Taylor Bean and Whitaker problem becomes a CENLAR affair
Fri, 2009-08-28 01:38 | 
"The Feds are making the mortgage mess even worse" goes the title of a July 7th letter to the editor of Delaware Online by Linda A. Moffett, a Realtor from Newark. In it Linda charged the Feds with forcing mortgage lenders to deal "with such ridiculous government-imposed regulations that it is becoming more and more difficult to settle on time, if at all... Banks laid off the majority of their mortgage department staff and hired temps with little or no real estate knowledge to get through the overabundance of refinances and short sales."
"Obama mortgage plan needs work" proclaimed the title of another article on CNN Money the next day. Apparently, many borrowers were asking, "Mr. President, help us get one of your mortgage workouts now." Nearly five months after President Obama unveiled his housing rescue plan it was still beset with problems, said borrowers, housing counselors and even the president himself: "Loan servicers are overwhelmed by the numbers of homeowners applying for loan modifications or refinancing. Borrowers are frustrated that their paperwork is being lost, and calls are not returned. Administration officials are racing to roll out new features to improve the program."
Fast forward to August and things appear to only be getting even worse. The largest non-bank mortgage player and the third largest originator of Federal Housing Administration(FHA) loans in June, Taylor Bean & Whitaker was shut down quickly following the August 4th raid of their Florida headquarters by federal agents. The special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) said its agents had executed search warrants in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the inspector general for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
At that time Ginnie Mae President Joseph Murin said, "I would like to reassure TBW's customers whose loans serve as collateral for Ginnie Mae securities that, although this action will result in a new servicer, the transition will be seamless for them." I hope it really was seamless for Ginnie Mae backed mortgagees, but as my own experience shows, it has been anything but that for some of us.
My mortgage loan was serviced by Taylor Bean & Whitaker. In late July, in an effort to pay down my mortgage, I sent TB&W a regular check, which they rejected, for its amount exceeding their maximum. At the time, a TB&W customer service supervisor assured me that there was still plenty of time for me to send them a cashier’s check, which they would receive and credit to my account by August 15th. According to her, this would result in an identical amortization schedule adjustment.
Unaware of the raid or the pending change in my mortgage processor, I mailed a replacement cashier's check to TB&W on August 8th. Yesterday, I received a welcome letter dated August 18th from my new mortgage processor, Cenlar in Minnesota, informing me that my Freddie Mac mortgage loan, previously serviced by Taylor Bean and Whitaker, was transferred to Cenlar for servicing, effective August 12, 2009. The letter included new instructions for making loan payments, said that TB&W stopped accepting payments on August 11, 2009 and showed a due date for the next payment as August 1, 2009!
I created an account on Cenlar's website and sure enough, that cashier's check has still not been applied to my mortgage. Needless to say, the old TB&W phone number has been greeting callers with a busy signal (or dropping calls while on hold) for weeks now. So, I called Cenlar to find out what happened. Instead of the answer, I heard, "Due to unforeseen circumstances we are not able to service your call.”
I placed a call to Freddie Mac - they have a special set up to deal with former TB&W customers – 800-373-3343 (press 3 in response to each of the automated messages - three times in all). The lady I spoke to verified that my loan was a Freddie Mac and said that Cenlar will be able to answer my questions as soon as they start picking up their phones… soon. (Very useful - NOT!) She had no further information and was unable to tell me when "soon" may happen. I placed more calls: to Senator Michael Bennet, to the Department of the Treasury, to the FBI and even the White House. The furthest I got, of course, was talking to volunteers and receptionists...
Most mortgage loans specify the first of the month due date, but allow an interest free 15 day grace period. I am sure that most people take advantage of this "free ride" and make their payments in the first two weeks of the month. Thus, the Government’s timing in raiding and forcing a closing of Taylor Bean in the first two weeks of the month and without prior notice to TB&W’s paying customers potentially caused more problems than it solved. And what about all of those who were only days away from closing their loans with TB&W? What are they suppose to do now? Just another stupid action by government bureaucrats - so much for "seamless," so much for helping "ordinary people!"
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Not reporting my mortgage payment to credit dept.
Ever since they took over from Taylor Bean, my payment is not reported because they told me that my credit will go bad since Taylor Bean went bankruptcy. This is very strange! That's why when I pull the report I do not see my payment since Aug. 2008.
thanks,
M A Shah
08/06/10
Mortgage payments not being credited?
Let me get this straight. You have been paying for the past two years, but CENLAR is not showing any of your payments as being credited towards your mortgage? This is very strange, indeed. Who have you been sending your payments to?
