Did Bank of American sell the servicing rights to your mortgage yet?

[dixiegrrrrl]

Last edited Wed Mar 20, 2013, 12:57 PM - Edit history (1)

We just a letter telling us that BOA will no longer be servicing our mortgage, that starting April 1 we send checks to Green Tree LLC.
So of course I looked them up, and found all sorts of horror stories on how they try to rip off home owners.
Here is some info on Green Tree and Finch ratings:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/08/idUSWNB287320130108

It seems, from everything I have been reading, that the big banks are getting out of the mortgage servicing business.
Seems to be part of the recent Gov't settlement deals.
Here is coverage of that aspect, from this Jan:
Exclusive: Bank of America to sell service rights on $100 billion of mortgages
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/08/us-bankofamerica-mortgages-idUSBRE9070ML20130108

This is the 4th change of mortgage servicers I have had in 7 years.
Really speaks to the fact that collecting mortgage payments is a lucrative business.

[msongs]

1. we pay for the loan and they make profits off us every time they transfer. where is OUR share of

the transfer profit?

[sharp_stick]

2. Yup, just found out yesterday

It's our third change in 8 years. I think it's time to hunt for a local refi, these guys sound like total dirtbags.

[Ruby the Liberal]

3. If you have the equity

talk with a local bank about refinancing into a first line HELOC. Won't typically be any closing costs (unless you close it within 3 years) and you can lock in under 4% for 20 years with going rates. Can probably get 3.5 for 15. VERY rarely is HELOC servicing sold because it is considered "sticky" so banks tend to keep those inhouse.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Hey Sis....that is a good idea..

Let me explore the world of Helocs a bit...I would love to drop the interest rate on our loan of 7 years...

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. Be sure and tell them it will be a first line

They will likely want to open it for 80% LTV. You can lock in the amount you need to pay off the mortgage and it gives you preapproved credit overhead (tax deductible) at prevailing rate if/when you need it.

You know the old addage - they will give you credit when you don't need it, but not when you do.

[fleur-de-lisa]

4. Small, local lending institutions are not much better . . .

I bought my home in 2009, financed through a local, very reputable company, and within 2 months it was sold twice, and ended up with Wells Fargo, those f*cking criminals.

I refinanced about 6 months ago . . . same story - was sold twice and ended up with Wells Fargo again.

I do have to say that I have never had any problem with Wells Fargo, but I would never do my personal banking with them. I use a local credit union.

But it pisses me off that, as a homeowner, I have absolutely no control over the ultimate landing spot of my mortgage. I usually avoid companies with poor business practices or those whose social/political policies do not align with my own.

But when it comes to a mortgage, none of us have any choice.

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. yes. sold to green leaf more then a yr sgo. gawd help you

Green leaf hadn't cashed my check by the due date. I called them . Was told Chk wasn't received. We agreed I would pay auto from checking and cancel the check. The next day they tried to cash the cancelled check and began calling me daily for the funds. They said I had two pmts due and began to threaten. It took many calls to straighten out.

It was crazeeeè

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. From all the complaints I have read,

they try to force you into automatic bank withdrawals, then they make "mistakes" about the amount to take out
or
you can pay online, where they will charge you 12.00 per payment
or
if you pay by mail they claim they did not get it in time and then start assessing late fees and threats and etc.

HUNDREDS of complaints online about them.

the best answer seems to be sending the payment by registered mail, at least 10 days before due date.

[Liberal_in_LA]

14. the best thing to do is auto pmt from your acct. i trigger the payment

I have control. They pushed for auto payment on their end . Don't do it

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. Did you have any more problems with them after that was straightened out?

[Liberal_in_LA]

13. no, no more problems

[hack89]

10. Green Tree has been servicing my mortgage for two years with no problems

I would recommend paying on line if you can - it works well with no problems.

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. That's good to hear.

I get kinda edgy after hearing about all the foreclosures that shouldn't have happened, and all the games banks are getting away with.

[winstars]

12. Mine was just sold again, this time to Ocwen, which supposedly is THE worst of the worst...

Literally thousands of complaints at ripoff.com and pissedoff.com really scary stuff. The same tricks that are stated above, cashing your check late so they can charge you late fees reporting these late's on your credit report and ruining your credit etc. ALL CSR's based in India and apparently third class CSR's at that.

We know that these companies are buying our mortgages for much less than we owe. What they really want is your house in foreclosure. Think about it, why would they want to want 20 or 30 years to get paid when they can foreclose on you and then sell it in an improving housing market.
If they paid $200,000 for your note and they can sell it for say $350,000, why would they ever want to be good at servicing your note. Read the above posts, what we are saying that the best way to avoid these scumbags is to refi with a credit union or someone who will keep your loan. This means that by having terrible loan service, companies like Greenleaf and Ocwen are being paid in full, by our new mortgage companies years early!!! Or another good way to avoid this trouble with them is to pay them each month two weeks early. WTF!!!

Dig it, because they suck so much our only response is to pay them earlier or to pay off the entire debt earlier!!!

What a scam this is!!!

[Liberal_in_LA]

16. they seem to want you to miss payments. it's their business model

[shanti]

22. my loan was sold to ocwen

about 8 years ago. i pay them online every month by the second day, and have never had any problems. that doesn't meant that i like the company though i've refi'd once, and would do it again if i didn't lose my mcc, which matters a LOT to me.

[Liberal_in_LA]

15. also - the annual proof of insurance letter is very unfriendly and threatening

Send us proof or we will start billing u for insurance. We want to protect 'our' investment. Boca didn't threaten like that.

[dixiegrrrrl]

19. BOA DID try the forced place insurance trick.

Forced place insurance is actually illegal.
As if anyone cared.
My insurance guy got the joy of hassling with BOA every year over that.
I expect Green Tree will do the same, since the annual insurance was paid this month, during the change to Green Tree.

Fortunately, I do not have any escrow on the mortgage, and I have no pre-payment penalty.
The payments are very very low, I pay at least 2 weeks ahead.
Hopefully that will address most of the reported problems.

[Phentex]

17. We are not BoA but ours was just sold to them too!

The original loan was with a small local company. Sold within a year to a company that basically stopped having anything to do with the mortgage except for taking payments. In other words, we could not refinance with them at a lower rate. The only thing we could do was switch and we never found the closing costs to be worth it. I wonder if Green Tree will make this easier?

Next stop, credit union.

[sharp_stick]

18. Update: Not to Green Tree

but ours just went to a company called Nationstar. They've got some complaints, mostly from people who were in the process of Loan Modification through BofA that now have to start over. We aren't in that boat at least so hopefully it's not a total botch.

They don't seem to be quite as universally despised as Green Tree but I'll be keeping my eyes open and getting ready to refi if I have to.

Best of luck to you Dixiegrrrrl, I hope it works out.

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. ahhh yes..Nationstar.....

Apparently both those companies have become big players now in the mortgage servicing market.
I am gonna be gathering more info and keep my options open.

[Liberal_in_LA]

24. never heard of them

[onyourleft]

21. Yes, they did this...

...one month ago. It was sold to Green Tree.

[FreeJoe]

23. Wells Fargo

All three times I had a mortgage, it eventually wound up with Wells Fargo. I have no idea why. I always set it up to auto-deduct the payment from my bank account and never had any trouble with them. They only thing I found annoying was when I went to pay off my final mortgage at a Wells Fargo branch and they told me that they couldn't help me there because the branch office and the mortgage company were different. Whatever. I went to Chase bank and they happily helped me through the whole thing.