BiggerPockets

In 1998 I purchesed a VA Foreclosure as an investment, and was collecting rent from it. The VA sold the loan to Season's Mortgage, then Season's sold it to Countrywide Home Loans. I had a fixed 30 year loan for $708 a month, which was well inside my means (in fact, for almost a year I made double payments, one going entirely to the principle). My payments were set up to go out each month on the 24th, which meant the payments would be 2-3 days early since they weren't due until the 1st.

In May of 2002 an electronic payment was rejected. When I called Countrywide to find out why, they said I never MADE the payment. I then called Wescom Credit Union to find out why my payment didn't go out that month, and they said it went out fine, but that Countrywide had sent it back as rejected. I asked if they could send it out again, manually, and they did. I called Countrywide back to let them know the payment had gone out as usual, in full and on time, but that it had come back as rejected, and that I was having it resent. Well, it came back as rejected again.

I called Countrywide again. Customer service said I didn't make the payment. Was transfered to the loan department who also said I didn't make the payment. Was transfered to the collections department who also said I didn't make the payment. They asked how the payment was made, I told them it was an electronic payment, and they said that that was the problem, and that they didn't accept electronic payments. I told them all my payments had been sent that way for years, and they said " well maybe that's your problem!"

I argued with them back and forth for a month. When my June payment went out, it was accepted. But they applied it to May, added a late charge of $45, and said that my June payment still hadn't arrived. ARG! I had Wescom manually send out another payment (along with the late charge) which was accepted. I THOUGHT that was the end of the matter. But then the July payment was rejected, Aug was accepted, Sept and Oct rejected, Nov and Dec accepted, Jan 2003 was rejected, Feb was accepted. Then in March 2003 I received foreclosure papers.

I have had to fly out to Florida from Arizona for a 12 hour derogitory, then again for a hearing in a Judges quarters, at a cost of over $3k each trip for motels, airfare, meals, rental car etc. I am still in litigation with them after four more years. They have added 5 years on to my payments, they have added $70k onto my loan amount for their costs, doubling the amount of the loan and the monthly payments, not to mention the costs of lawyers fees. I'm to go to court sometime this year. I'll let you know what happens.

And this is only ONE issue I have with them.

J-Mac ---

I have a handicap called Dyslexia. I'm only a partial, meaning I CAN read and write, but it is a real job. Having my credit union send out my bills each month, prevents me from making monthly grievious errors.

The woman who said " we don't accept electronic payments' didn't know what she was talking about. Countrywide has been taking payments that way for over 15 years. I have OTHER Countrywide buyouts that are also sent that way, and there has been no interuption in those.... except... want to hear ANOTHER Countrywide horror story?

I've had State Farm Homeowners Insurance on all my houses, seems like forever. Countrywide allowed all the policies to lapse, then purchased Balboa Homeowners Insurance instead. I verified that State Farm sent the bills to the right location, because CW tried to say they never received them. State Farm then sent the bills where a signiture was required, and CW STILL claimed they never received them.

CW has an interest in Balboa and gets very large commissions on the policies they sell. I called CW and told them to cancel the Balboa Insurance, because I was paid (out of my own pocket, instead of though the escrow account) in full for a year. After quite a dispute, they finally canceled the Balboa, but then the following year, they pulled the same stunt.

I recently learned a little about the shinanigans Balboa pulls. There was an elderly couple who bought a home 26 years ago. They only owed a few more years on the house. At the time they purchased the house, it was worth $80k (a lot for back in those days), NOW it is worth over $450k. Well, the house burnt down. Fire Dept says it was electrical. Balboa just paid off the remainder of the loan, and left the just retired couple out in the street with no home and no money. The gentleman had been a lineman for AT&T. He literally risked his life every day. Then ended up retiring into poverty. I cried when I heard about it. It's on the Internet.

There are quite a few Rippoff reports about CW. You can see a few of them here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/searchresults.asp?q1=ALL&q4=&q6=&q3=&q2=&q7=&searchtype=0&submit2=Search%21&q5=countrywide

I'm glad that Bank of America took CW over. I heard BofA got a good deal when Seth Glickenhaus (previous owner of CW) sold his stock for a song. I sent him (SG) a letter about a year and a half ago, about CW's policy pertaining to Balboa. Maybe that's why he rid CW from his portfolio. It sure did do a number on CW's economic status.

Annie