CENLAR Tax Escrow SCAM!
And ANOTHER story. . .
I also had the now IN-Famous TB & W loan sold to Cenlar.
All was well for about 4 months, then after the December "Audit" of my escrow account, some brilliant mathematician calculated that my Property taxes went up by (I kid you not) 74% !! In actuality, they went DOWN by 7.4 %.
This made a $125 per month INCREASE in my payment, required with the arrival a few days later of a new payment booklet and letter sating that NO payment below the new level would be accepted!
Oh, for the love of a decimal! I called the given Customer Service ?? number and was told I needed to PROVE that the new tax amount was lower.
Excuse me? I need to prove? What happened to "The customer is always Right"? I guess that went the way of Fairness and ethics in business. So, I go to the very Public County Tax website, copy the 2010 Tax ID and Taxable Value FROM the Government page, Faxed everything in and waited. . . waited . . . and finally after 3 weeks, I called again, with a 20 minute hold, got a live person and THEY apologized, and told me all would be taken care of.
Well, NO, a new booklet was mailed out with the IN-correct amount again!
Fed up, I called a referral for a Mortgage company and did a refi (at a much lower rate) and payed the #$ !! loan off!
Now, for the final insult: I received a letter 7 days after the payoff date stating that the loan WAS paid and any funds in Escrow would be sent by separate letter. After 3 weeks - no letter! I called and was told that it would be 30 days from the date of the 1st letter before I see my
$1500.00! Why? Because they want to draw interest on MY money for free for 30 days .
WHAT a SCAM!
I'm filing a complaint ASAP with my State Attorney General.
These crooks need to be shut down!
PO'd in Minneapolis!
I feel your mortgage pain
I can only imagine the problems that would ensue due to loans being transferred to new servicers. Everybody says that things will run smoothly. I am sure that the new servicer is dealing with any influx from their existing customers requesting changes to mortgage rates. Now they have to deal with new loans with the same (if not already reduced) staff.
Cannot refinance! No Lender.
Talk about mortgage hell...I am a former TBW customer who qualifies for a Making Home Affordable Refinance according to the MHA.gov website, the HUD housing counselor, and the housing counselors on the Hope for Homeowners hotline. I am serviced by Cenlar. Cenlar cannot refinance, so they referred me to US Bank and Fifth-Third Bank. Neither of these banks will take me (although I meet their credit score and other refinance guidelines) because the value of my home is 190,000 and I owe 206,000. Even though this is well within the MHA guidelines of "no more than 125%" Chase, BofA and other banks refuse to accept me because I am not their mortgage. MHA refers me to my original lender, well, as you all know, I don't have one. HUD states that all TBW customers were handed over to BofA, not true. I am part of that unknown multitude of people who currently have a mortgage not held by anyone. Great.
Anyone else with this experience?
The Making Home Affordable Program
You do have a lender. It is the company that services your loan and courtesy of the federal government it is CENLAR. CENLAR does not originate loans and no other lender would take on somebody else's troubled loan. Why would they want to do that to their business?!! Lenders only do what makes "good business" sense for them to do. They only restructure bad loans that they hope to save.
Despite all the misleading media coverage and the popular spin put on it by government officials, Making Home Affordable program simply providers lenders financial assists to do what is in their best interest to do any way. Thus, it is just another government program that helps some financial institutions at a considerable cost to taxpayers.
Just because someone's loan qualifies for the MHA program, doesn't mean that they can or will get in on the deal. After all, the program comes from the government, but the money comes from private lenders. So, it still takes a willing lender to restructure your loan. When the government announced MHA program almost a year ago, it expected that 4-5 million people would benefit. But, as of the latest government press release, dated 1/19/10, only 110,000 have been approved for permanent modifications - how predictable!
Just this past weekend the chairman of the committee on Oversight and Government Reform opened an investigation into the Treasury’s mortgage modification efforts to supposedly speed the process along and see what has gone wrong. In reality, it is just another great way that the government wastes taxpayer money. They get paid twice - first, to create problems and then try to solve them.
CENLAR mortgage transfered to a new company
I just got a letter from CENLAR stating that they will no longer be handling my mortgage! I can't get in touch with anyone either and have 2 payments that are outstanding. Because they were never deducted from my account, the money to cover them is now gone (i know, my fault for not keeping my check register current). When I buy a home, I choose the lender - I have no control now and this really bothers me.
