BiggerPockets

The mortgage on my personal residence was just sold by GMAC to Ocwen. I'm pretty nervous because there's tons of horror stories on the web about Ocwen (saying the payment wasn't sent in when it was, and many other mistakes). As Also I understand it the customer service is outsourced to India and leaves much to be desired in terms of communication and follow through...

Does anyone else here have them as your loan service provider? Has the experience been at least tolerable or a total nightmare?

Absolutely the worst to work with, as far as short sales anyway. They've been on a buying spree lately. On non performing loans, they want to liquidate them the fastest way possible, DIL, quick foreclosure, SS, etc. A lot of their short sale processing is India outsourced....hit yourself in the head with a sledge hammer. On performing loans, I have no idea.

Wow! Years ago I had a loan that was sold to Ocwen. I personally had no issues , however that was years ago and I always made my payments on time.

Good luck

I think you are probably in for an unpleasant experience!

I'm a loan officer for a large bank and at least 1 to 2 times per week I get a call from somebody who has a loan serviced by Ocwen. In most cases they are literally begging me to do an application, they don't care what the rate or cost is, even if it's higher than their current rate, they just want to get away from the company.

A family member of mine has a heloc serviced by them. For 2012, out of 12 months they received only 3 statements. A couple months they didn't remember to pay it because they didn't get a statement, Ocwen charged a late fee as well as a fee to take the payment by phone. This is not a case of an irresponsible customer, this family member is a millionaire with 800+ credit. They complained to Ocwen every month, finally in November they filed an online complaint and apparently that got read. Ocwen sent 8 statements for the month of December! The worst part was, EVERY one of the 8 statements, showed a different balance and different min payment due!

Good luck!

Well I guess those of us who've been transferred are in for a lot of fun!

NY has appointed an overseer to Ocwen:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/05/ocwen-monitor-idUSL1E8N58D520121205

This does not sound good. In my case, I don't think I can refinance. My loan balance is about $58,000 (out of a $90K valued property) and the rate is very low -- 3.625%. Plus, refinancing will cost about $3000.

Is there any way to ensure that they record the payments on time so I don't get hit with late fees that aren't true? Anything I can do in advance?

Originally posted by Dawn A.:
This does not sound good. In my case, I don't think I can refinance. My loan balance is about $58,000 (out of a $90K valued property) and the rate is very low -- 3.625%. Plus, refinancing will cost about $3000.

Is there any way to ensure that they record the payments on time so I don't get hit with late fees that aren't true? Anything I can do in advance?

I would make a photocopy of the Ocwen payment coupon that GMAC sends you (I received mine the other day) so that if Ocwen fails to send the coupons you have the account # and mailing address to send checks without the coupon.

I've also read to mail payments with return receipt requested, although I don't know if this would work since I think they're sent to a PO box. Keep the cancelled checks or print from online.

Someone on another site said to contact the Ocwen consumer "ombudsman" if Ocwen makes a "mistake", or to file a complaint here: http://www.consumerfinance.gov/

Apparently the Indian call center is difficult to reach and does not keep notes on your case, so that you have to start all over again each time you call about your issue.

My other mortgage was sold to Green Tree Servicing, LLC. I am reading bad things about them online, too.

I wish I would have had some say about this. I didn't choose to have GMAC go bankrupt.

Originally posted by Paul Cordero:
I worked for Green Tree for 5 years in default servicing (Client Manager for FNMA book, SS & REO Facilitator), and just to clear things up, Ocwen most likely did not buy your mortgage. Ocwen is a special servicing company. They may have earned a servicing contract for your mortgage from the investor, but my bet is that your mortgage is either owned by FNMA or Freddie. Probably FNMA.

You should find out who the investor that owns your note is. Ocwen has to answer to the investor ultimately. If you are experiencing bad service from Ocwen, then go directly to a contact for the investor. They have special escalation proceedures to make sure that Ocwen services according to their contract.

Let me know if you have any questions about mortgage servicing.

Thanks Paul. I've read online that sometimes Ocwen refuses to divulge who the investor is. Is there another way to find this out without going through the India call center?

Originally posted by Dawn A.:
Well it's good to know this in advance. I'm forwarding all this to my business partner who is also on the note.

Dawn,
I'm not in position to refi right now either. I think it's ridiculous that e US allows Ocwen to operate the way it apparently does, especially since we have no choice about our loans being sold.
At least as RE investors we are somewhat savvy about this situation, and forewarned. Think of the average Joe Blows who will be walking into this buzzsaw over the coming months without a clue.