Does anyone else here use CountryWide Home Loans? I've had my loan with them for three years now, and now I'm getting all sorts of problems, and the customer service there really blows! Anyone other Countrywide customers with similiar issues?
I had nothing but great customer service with them. I bought and sold through them... and had an offer to come back if I needed them again. But then I never had any late payments. I did defer one once to the end of the note... I'm not implying you've had missed payments or late payments, but usually as with any creditor, on-time payments keep your favor with them in tact.
You have some loans with CountryWide? I'm having some issues with my escrow account, and I can't seem to a) get someone competent on the phone, or b) get anyone at all!
I meant I did some loan officer work, so I worked with a lot of countrywide people. So far my experience with them have been very good. Of course, they needed my business, so maybe that's why. Countrywide is a huge company. If one branch can't help you, you can probably contact another branch. Sorry, I can't help you with your escrow account.
Anyone other Countrywide customers with similiar issues? Yes, I will never use CW again. They screwed up the escrow calc and then sent us a bill for $5K a year later. We settled on a two year payback schedule (ie they got their $5K over two years).
I had CW for about a month after I bought my house. Then they sold my mortgage to Wells Fargo. Sounds like I got lucky. I've had zero problems with WF. I also escrow on my own. I've heard too many horror stories about problems with escrow. This way, if mine is screwed up, at least I know it was MY fault!
Holy crap. I don't know what I'd do if I was negative $5,000 for someone else's mistake! How long ago was this? And did you use a local Houston office?
No problems here. It was difficult to get a live person on the phone when I needed some assistance but once I did they were very helpful. They have one hell of a computer voice assistance menu that is like running a gauntlet to get a live person. I was yelling "live person" into the phone over and over and hitting the "0" over and over. However like I said, once I got a live person they chuckled and agreed it is tough to get through but were very helpful.
Yeah all those automated systems are getting worse and worse. Trying to answer your questions with automated answers and stuff to limit the amout of time you talk to people. I have learned if you keep keying in a bunch of wrong numbers or selections that they can't understand they eventually just connect you to someone. I do that with sprint pcs all the time just hit the wrong numbers and it will say im sorry i couldn't find it..let me get someone to help lol
After I bought my house (new construction), my mortgage company sold my loan to Countrywide a couple months later. As is often the case with new construction, the taxes the first year are less if they are based on "unimproved" property. Countrywide, like most mortage companies I assume, has an automated escrow system that recalculates your escrow payment every year, and they base the coming year's payment on the current year (plus a little slush). Anyhoo, that second (and maybe in some cases third?) year or so of new construction can be a bugaboo if you don't watch the escrow changes closely. I actually caught that Countrywide was calculating my taxes too low, so on one of my payments I sent in extra escrow to make up the difference, noting it as such on my payment form they provide. Courntrywide's payment processors decided to take it as principal instead, and I didn't catch it (and probably couldn't easily catch it) until their annual escrow review. After I called them, I got transferred to more and more knowledgeable escrow people there where eventually someone (who was nice) did make the correction -- but it took like three months for it to adjust my payment. Anyway, bottomline for homeowners is to always keep an eye on that escrow account if you allow the mortgage company to pay your taxes.
I found that out the hard way. If any of you out there buy a new home be VERY aware of this because it likely won't be pointed out to you until you get that big notice of mortgage increase. In my case my payment jumpt $700 a month. Now things have leveled out somewhat and I'm paying about $200 over my original payment.
Screwup happened in 1998. I used the Houston office, but the screwup was with the home office (Cali?). We got our escrow situation straightened out by talking to the one of the evil minions of the corporate office. Remember this is their f*ck*p and they have to be flexible.
Then it wasn't their screwup. As I mentioned above it's the homeowners responsibliity to know. I found out the hard way like you.
the problem was with the builder who sold you the home. they coaxed you into payments, using the tax appraisal when the land did not include the home...the improvement. when they came out to appraise the land the next time, they found a house had been sitting on it for 2 years or so...and they want their money for that time period. that's why you were raked over the coals. your beef isn't with countrywide...it's with your builder. there have been some lawsuits brought against builders for that with varying success. it's a HUGE deal out in katy. people find they aren't able to make the payments they thought they were going to be making...so they're losing their homes.
I'd never go back to CW. To get my rate lower during the loan process, they offered to match a rate if I didn't refinance with another company within 5 years. Prepays we ok. I put the loan on autodraft and was never late. Years later when rates dropped, I called CW to ask if I'd be penalized if I refinanced with them. They said no. The day before closing, I get a call from them stating that there is a penalty of $5K added to the loan if I showed up tomorrow. I checked the papers and sure enough it just says refinance not refinance with another company as I was told (my fault for not taking up the closers day by reading every document closely). So I'm out the process fee, mad as a hornet and when is my 5 year period up? The next month - actually less than 30 days. The next month, I refinanced with another company. Smart guys working there.
I refinanced with Wells Fargo last year, and moved all of my banking over there. They recently set me up with a combo portfolio manager account (savings & checking) that includes an emergency line of credit. The whole deal got me a 15 year mortgage at 4.5%, and I pay prop taxes myself (no escrow). Plus, I now have a rep at the Wells Fargo branch where my accounts are located, so if I ever have any questions, I just call her direct. Her customer service is fantastic. I'm very happy that I made the switchover.
