[HappyHousewife]

My mortgage company sent out 2 checks totaling $1700.00 for property taxes. (One to the a county I live in; one to another county where I don't live).
I am tax exempt for this year. (Will be until next rollover-previous owner was tax exempt).
My escrow account has a negative amount because of this double-disbursement.
I called and got basically yelled at, I asked for a supervisor (they said he could not be reached, I'd have to send something in writing to "speak" with him), My escrow account is negative $800+ dollars (and it's their fault! ) and they want to treat me with such horrible service...
I'm afraid my monthly payment will be going up because I have a negative amount in escrow. The mortgage company shouldn't have sent ANY check at all!

They told me a week ago that it would be taken care of by last Friday, now they're telling me it'll be after the first of the year.
Can anyone give me some advice???

[newFannie07]

I don't know if it's the same with all mortgage companies, but with mine....my escrow account is reviewed once a year. That's when they make adjustments in the montly payment (i.e. take out more if there wasn't enough). That only happened to me once and the increase was about $30/month. They send my a refund check if the escrow was over instead of lowering the payments. I usually get about $200 back/year.

Just keep on top of it and make sure they get the credits done. Be the squeaky wheel.

[cbmare]

Squeeky wheel is right! Is this mortgage company in Texas? This is yet another reason why I won't have an impound account anymore. Westwood Mortgage neglected to pay my property tax one time. I got a notice that the county was going to put a lien on my house! I called them and wrote a letter. They put in writing that it was their fault and that they would pay the penalty. Guess what?! It was deducted from my account. It took me almost a year to get that cleared up. I would email, call and write a certified, return receipt requested weekly. Also, contact the taxing authority and ask them if you can have the money back. You might have better luck dealing with them. Once you get the check, you can tear it into large still readable pieces and send it back to the mortage company. It shouldn't come out of the account that way and they can credit your account.

Contact the BBB wherever they are and file a complaint. The BBB is somewhat useless unless someone checks to see if there is a complaint. Contact your local consumer fraud division for your county as well as the county where the other check went. File a complaint with the district attorney in the county where this company is as well as the two counties where the checks went.

Do not let up on this. Find out who the VP is of that company. You can find it on the web. Contact that person. Also, if it is a publicly traded company, you might try contacting the board of directors and letting them know that you are going to go public with the information on how you've been treated and financially abused.

Contact your local TV and newspapers consumer hotlines. You might be able to get some help with them.

I can't think of anything else at the moment.

[ennay]

I agree - contact the tax authorities in BOTH counties. Escrow companies do not send checks without a bill. If they received a bill on your property they are required by law to pay it. If you are tax exempt, then they should not have recieved a bill. Either way, you will probably not get that money back until/unless it is returned from the county. Either way you need to make sure the county has its tax assessment right. That part is your responsibility, not the escrow company.

If the counties did NOT bill you, then they should return the money rather quickly and as cb said, ask to have the money returned directly to YOU, not to the escrow company, but I am not sure if they can do that.

[StillTryin]

FOLLOW UP...I WOULD BE VERY DILIGENT (SP) on this. Do not let this slide, and keep calling, call back and ask for someone else. Be as nice as you can until the customer service person starts being snotty, then you can get upset....