On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 14:37:55 GMT, "Richard" wrote:

I agree I should have looked at and scrutinized all the four dozen papers I
signed at closing.

What really bothered me was that they didn't even peek at my old loan to
find out what the last ten years of taxes and insurance were. What they used
for information for their "estimate" didn't even come close. Normally I
would have to describe their actions as moronic. But real professionals
wouldn't do something moronic unless there is an alternative goal. What
looks like a simple oversight on the surface may cover their true
intentions. If they used this same simpleton estimate scheme on me, then
they've also used it on the thousands of people that refinanced with
Countrywide.

What do you get when you take 2 months (16.6%) of the escrow account reserve
(about $760 in my case) and multiply that by 500 or 1000? A pretty good
chuck of change that they can use as they please. I would bet Countrywide
refinanced more than a couple thousand folks in 2002. Maybe a couple more
1000 in 2003. I wonder how many of them have (or will) experienced escrow
account problems? Maybe a federal investigation would answer that question.

Richard




I'm not sure why you think they should look before last year's taxes
and insurance amounts to estimate this current year's taxes and
insurance.

I agree that the amount of papers at closing is a lot to sign but
usually I find it to be about a dozen or less papers requiring a
signature with others in between. Regardless, you have a
responsibility to read them.

Assuming you kept a record of your closing papers, you should still be
able to see how Countrywide estimated your escrow as of the closing
date. That may not help you much now but at least you could see how
they calculated it .

And assuming they made a mistake in their escrow calculation, you
should be able to verify the present one if you know what your current
taxes and insurance are, amount of buffer, when the readjustment in
escrow occurred during the 12 months and how much you had in escrow at
that point If this doesn't make sense, call them and ask them
"politely" to explain slowly so you can write it all down.