TBW and CENLAR automatic draft screwup
I'm glad I'm not the only one who got worked over by these people. I had an automatic bi saver draft, which I was assured by both TBW and Cenlar would continue. 2 months out I was asked to send payments in directly, and a coupon book was sent to me with the appropriate dates. Fine. I made the payments till June, when I tried to get a refinance from a New Hampshire lender at a lower rate, only to be turned down because -- wait for it now -- the automatic payments I had been assured by both lenders would be continuing during the switchover were not taken out. I was therefore 2 months in arrears, and the "coupon book" I was sent never reflected that as well. Should I have been paying more attention? Yes, but I'm not a great bookkeeper, which is why I go for the auto draft whenever possible. I am totally disgusted and now applying for a home loan modification.
CENLAR escrow did not pay my HO insurance
CENLAR escrowed for my homeowner's insurance, but did not pay it by the due date of 12/21/09. I paid myself and on 1/5/09 FAXed the following letter to their escrow department (609-718-4622), requesting (among other things) that they stop escrowing. To date, I have not received their response. I will post it in a reply if and when I receive it.
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I am requesting that you immediately stop collecting escrow on the above referenced loan, close the escrow account, and credit the escrow balance amount, including interest at the same 5.75% rate of the underlying mortgage note to my current balance due.
An escrow agent has the fiduciary duty to pay bills that they escrow for in a timely manner. CENLAR has violated that duty by failing to pay my homeowner’s insurance bill, which was due on December 21, 2009.
My insurance company, Traveler’s, updated their records and sent you the bill on November 19th, 2009. By chance, I noticed that the bill was still not paid by the weekend, and called CENLAR on December 28, 2009.
A CENLAR agent told me that CENLAR had the correct insurer information on file, but that the amount of payment was not in the records. I gave the agent the amount of the bill and was assured that the payment would be expedited and processed by the end of the year. I asked to be transferred to a manager for additional reassurance, but after 45 minutes on hold, my call was dropped.
To make sure that it was taken care of and the payment credited in 2009, I paid the insurance bill myself on December 28th. When I called to inquire on the payment status today, I was told that that payment had still not been made. I informed the agent that I had already paid that bill and asked that the payment to my insurance company be stopped. I also made the verbal request to close the escrow account, but was told to write this letter.
CENLAR has violated a fiduciary duty by failing to use the escrow money they collected in accordance with the terms of the escrow. By violating the terms of this escrow agreement, CENLAR has effectively terminated it already.
I am now asking CENLAR to do the right thing and to immediately stop collecting any additional escrow payments on the above referenced loan and close the escrow account. Furthermore, to avoid potential legal problems, CENLAR must admit their mistake and credit the escrow balance amount, including interest at the same 5.75% rate of the underlying mortgage note to my current balance due.
Call CENLAR's CEO
Just spoke to a representative at CENLAR again - a week after sending in the FAX to their escrow department. Apparently, they have not yet made a decision on my escrow request. The lady I talked to told me that she is getting 4-5 calls from former TB&W customers with escrow related issues like this.
My understanding is that in collecting escrow funds, CENLAR is acting as an escrow agent and thus has a fiduciary duty to disburse funds in the escrow account according to the agreement. If you have an issue with CENLAR collecting escrow and not paying your taxes and/or insurance on time, you may want to go directly to Greg Tornquist, CENLAR's CEO and let him know how you intend to deal with his company's failure to disburse funds in violation of the escrow agreement.
You can reach his office by calling 609-883-3900 and speaking his name at the prompt. You will, of course, not get Greg directly, but the gatekeeper - his assistant will take a message and give it to Greg. She also told me that I would get a call back from the head of their customer service department. We will see.
Unless CENLAR fully resolves my complaint internally by this Friday, I first plan to file their home state - New Jersey Department of Consumer Affairs complaint form: http://www.nj.gov/oag/ca/ocp/ocpform2.htm . I then will probably also file a similar form with Colorado - my home state, as well as with the Federal Trade Commission. And if none of that helps, there are probably some class action attorneys that would be interested in taking on CENLAR, as well.
CENLAR's response to escrow mistake
I got a call from Robert ("Bobby") McNamara (609-883-3900 x2062) on Wednesday evening. (No, not JFK's Secretary of Defense, that Robert passed away last year.) Bobby is apparently the head of CENLAR's customer service. He told me that the reason CENLAR did not pay my homeowner's insurance was because my mortgage was not properly notated as homeowners insurance escrowing, upon transfer from Taylor Bean and Whittaker to CENLAR.
