WF more than enough to cover my tax bills. And WF hasnt even told me a single thing about why they never paid the 5/1 bill. My favorite part was when I told the woman I was talking to at WF that they werent allowed to touch my escrow account to pay the 2/1 bill A SECOND TIME, she cautioned me that if that goes unpaid for too long, I could actually lose my house. She actually said that! If that happens, they are going to have bigger problems than I am!
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