Dipshit with an escrow account....

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2003-09-25 05:20pm

Okay, So I get this call today.
Those of you who own houses probably know what an escrow account is. It pays your taxes. (Property taxes)
so this guy calls up, Irate as hell because he got a letter....

guy-"HEY! I got a letter from the IRS saying I owe back taxes! But, you guys collect money every month for my taxes, what the HELL are you all doing down there?!"
Me-"Sir? May I have your loan number?"
guy-"blahblahblahblah"
Me-"Thank you sir. Now, you state you recieved a letter from the IRS, right?"
guy- "Yes, I believe I just got finished saying that, Where's my money if it's not paying my damn taxes?!"
Me-"Sir, the IRS is concerned with your income tax, not your property tax. The IRS is a federal agency, property taxes are charged/collected by your city/county/school district."
guy-"What?! but I thought...wait..let me just check this letter again...I thought..."
Me- (thinking) you dipwad. how in the hell did you end up with a mortgage?
guy-(meekly) Well, I'll tell ya what I'll do...I'm gonna read this letter over again...to make sure....I'll uh...I'll call you guys back....
Me- okay, sir, thank you for calling, and have a Great day! (thinking) dumbass. I hope you don't have kids.

Just thought i'd share that story. Have a great day, all!

EmperorMing · Post by **EmperorMing** » 2003-09-25 07:58pm

And another typical human does *not* pay attention...

Geez!

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2003-09-25 08:15pm

LOL! That is pretty funny.

I did make a mistake on my Escrow account. I "assumed" they would know about the supplemental tax bill I received for my property, because they were taking out the right amount. ( $230/month) to pay for all of it. But they didnt know about it, so I paid them a few weeks late out of escrow and now they now.

I felt kinda dumb, cause I missed the little note that said you need to let your lender know about this, we [the county] do not inform them. Eh....my mistake pales to this moron.

You should have strung him along. Sir, did you files your 1087 Escrow to IRA Tunnel Form?

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2003-09-25 08:28pm

TrailerParkJawa wrote:LOL! That is pretty funny.

I did make a mistake on my Escrow account. I "assumed" they would know about the supplemental tax bill I received for my property, because they were taking out the right amount. ( $230/month) to pay for all of it. But they didnt know about it, so I paid them a few weeks late out of escrow and now they now.

I felt kinda dumb, cause I missed the little note that said you need to let your lender know about this, we [the county] do not inform them. Eh....my mistake pales to this moron.

You should have strung him along. Sir, did you files your 1087 Escrow to IRA Tunnel Form?

Well, Typically, your mortgage company will obtain the tax information from your tax authority without you doing ANYthing.
Except for supplementals. (Fucking california) also, expect to see more supplementals if the city does some improvements in your area. (New playground? Supplemental tax. New school? Supplemental tax. Streetlights? That's their favorite one...supplemental tax.

YEah, stringing him along would have been fun, but I get fucking dipshits like that every fucking day, all day long. You would be positively HORRIFIED at the sheer amount of people who do not know WHO THEIR FUCKING HOMEOWNER'S INSURANCE IS THROUGH. That's right, I get probably ten calls a day about this; Hey, who is my insurance company? Do you have their number?
More stupid questions I get every day:
"On my statement, it says 08/22/03 in the escrow disbursed column; Haz insurance, 1222.09. What's that?"
"What is PMI?"
"Why do I have to pay escrow?"
I had one guy call up today who said he never AUTHORIZED us to collect escrow on his mortgage.
"Sir, the LEGALLY BINDING DOCUMENT you signed at closing states quite clearly what your escrowed items are to be."
(This, in the U.S., would be your HUD-1 statement, or settlement statement. and is not at ALL complicated for a reasonably intelligent monkey to understand)
It just burns me up. How in the hell someone will sign a contract that will OWN THEM for 30 years, and they don't even read it. Hell, when I buy a car, I read every fucking line of the finance agreement. Every single line of the warranty statement. EVERYTHING.
Which is why I buy cars with cash now.

