Posted on: 15th Mar, 2011 09:53 pm
I know this is long - but, we really need help or insight.
We paid off (made the last payment) our mortgage 5 years ago. Actually, I got to the last payment - checked the balance & SURPRISE!!! The pay-off was approx $1800 (our regular payment was around 400 & I paid that amount as a LAST payment) and after many conversations with the bank I found our that the balance was due to forced placed insurance being added to our loan in the 2nd & 3rd years of the loan. I had NO idea. ':shock:'
I told them I had the same insurer and same agent and our mortgage lien was filed with the insurance company (which noted they sent them confirmation and that was listed on our declarations). I also told them I had the same policy #, effective dates and this was an error and whatever happened - it needed to be resolved. I would not be paying any additional monies. The only thing that changed in year 2 & 3 of the loan was the bank grew very rapidly and changed their charter - we think it was a processes issue on their part, that they became overwhelmed internally and that is what started this FORCED PLACED INSURANCE fiasco!
They held firm on the balance and after many more attempts to get it resolved without success (they just wanted money - no resolution was going to work) - I finally told them to simply FORECLOSE on the house (at least that way, we’d get to court - where a judge/jury or someone would be able to look at the issue as a mistake on their part).
Well, they did not foreclose - but, WROTE OFF the debt (on our credit reports). We tried to dispute without any resolution. We were at our end - attorney wanted 5K or more to start to “fix†this problem (we did not have that for that!). We thought - well, we can’t do anything else. ':oops:'
Fast forward 3 years and we started getting collection calls from their in-house “recovery†department - they were aggressive and deceptive. At one point their “collector†even called our insurance agent to ask “Did they really have coverage and really pay their bill? Are you sure that they did not miss any payment that might have lapsed their policy - even for a day.........â€. Really! ':twisted:'
We took the matter to a forensic accountant to review (expensive - might have been cheaper to pay it but we had had it with them and now...) - the forensic guy assured us we had actually OVERPAID the loan (I had added a bit to our payments at times and I thought the last payment should have been about $100). ':twisted:'
Initially, they ultimately removed the forced insurance premiums as an error - but, refused to adjust the interest that resulted from them being added in the first place. The collector sneered at mu husband “Will you settle your debt now that I took the insurance premium off?†- my husband is a kind and patient man and replied “I will not settle for anything other that paying what we owe - if, in fact we owe you anything. The interest has to come off and then we can talk about who owes who what!â€. Nothing resolved. ':twisted:'
They actually continued to bill us and a nasty letter pointed out that “every day you leave your obligation unpaid accrues an addition interest charge of XX¢ a day.†I could not believe it! Trying to collect a debt that they had to know was not valid.
We called the collector’s boss. It took telling the issue to his assistant and 2 more weeks to get him on the phone. He was a Senior VP - he was unwilling to do anything - I told him explicitly “Our forensic accountant assures us we actually overpaid this loan that your bank has been so aggressive with on collectionsâ€. He was unmoved. Would not take our calls and would not return our calls. ':shock:'
We called his boss and was given the run around for 5 more months. Finally got another VP that must have understood the issue and he called us in 10 days to report that they “we are very sorry - everyone involved in this matter has been talked with and they are aware of the mistakes that were made with your account. You did overpay the loan, I have sent notification to the credit bureaus and a check for the refund...â€.
Well. The problem is that they damaged us - we paid more in insurance and in variable interest rates and employers looked at my credit report as well. It looked like we got to the last payment on our home and said “F@$& It - what will they do? Foreclose?†and just walked away from our obligations. It cast us in a bad light. We tried to resolve - they were not interested. Now what to do?
:?: :?: :?: :?: :?:
We are considering filing complaints with the FDIC, FTC, BBB, OAG’s office, state banking dept and everyone else we can think of -
??? Does anyone have any insight they would share or offer an opinion on how to assure that they NEVER to this to anyone else again. Also, there is a punishment factor here - as we would like them to be as upset over this as we have been - so any ideas are welcome.