Bobby approved my request to cancel my loan's escrow requirement and told me that he would check into making an adjustment for interest that would not have accrued, if the extra escrow amounts would have been applied to principal repayment. This Friday morning we spoke again and Bobby informed me that CENLAR would send me a check for $1.69 to make up for the extra interest I paid. His calculation appears to be incorrect.
According to the joint TB&W and CENLAR announcement, CENLAR took over my mortgage loan on August 12th, 2009. Apparently, that's when the mistake in escrow designation was also made. For this reason, Bobby thinks that CENLAR only owes me interest on five months of escrow over-collections. That's one way to look at it, but even under such favorable for CENLAR assumptions, I calculated much different interest difference.
CENLAR collected escrow amounts based on Taylor Bean and Whittaker's annual recalculations dated July 8th, 2009, with an effective date of September 1st, 2009. When CENLAR took over in August, my escrow balance of $364.20 was transferred to them. Add to that an additional $170.20 in escrow funds that were taken from my August payment, which TB&W endorsed to CENLAR and we arrive at $534.40 initial escrow balance.
Starting in September, CENLAR began collecting an additional $24.01 ($194.21 total escrow payment) per month. This was based on HO insurance payout expectation of $1001 in December, as well as February and May County Tax payout obligations of $512.82 each. Yet, by Bobby's own admission, CENLAR never expected to have to pay my homeowner's insurance!
Had CENLAR properly reconciled their escrow documents, they would have seen a $329.26 overage (above the 2 month reserve allowed by most state laws) in my escrow account, which they would have been obligated to refund at that point. Had they done this, the new monthly escrow payment amount would have also been reduced by $67.63, rather than being increased by $24.01 ($102.57 new total escrow payment) per month. See Account Projection Detail table, below.
Based on this, I calculated the decrease in interest I would have paid CENLAR, had they credited the additional escrow amounts ($329.26 in August and $91.64 monthly after that) towards principal. Five months of compounded interest at 5.75% (my mortgage rate) on $329.26 works out to $7.96 = $329.26*((1+0.0575/12)^5-1), while the interest on a stream of four extra monthly payments of $91.64 works out to $4.41 = $91.64*(((1+0.0575/12)^4-1)/(0.0575/12)*(1+0.0575/12)-4). That's a total of $12.38 that I would be owed, using favorable assumptions that only credit me for interest during the time CENLAR held my loan.
If after reading this you are wondering why I bothered wasting so much time to make a big stink over a little over $10 difference in interest - well, it's a matter of principal! Besides, if CENLAR made the same mistake with the many thousands of other former TB&W mortgages they assumed, this could add up to quite a sum...
CENLAR refuses to make good on their escrow mistake
Bobby McNamara called me back on Thursday afternoon to let me know that "as a courtesy" they will pay me interest on the homeowner's insurance escrow amount ($83.42 / month) they collected for the five months they serviced my mortgage (that's $6.03 according to my calculations), but not on the rest of it - not for the escrow overage or the extra amount they collected to cover a non-existing shortage. He justified this by saying that they were not responsible for the annual escrow calculations, as these were performed by Taylor Bean and Whitaker prior to CENLAR taking over the mortgage loan and CENLAR was under no obligation to recalculate these, unless I requested them to do so.
Of course, I could not have possibly known that CENLAR made the escrow coding mistake until somebody at CENLAR told me about it and if they had not made the mistake, no escrow recalculation would have been necessary. CENLAR would have simply used the money they collected from me to pay my homeowner's insurance on time and that would have been it. Their mistake and their failure to correct it in a timely manner caused me to pay my insurance company directly. I did this to mitigate potential damages, such as late fees and losses resulting from lapsed insurance coverage.
I made a very reasonable request that CENLAR cover my minimal damages, equivalent to the $12.38 in interest I would have saved, had they credited my payments towards principal, instead of keeping them in an escrow that they had no intention of disbursing. I did not ask CENLAR to pay for my time dealing with this issue, for the emotional distress it caused me, or anything else. Yet Bobby refused to make good. He told me that if I had other documented damages resulting from their escrow mistake, such as late fees, they would cover them, but that mine was not a damage CENLAR recognized. I wonder what song Bobby would be singing if my house burned down, while CENLAR had my insurance coverage lapsed?!!
Time to file a complaint with state authorities, I guess...