...Ugh...I just know this thread will end up HoSed for ranting...sorry guys! I had to let it out....

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-09-26 11:56am

Chardok wrote: Well, Typically, your mortgage company will obtain the tax information from your tax authority without you doing ANYthing.
Except for supplementals. (Fucking california) also, expect to see more supplementals if the city does some improvements in your area. (New playground? Supplemental tax. New school? Supplemental tax. Streetlights? That's their favorite one...supplemental tax.

Geez, around here the builders where whining when the county slapped impact fees on them for the cost of roads, schools, and infrastructure needed to service the new housing developments. I think the added fee is only around $1000 so it really isn't covering jack and builders keep slappin' up over priced homes left an right.

Chardok wrote:YEah, stringing him along would have been fun, but I get fucking dipshits like that every fucking day, all day long. You would be positively HORRIFIED at the sheer amount of people who do not know WHO THEIR FUCKING HOMEOWNER'S INSURANCE IS THROUGH. That's right, I get probably ten calls a day about this; Hey, who is my insurance company? Do you have their number?

That's a good one. My home owners insurance is paid through my mortage payments but I'm the one who set it up. I think that was the only option when I was applying for my mortage. There aren't places that allow you to let your lender do it for you are there?

Chardok wrote:"Why do I have to pay escrow?"
I had one guy call up today who said he never AUTHORIZED us to collect escrow on his mortgage.

I can understand asking about escrow and why you have to pay it but as soon as you know what it is used for it is really really stupid to say you didn't authorize it.

I would have hoped that people would have asked about escrow at their closing at the latest.

No wonder so many people live from paycheque to paycheque.

greenmm · Post by **greenmm** » 2003-09-26 12:46pm

Tsyroc wrote:
Chardok wrote:YEah, stringing him along would have been fun, but I get fucking dipshits like that every fucking day, all day long. You would be positively HORRIFIED at the sheer amount of people who do not know WHO THEIR FUCKING HOMEOWNER'S INSURANCE IS THROUGH. That's right, I get probably ten calls a day about this; Hey, who is my insurance company? Do you have their number?
That's a good one. My home owners insurance is paid through my mortage payments but I'm the one who set it up. I think that was the only option when I was applying for my mortage. There aren't places that allow you to let your lender do it for you are there?

Not without the borrower's permission. The most I've ever seen, actually, at my job is informing the borrower that, thanks to the increase in value of their home, they needed to increase their amount of coverage.

Chardok wrote:"Why do I have to pay escrow?"
I had one guy call up today who said he never AUTHORIZED us to collect escrow on his mortgage.
I can understand asking about escrow and why you have to pay it but as soon as you know what it is used for it is really really stupid to say you didn't authorize it. I would have hoped that people would have asked about escrow at their closing at the latest.

No wonder so many people live from paycheque to paycheque.

Yeah, I can see people having a problem with the idea of escrow, but to make a fuss when they signed the documents already is just stupid. Like they said, you're signing documents that will create a liability you need to pay on for years. Wouldn't you think they'd want to read everything included?

greenmm · Post by **greenmm** » 2003-09-26 12:52pm

Chardok wrote:
TrailerParkJawa wrote:LOL! That is pretty funny.

I did make a mistake on my Escrow account. I "assumed" they would know about the supplemental tax bill I received for my property, because they were taking out the right amount. ( $230/month) to pay for all of it. But they didnt know about it, so I paid them a few weeks late out of escrow and now they now.

I felt kinda dumb, cause I missed the little note that said you need to let your lender know about this, we [the county] do not inform them. Eh....my mistake pales to this moron.

You should have strung him along. Sir, did you files your 1087 Escrow to IRA Tunnel Form?

Well, Typically, your mortgage company will obtain the tax information from your tax authority without you doing ANYthing.
Except for supplementals. (Fucking california) also, expect to see more supplementals if the city does some improvements in your area. (New playground? Supplemental tax. New school? Supplemental tax. Streetlights? That's their favorite one...supplemental tax.

