I got an escrow overage refund a couple years after we closed on the first
loan. It is much better when they take out a little more and things work out
smoothly.

But if they pretend they are "estimating" the escrow and you don't check
their numbers (during closing) you will get screwed two ways. The mortgage
company can now confiscate two months of your hard earned money and not pay
you one penny of interest on it. Then you get to make up both the shortage
and the difference with a much larger escrow payment. Plus they get to jack
up your house payment right before Christmas (because that's when taxes come
due).

You have to remember that Countrywide Home Loans is based in California.
They need the extra cash to offset the cost of living out there.

Richard
Houston, TX


"Tony" wrote in message
...
My original mortgage was with Countrywide and then a little over a year
ago
I also refinanced with them.

One thing you didn't mention that you might want to check on....

With my mortgage they do an automatic yearly escrow review and adjust the
montly amount based on the actual expenses the previous year. As a
result,
a couple of months ago I got a refund of $200 because there was too much
in
my escrow account. They also lowered my payment at that time.

At least in my experience with Countrywide, they've kept a very small
amount
of excess in the escrow account. As you experienced, one time early in my
1st mortgage I did have to send them an "extra" amount of money because my
escrow account contribution was not covering the amount they estimated for
my property tax. Personally, I'd rather have them underestimate and let
me
make it up than have them overestimate and sit on my money in their escrow
account.

Tony

"Richard" wrote in message
...
Towards the middle of 2002 I decide to take advantage of the lower
interest
rates on homes. I had also remarried and wanted to make sure my new
spouse
was on the title. The original mortgage was with Countrywide Home Loans
(a
division of Treasury Bank N.A.) who has offices in the same building
with
General Homes, the folks who built my house. I called Countrywide up and
discussed the options and finally started the ball rolling. On October
28th
2002 we signed the paperwork at the title company to refinance the house
for
15 years at 6%.



The first sign that something was wrong was when I received a notice my
escrow account was over $1300.00 short and my monthly payment was going
from
$999.22 to $1216.51. I was alarmed at this sudden rise in the payment
and
contacted Countrywide.



Delia Whitley, with the customer service department at Countrywide, sent
me
a fairly detailed e-mailed explanation on what the escrow account was
set
up
to pay and what the actual tax and insurance bills turned out to be.
What
really caught my eye was the difference in my insurance payment. Her
e-mail
had my home owners insurance going from $874.20 to $1898.00 in one year.



Now I knew something was very wrong. I've been trying hard to keep my
insurance premiums with State Farm down with all the mold claims going
on
here in Texas. A $1023.00 increase would have been excessive under any
circumstance. I knew I could view the last 18 months of my old loan's
transactions on Countrywide's web page. I have been checking my payments
and
escrow distributions there for over ten years. I pulled up old loan
number
007338731, and sure enough, there it was. On the 17th of July 2002
Country
Home Loans sent a $1588.00 check to State Farm.



A follow-up phone conversation with Countrywide's customer service
department disclosed the methods they used when they created the new
loan
package. He explained that it was standard practice to estimate the
money
required to meet the taxes and insurance on the property. Gay Weed
informed
me that: 1) This review of your escrow account is based on information
believed to be accurate. 2) Countrywide does not guarantee that this
information is correct. 3) This information is subject to change at any
time.



When I asked why they didn't use the real numbers, stored in their own
data
base on my old loan, they became defensive. I was told I should have
checked
the escrow account numbers to make sure they were right. I admit I
should
have, now looking at this matter in retrospect. I had no idea they would
use
fabricated monetary values for my property taxes and insurance. I had
refinanced my house with the same lender. I doesn't take a rocket
scientist
to pull up my old loan history, located in their own computer, and copy
those historical "real numbers" into the new loan's escrow account.



This is when I got very angry. I referred to their "estimated" escrow
numbers as "bovine putrid fecal matter". I wanted to know where they got
their numbers from. They wouldn't say. I wanted to find out who sold
home
owners insurance in Texas on a 2300 square foot house, about 100 miles
from
the Gulf of Mexico, for $875.00 per year. They couldn't say.



What they did tell me was that Countrywide would have to collect an
additional 2 months of escrow reserve to cover any future shortages. The
RESPA Act allows them to do this. They would get to collect an
additional
16.6% of my money, store it away to draw interest for Countrywide,
because
they screwed up? I could prevent this by sending them $1300.38 to cover
the
cost difference present in my escrow account. That is when I decided to
close the escrow account and take over all the payments for taxes and
insurance.



I am lucky. I just paid off my truck. I have some resources to draw from
to
cover my taxes this year. Christmas was lean but we made it. What I'm
wondering now is how many people out there have fallen victim to this
type
of "escrow estimate" scam run by Countrywide Home Loans. They have no
reason
to use real numbers. The RESPA Act allows them to screw anyone who falls
into their trap. The victim is made to believe that Countrywide is
helping
them out of this jam.



Has anyone else out there fallen victim to this type of scam? Your US
Government passed the RESPA Act to protect YOU, the consumer.
Countrywide
Home Loans has figured as way to "pop" their own customer's a year after
they refinanced with the government's blessing. I just sent Tom Martino,
the
radio consumer advocate, a copy of what you see above. Hopefully someone
will call him and add their own two cents worth..



--

Richard I Williamson
Houston, Texas