CENLAR finally relents
My last attempt (prior to filing a complaint) to get the escrow interest issue resolved appears to have succeeded. I emailed the above post to Greg Tornquist, CENLAR CEO last Friday and today (Tuesday) I received a voice-mail and an email response from Deborah Werline, Quality Coordinator Customer Interaction at CENLAR stating: "As you have requested, a check in the amount of $12.38 will be mailed to you within three business days." I am glad that this issue will finally be closed.
Customer Service for Cenlar is AWFUL!!
I called the 800 number listed on the above mentioned letter, you know, the one dated on August 18, for a change which took place August 12, which effectively lost payments awaiting posting... oblivious to the idiosyncrisies of government bureaucracy, due on August 1. I am incredibly frustrated that Cenlar thought it effective to allow an overseas (sounds like India) customer service firm to deal with such a sensitive and complicated situation. The barely understandable customer service staff only answer a handful of questions regardless of the questions asked. I am fed up and ready to switch my mortgage to a firm with understandable customer service. No wonder our job market is failing, everything is given overseas despite the inadequacies it causes.
Still Waiting on TB&W to credit a mortgage payment
I made a EBT payment to TB&W on the 11th of August. As of today 10/23 I still have not had it posted on my account.
Maybe there isn't hope. Maybe I was just swindled for 1500 bucks.
TB&W Mortgage
we have a mortgage with TB&W for about a year. it has been nothing but trouble. you cannot really reach anybody that is responsible. where is our government, when we need them?
Taylor Bean & Whit/Equity Accelerator - funds frozen
I love India, but I just had the most retched call to CENLAR with one of the Indian Call Centers. I sat on the phone for 5 minutes while the associate rambled on and on but I could barely hear him -- I was screaming in to the phone and he just kept talking! When he finally heard me, the connection was clearer but He spoke so fast yet could not get a grasp on WHAT my loan number was (this was repeated FIVE times). On top of it all, I have $5000 of my mortgage payments taken from my acct., frozen by the FBI of as I was participating in the Equity Accelerator Program - this is due to TBW issues. So, on top of it all, I have NO idea when my $5000 will be submitted to CENLAR!! Want to call the FBI to complain but then again, who wants to be on the bad side of the FEEBS! Talk about frustrating!
CENLAR call center is in India
CENLAR CALL CENTER IS IN INDIA.........
BEWARE.............This is a mess!! Former TB&W customer w/o any problems until now. My august payment is still lost, went on to website for CENLAR, made payment and it automicatlly took out 2......been on hold for almost 2 hours, and have been informed they have over 270,000 loans, wouldn't it be nice to have that business here in the USA!!
Taylor, Bean and Whitaker
I am curious has any one had the problem of Taylor, Bean and Whitaker not paying their Home Owner's Insurance (Hazard Ins)?
TB&W-UNPAID HO INSURANCE BILL
To respond-I just received notification in the mail that TB&W did not pay my HO Insurance Premium and I have an impound account. NICE HUH?
Ho?
Did you just said unpaid ho? Lol
CENLAR will wave late fees for 60 days
CENLAR will not be assessing late fees for payments that were not credited on time, but were received by TB&W within 60 days following the transition. October 9 sounds like the deadline for that.
P.S. It turns out that CENLAR is actually based out of Ewing, New Jersey and Eagan, Minnesota address is only for general inquiries.
What is CENLAR's phone number?
What is the customer service number? All I'm able to find is fax numbers.
Cenlar - FED UP
I spoke to someone in New Jersey who was at least understanding the words I was speaking. 609-883-3900. 0 for operator. Ask for customer service.
CENLAR's customer service
As I have mentioned in a previous reply, I was able to reach them at 1-800-223-6527. Good luck!
Cenlar Updates TB&W Accounts
I was able to reach CENLAR (Central Loan Administration & Reporting) this morning at a different phone number than was provided in their letter - 800-223-6527. (There is a separate option set up there for former Taylor Bean customers.) After a 30 minute hold, an agent told me that they did apply my August payment.
I logged in to their website to verify and sure enough it was credited on Friday. I checked the principal amount due and the amortization schedule online as well - even though they did not back date payment receipt to before the fifteenth of the month, they charged no late fees and did not charge extra interest. There is also a message online that they intend to have all TB&W transferred records up to date by September 1. So, if your August payment has not been applied yet, there is still hope.
CENLAR 's TB&W takeover date
The new date was December 12, but the FDIC is still releasing payments.
CENLAR takeover of Taylor, Bean and Whitaker mortgages
THANKS!!!! I have been trying to reach them for WEEKS now. This whole issue has been a mess!!!!
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