YEah, stringing him along would have been fun, but I get fucking dipshits like that every fucking day, all day long. You would be positively HORRIFIED at the sheer amount of people who do not know WHO THEIR FUCKING HOMEOWNER'S INSURANCE IS THROUGH. That's right, I get probably ten calls a day about this; Hey, who is my insurance company? Do you have their number?
More stupid questions I get every day:
"On my statement, it says 08/22/03 in the escrow disbursed column; Haz insurance, 1222.09. What's that?"
"What is PMI?"
"Why do I have to pay escrow?"
I had one guy call up today who said he never AUTHORIZED us to collect escrow on his mortgage.
"Sir, the LEGALLY BINDING DOCUMENT you signed at closing states quite clearly what your escrowed items are to be."
(This, in the U.S., would be your HUD-1 statement, or settlement statement. and is not at ALL complicated for a reasonably intelligent monkey to understand)
It just burns me up. How in the hell someone will sign a contract that will OWN THEM for 30 years, and they don't even read it. Hell, when I buy a car, I read every fucking line of the finance agreement. Every single line of the warranty statement. EVERYTHING.
Which is why I buy cars with cash now.
...Ugh...I just know this thread will end up HoSed for ranting...sorry guys! I had to let it out....

Why should it go into HOS? You have legitimate concerns about your customers' states of mind.

BTW... which mortgage company do you work for? Today's my last day at Chase Manhattan (Monday I start working for the city in their Income Tax division), and I could easily swap horror stories with you.

Heck, we just had a borrower insist that we violate RESPA regulations and refund them money, even after we explained it was illegal...

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2003-09-26 01:00pm

Trust me, you don't want your lender to pick coverage for you. Now you can, at ANY time, change your insurance company, however, it is typically your responsibility to cancel your old insurance, and ensure the new company gets the declaration pages and bill to your lender/servicer. It is also typically the homeowner's responsibility to collect any refund of premium and put it back into the escrow account (Send it in with your payment) to avoid a shortage. If you don't and you cash that refund check. Don't bitch when your mortgage payment goes up by 100.00 a month because of a shortage caused by YOU. /sigh

Now, you won't necessarily have to increase your insurance coverage based on the value of your home. Typically, you must maintain coverage equal to the principal balance remaining on your loan. That's all. Though that would be stupid. Why not maintain "Market value" Coverage for a few dollars more per year? ( I see this alot, maintaining coverage based on principal balance) If the home is destroyed, and your principal balance was 10k dollars (Or euros, or yen, or whatever) and you're 60 years old, do you really want to go out and get ANOTHER mortgage on ANOTHER house for 30 years? You'll be saddling your family with quite an expense when you die 10 years before the house is paid off, and I can think of a million things i'd rather do with my retirement check

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2003-09-26 09:08pm

In my case I had to have an escrow account as a condition of the loan because I did 80/10/10. Basically, I used my good credit to borrow the additional 10% to avoid triggering PMI. Also, I just felt more comfortable with an escrow account. Im disciplined enough to save the money myself, but purchasing my first place was a big step. So I felt an escrow account would lower the stress levels a bit.

My basic homeowners insurance is covered by my HOA. But that is just structure. Not interior contents.

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2003-09-28 02:46pm

Yeah, HOA dues haz insurance is a good thing. Much less crap to worry about with your mortgage company,
TIP: Every year, don't trust your HOA to send a copy of your policy to your mortgage company (Evidence of coverage) get a copy for yourself, so if your mortgage company fucks up and says :Hey, we didn't get evidence of coverage, and now we're going to place insurance on your structure that costs 3 times what you're paying now.: You can shoot em a fax of your policy real quick, no harm, no foul.
This is especially common the first year after your loan transfers mortgage companies, i.e. Washington Mutual to Chase, or whatever. Oftentimes, your insurance company will fail to update the mortgagee clause and it will fall on you to get it done.