Thanks so much -
:shock: :shock: :shock:
We paid off (made the last payment) our mortgage 5 years ago. Actually, I got to the last payment - checked the balance & SURPRISE!!! The pay-off was approx $1800 (our regular payment was around 400 & I paid that amount as a LAST payment) and after many conversations with the bank I found our that the balance was due to forced placed insurance being added to our loan in the 2nd & 3rd years of the loan. I had NO idea. ':shock:'
I told them I had the same insurer and same agent and our mortgage lien was filed with the insurance company (which noted they sent them confirmation and that was listed on our declarations). I also told them I had the same policy #, effective dates and this was an error and whatever happened - it needed to be resolved. I would not be paying any additional monies. The only thing that changed in year 2 & 3 of the loan was the bank grew very rapidly and changed their charter - we think it was a processes issue on their part, that they became overwhelmed internally and that is what started this FORCED PLACED INSURANCE fiasco!
They held firm on the balance and after many more attempts to get it resolved without success (they just wanted money - no resolution was going to work) - I finally told them to simply FORECLOSE on the house (at least that way, we’d get to court - where a judge/jury or someone would be able to look at the issue as a mistake on their part).
Well, they did not foreclose - but, WROTE OFF the debt (on our credit reports). We tried to dispute without any resolution. We were at our end - attorney wanted 5K or more to start to “fix†this problem (we did not have that for that!). We thought - well, we can’t do anything else. ':oops:'
Fast forward 3 years and we started getting collection calls from their in-house “recovery†department - they were aggressive and deceptive. At one point their “collector†even called our insurance agent to ask “Did they really have coverage and really pay their bill? Are you sure that they did not miss any payment that might have lapsed their policy - even for a day.........â€. Really! ':twisted:'
We took the matter to a forensic accountant to review (expensive - might have been cheaper to pay it but we had had it with them and now...) - the forensic guy assured us we had actually OVERPAID the loan (I had added a bit to our payments at times and I thought the last payment should have been about $100). ':twisted:'
Initially, they ultimately removed the forced insurance premiums as an error - but, refused to adjust the interest that resulted from them being added in the first place. The collector sneered at mu husband “Will you settle your debt now that I took the insurance premium off?†- my husband is a kind and patient man and replied “I will not settle for anything other that paying what we owe - if, in fact we owe you anything. The interest has to come off and then we can talk about who owes who what!â€. Nothing resolved. ':twisted:'
They actually continued to bill us and a nasty letter pointed out that “every day you leave your obligation unpaid accrues an addition interest charge of XX¢ a day.†I could not believe it! Trying to collect a debt that they had to know was not valid.
We called the collector’s boss. It took telling the issue to his assistant and 2 more weeks to get him on the phone. He was a Senior VP - he was unwilling to do anything - I told him explicitly “Our forensic accountant assures us we actually overpaid this loan that your bank has been so aggressive with on collectionsâ€. He was unmoved. Would not take our calls and would not return our calls. ':shock:'
We called his boss and was given the run around for 5 more months. Finally got another VP that must have understood the issue and he called us in 10 days to report that they “we are very sorry - everyone involved in this matter has been talked with and they are aware of the mistakes that were made with your account. You did overpay the loan, I have sent notification to the credit bureaus and a check for the refund...â€.
Well. The problem is that they damaged us - we paid more in insurance and in variable interest rates and employers looked at my credit report as well. It looked like we got to the last payment on our home and said “F@$& It - what will they do? Foreclose?†and just walked away from our obligations. It cast us in a bad light. We tried to resolve - they were not interested. Now what to do?
:?: :?: :?: :?: :?:
We are considering filing complaints with the FDIC, FTC, BBB, OAG’s office, state banking dept and everyone else we can think of -
??? Does anyone have any insight they would share or offer an opinion on how to assure that they NEVER to this to anyone else again. Also, there is a punishment factor here - as we would like them to be as upset over this as we have been - so any ideas are welcome.
Thanks so much -
:shock: :shock: :shock:
Hi Guest,
You have thought about the right option. You should definitely file a complaint against them to the various government organizations so that they can take legal actions against them. This will save others from facing such problems. I will also suggest you to contact an attorney and check out if you can take any legal actions against them.
Thanks
You have thought about the right option. You should definitely file a complaint against them to the various government organizations so that they can take legal actions against them. This will save others from facing such problems. I will also suggest you to contact an attorney and check out if you can take any legal actions against them.
Thanks