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Monday, April 21, 2014

Worth Mentioning- 4/21/14

Seriously just realized it was Monday and I have a worth mentioning.

Been a long day.
Had another "lovely" talk with my mortgage company.
You know, Ocwen, the douchebag company that says it want to help their customers and in reality just pisses them all off.

They raised my escrow payment after just raising it in December.
No letter or phone call.
Just a higher number on my statement.
Not sure they can even do that.
Might be time for another chat with the attorney general's office.

So, anyway...
This week's worth mentioning is Tracy Robinson. Known to the blogging world as Average Girl and to the photography as Thru Her Eyes Photography, Tracy is funny and well written and a great photographer.
She doesn't really blog anymore. But she does have a photography page on Facebook.

Tracy has been one of my first followers and supporters. Not sure how she found me, but I am glad she did.
She shared my  Yummy Stuff: Dips book on Facebook and told me I had talent for recipes.

If you have a chance, go look at some of her photos on Facebook.
Or go to her website.
If you like something,go ahead and buy it.

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Have a great Monday!

6 comments:

  1. Douchebag is a word that has stood the test of time. Is my grammar correct?

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    Replies
    1. Susie, I believe so. Not sure that douchebag is a strong enough word. But, it works. If a company can go no longer on a BBB rating, I think there may be a problem.

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    2. Call the Department of Commerce in your state (every state has different laws.) Depending upon the exact wording in your mortgage and promissory note, they can change your payment (it must be disclosed and laid out in detail in those papers, stating how often they can change your payments and by how much.)
      The other thing you are going to want to know is what part of the payment went up. When you say escrow, I'm thinking that is not your mortgage payment, but it is the portion reserved for taxes or insurance. So then they can raise your premiums if in fact your taxes increased or your property insurance went up. If you have homeowner's insurance through them, they can't stop you from changing insurance companies, even if it was required as an escrow at the time you took out the loan. If it is in insurance money that's in the escrow, and they are telling you that your insurance premiums went up, and you want to change companies, they have to reimburse you any portions of prepaid insurance you are due at the time you change companies. The new company you go with would gladly help you with notifying them.
      But if you are talking about the actual loan payment – not taxes or insurance – then it specifically has to state in the closing papers you signed that this is an adjustable rate mortgage, and that the payments can increase. It has to lay out specific details – as I mentioned earlier – when and how often the payments can increase, and by how much. Even if they are in the right, the fact that you did not get any notice could be a problem. Most states have a law that they have to send you a prior notice, which could be 60 days before the increase or 90 days, or whatever your state law says. That's why I suggest you call the Department of Commerce in your state, because they are the ones who have the eagle eyes on mortgage companies and will know every single law that must be abided.

      I hope this helps. I'm a follower of your blog, and I just hate to see you have to put up with this kind of crap when you should be living peacefully.
      Best,
      Deb@ http://debioneille.blogspot.com

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    3. Debbie, it is the escrow and due to the insurance. We did switch insurance because they raised it so much. But, when Ocwen sent us the new escow amount in December, they already had the bill for the higher insurance rates and raised it some. In March, they decided to raise it again. They said my account was short. But, if they had my bill, they would have know than so either they completely missed it at the time or they decided to raise it again.
      I did find a notice on the BBB website about charges made by 49 different government agencies and my state is one of them. There is a consent judgement pending. Lots of people have lost homes because of Ocwen and I have found nothing good about them when I look them up.
      I have had my mortgage sold and resold and every time to a worse company.
      I miss the good old days of getting a loan through a bank and it just stayed there.
      Thank you for your concern. I do appreciate it. IA's attorney general has a consumer protection department that has investigators that deal specifically with mortgages. I have had to contact them before. I will look into the Commerce Department too. I had not thought of them.

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  2. I know a cost money to refinance, but in the long run it might be worth it to refinance with a local bank or credit union. But either way, I think you are doing the right thing looking into agencies that can help you, because those big mortgage companies – and they are a big one – take advantage of the fact that most people won't understand the language in the documents and so just assume that the mortgage company has the last say. But that's not true. There's a lot of power in the consumer's voice, and I'm glad to see that you are willing to use it. Remember the story about the squeaky wheel. :-)
    Best,
    Deb@ http://debioneille.blogspot.com

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    Replies
    1. Debbie, the funny thing is that we started off with a local bank. We did try refinancing about 6 months ago and our appraisal came up short of what they wanted. We didn't have the thousands of $$ to go a head with it so we are stuck.

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Thanks for commenting.