You buy a home with an FHA loan. Every month, you pay not only your principle, but PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance), and property taxes. When property tax time comes around, the mortgage company takes the money you’ve been paying every month out of the escrow account and pays your taxes.
When you refinance a home, you still have to pay the taxes with your new mortgage company. We did this recently (more about my refinance next week). We paid almost a full year of property taxes with our new mortgage company, Bank of America. And we had a refund of almost the same amount due us from our old mortgage company, Taylor, Bean, and Whitaker.
Last week we received our refund. I deposited it into the bank. The bank held it for a few days and then made the funds available, so I transferred money to our ING Savings account. This morning I woke up to an overdrafted checking account to the tune of $880.00. What happened?
The Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker Check Bounced
Apparently, the feds raided Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker on August 5th, a couple of weeks after our refinance closed. They filed bankruptcy on August 24th. Which leads to the question…what happens to the escrow money?
The very purpose of escrow is to keep funds safe, so they can be used for a specific purpose. In this case, the funds were to be used to pay property taxes. But since we refinanced with a different bank, and we paid property taxes into a new escrow account, the money should have been returned to us. And it should have been no problem, because the point of escrow is to hold money. The money should have been there.
So what happened to the money?
Colonial Bank is Shut Down by the Feds
Apparently Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker used Colonial Bank frequently. Mortgage payments were deposited there. Employees were paid from Colonial Bank. Sometimes from the same account as the mortgages were deposited into, according to NBC 11.
That doesn’t reassure me that my money and that of many other Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker customers was kept safe.
So the question remains: What happened to the money?
Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker’s Answer
I called Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker to find out what was going on. After being on hold for an hour, I finally got through to Ramona. Yes, she assured me, they were aware that checks were bouncing. The reason was that the bank they used had ceased and desisted. (Colonial Bank, perhaps?) But they are going to reissue checks from a new bank, I was assured. My new check should arrive in “a few weeks.”
So I asked the obvious question. “How long is a few weeks? Three? Six?” She told me two. I’m not holding my breath, but I’ll let you know if the check gets here…and doesn’t bounce.
So what is the fallout? And what happens to the consumers in the meanwhile?
The Consumers are Left Holding the Bag
I can’t speak for everyone, but I can tell you what life is like for us. First of all, we had 8 transactions bounce in our checking account with Chase this morning. Chase charges $25 for each failed transaction, for a total of $200. But they only charge for the first 6 transactions, I’m told, so the total is $150.
Chase told me they’d give me a one time courtesy credit of $70, which is the maximum they could give me. So I’m out $80. Fortunately payday is tomorrow, so we’ll be in the black again. Barely. My husband’s paycheck will be about enough to cover what we owe at this point, so we won’t be spending any money for the next few days at least. Fortunately we don’t have any bills due, and our pantry and freezer are stocked, so we’re fine. I think we have enough gas in our cars, too.
Since I had just moved the money over to ING, I couldn’t transfer it right back. We had a little extra in ING that should hit our bank account on Tuesday, so by then we should be OK.
I truly feel for those who don’t have an emergency fund at all and for those whose paydays are not tomorrow. As I was researching this morning, it seems that consumers with their taxes still held at Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker are unsure their property taxes will be paid at all.
It Makes Me Angry
Thousands of families in the United States work hard. We do the best we can to manage our money. We don’t bounce checks, even when money is tight. And when our money is put into an escrow account, we trust that it will be kept safe. And when a financial institution issues a check, we expect that it is good.
And in one moment, when a financial institution hasn’t performed ethically, and a bank is shut down, and a lender declares bankruptcy, the lives of hundreds of consumers are turned upside down. We’re left without our money, that we worked hard to earn. We’re left with overdraft fees to pay. Fees that are not our fault. We’re left wondering whether we’ll need to come up with another $1500 by November, so our property taxes will be paid.
We have to cut through the red tape. We waste an hour of our morning on the phone, just to find out where the money went. We wonder whether this is in any way covered by the FDIC. We wonder if the check we’ve been promised will indeed show up in the mail. And if it does, we wonder if it will bounce again.
I’m glad we’re going to be OK. We’re tight, and the next couple of months will probably be rough, but I know we’ll survive this. But I also know there are families out there devastated by this. Families who will be reeling from this bank failure for months to come. And my heart goes out to them.
Photo by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com.
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That is horrible. I am so glad you have your emergency account. Make sure someone in government hears about this with a certified letter. Maybe to your senator?
This is tragic, and the induced stress is horrible. Yet, it is just one of the symptoms of our current climate — especially in the financial institution industry.
I have no advice for someone caught in the middle of such a situation; however, I can give words of wisdom to folks for prevention:
1) Research, research, research. Before any major purchase or investment, thoroughly research the financial statements of involved companies. SEC reports require backing, etc. If that’s not your realm of expertise, seek out someone who can help you interpret the financial statements.
2) In addition to step #1, read the analysts’ reports for that company. The analysts are pains in the keister to those of us involved in reporting, but many are good and do dig through the blue skies to understand the company’s future outlook.
3) PMI (it is PRIVATE mortgage insurance — not PRIMARY mortgage insurance) is best avoided. It is only required when a loan recipient cannot make a reasonable downpayment. It adds several hundred dollars to the monthly payment — for nothing. It only serves to protect the bank if you default. It will not help you if you fall short due to lay-off, etc. WAIT until you have saved enough to make a down-payment sufficient to not require PMI.
Ooops! You’re right! Private mortgage insurance. Was multitasking with school & blogging today. I’ll go edit that.
Wow, that makes me glad that we chose to waive escrow and pay our own taxes and insurance. You can do this once you have 20% paid on your mortgage. We did have to pay a fee to do this but our tax and insurance money sits in a savings account all year earning interest for us instead of the bank earning off our money.
I contacted TBW again about my escrow account. They said that their is money in their bank accounts to pay but the FDIC froze the accounts. I am missing about 2,000 dollars. She urged me to contact my congressman, state reps and the FDIC itself. They couldn’t tell me when our money would be available. I asked “are we looking at week, months, years?” and she said she didn’t know but they have been in contact with the FDIC everyday and there is no information. I will be calling the FDIC tomorrow, and I called my congressman today. We need to take action to get our money back or who knows how long they will hold it.
FDIC Call Center: 1-877-275-3342
(1-877-ASKFDIC)
8:00 am – 8:00 pm ET; Monday-Friday
9:00 am – 5:00 pm ET; Saturday-Sunday
Thanks for the info, Megan! I will do the same.
Just wanted to say I am OUTRAGED on your behalf. I hope this comes together in a favorable way soon.
Whoa… that SUCKS. A girl I work with had her mtg with TB & W and recently learned they are done and over with. She was happy because they were HORRIBLE. I am so sorry to hear of this situation, Lynnae. This makes me glad when we refinanced that we didn’t have the option to escrow. I hope they get the check to you sooner than that. Also, if you call back to the bank they may be willing to take more charges off. Maybe ask for a district manager to see if they can help.
Megan,
The exact same thing happen to me. I refinance in late July and received my escrow check from Taylor Bean in late August and deposited it. Paid some credit cards and dissolved my escrow in other accounts. My new mortgage from SunTrust was due Sept 1st which I paid on time. On 8/31 Wachovia pulled the funds out of my account and charges me a return check fee. My first mortgage payment from SunTrust hit my account yesterday and what do you know…NSF.
Wachovia gave me back $18 of the NSF but said they couldnt give it all back because it wasnt their bank error. After speaking with SunTrust they agreed any NSF fees would be removed.
After waiting on hold with TB for an hour with some god awful hold music that was all jumbled they told me the exact same thing. They said I would receive my new check in a couple of weeks.
Megan – let me know what happens with your situation and I will do the same. I will check and update my deal on this site as often as I can.
Oh yeah…I did ask what other bank was assisting them in correcting this problem and they simple told me…”that is not public knowledge”
I think we should ask OOObama for some of that stimulus money that was supposed to be giving to banks so this type stuff wouldn’t happen.
I will keep you updated as well.
David, I don’t know what bank is assisting them in correcting the problem, but after talking with the FDIC this morning and also with Chase, I know that the bank that issued my check was Platinum Community Bank…which got a cease & desist order on August 21. I’ll post more as I find out.
Thank you for sharing this information, Lynne. My mortgage was with T,B &W, too. I need to call the county tax office to make sure my property taxes were paid in august. My online account with the new company shows that the taxes were paid on the 18th. I sure hope they were.
This is why emergency funds are soooooo necessary! In our case, one month our mortgage company billed us twice, the second time was just a correction. However, we have it on automatic bill pay and so both sums were taken out! Talk about ouch! Fortunately, we did have enough in the emergency fund to cover it. In fact, we have a baby emergency fund in our checking account that is enough to cover our highest bill (i.e. the mortgage) and then a bit extra. So, we didn’t even have things bounce! And it was straightened out fairly quickly, but I’m sure that had we not had the money we would have been in real trouble!
I also had Taylor Bean and Whitaker mortgage. I have just discovered that Bank of America took over my account. The problem that I am having is Taylor Bean and whitaker cashed my August 1st mortgage check but NEVER posted it to the account so now I have Bank of America trying to collect for the August payment. Per Bank of America I had to get proof of my pymt and fax it to them so they could note it on my account but that would not stop their collection dept from harassing me every night for this pymt. I was told that I have to get this straightened out with Taylor Bean. Any suggestions?
Michelle in Illinois
Your post definitely reinforces the importance of an emergency fund. I’m really sorry that you got caught in the middle and definitely agree that it is the consumer that is hurt in situations like this – I’d be outraged if my checks bounced due to a bank failure and I was left with the overdraft fees. In fact, my bank just failed on August 21 (Guaranty Bank based in Texas with branches throughout the Southwest) but fortunately BBVA took over and honored all outstanding checks. Keeping fingers crossed for you that your money gets to you soon. (Oh, and I didn’t say – I’m a long time reader, first time poster – really enjoy your blog!)
Did u read that a bankruptcy judge in Florida will be deciding. Who gets control of the frozen escrow funds. It will be the FDIC or TBW. Personally I’m rooting for TBW. I got a call frrom the FDIC about my constrction loan with TBW and althiugh my loan was almost finished funding they tried to make me believe I needed a new loan. They broke up my bank. They are supposed to place my loan I don’t trust them.
i am rooting for TBW also, Freddie Mac sold my loan to Cenlar which I sat on hold for 4 hours and 23 minutes to never get to speak to anyone. What a joke? I thought TBW was great and I always paid on line on the 14th every month. I still have not seen any evidence of what Taylor Bean did wrong, I hope the judge lets Taylor Bean dispurse my money, and not the FDIC.
This is disgraceful that this still goes on in this day and age . . .
This is crazy.
And it’s absolutely lame that Chase didn’t really help you (wait, what? You can’t undo your own charges?). That’s horrible customer support.
~Luke
This is ridiculous! Can you put them on the hook for the overdraft charges? After all, if their check had been good you wouldn’t have incurred those charges.
TBW told me that the “new bank” will be covering those charges but they didn’t suggest how to request the money because they didn’t know.
Michelle, I’m not an expert by any means, but I was reading up on TBW last night, and from what I’ve read, BofA will credit you the money without any fees. That doesn’t help with the collection dept. though. From what I read, BofA’s position is that you should ignore the calls. It would be nice if they got the callers off your back, though.
David, there’s no doubt in my mind that TBW should pay the fees. However, I have my doubts that they have enough money to cover all the overdraft fees for all the people they bounced checks to. Not to mention the late property tax fees for property taxes that weren’t paid.
And here’s the morning update for my situation. Instead of only charging me the overdraft fee for 6 transactions like the Chase rep said, they charged me for the full 8, making the total $200. And so far there has not been a credit for any of the charges on my account. I guess I’ll be calling Chase again today. Or maybe I’ll drop by the local bank. With the kids.
Why should TBW pay the bounced check fees, let Colonial and the FDIC they froze the accounts and will not allow the money to be released. Complain to your local congressman or the FDIC, this is their decisions that caused all this mess in the first place. All I can see is that TBW did not file their audited financials on time, seems harsh punishment to me. Has everyone filed last years tax returns?
maybe it would be a good thing for you to send a link to your blog to the highest manager you can get an email address for in CHase and let them see what kind of publicity they are getting in this fiasco:>)
I paid my mortgage bi-weekly through TBW Equity Accelerator Program. They took my September payment out of my banking account last month. I was told by CENLAR my new servicing company that my September payment is due by the 12th. I try explaining to them that my September payment was frozen by the FDIC and was told sorry but I have to make the payment
Jackie, everything I’ve read suggests that Cenlar is required to give you a 60 day grace period while they sort this out. I don’t know that for sure, but I’ve read it on a lot of different news sites, so I’m inclined to believe it.
That doesn’t stop Cenlar from being jerks about it though.
The exact same thing happened to me, Equity Accelerator took half of our September payment in August, but didn’t make the September payment! When I called Cenlar they said they’d never heard of that happening but to call Equity Accelerator to see if they knew when funds would be unfrozen. I called FDIC and all they told me was that they will call me when they have a solution. Who knows how long it will be, but probably longer than the 60 days knowing the government and Equity Accelerator is holding $395 of MY money and who knows if I’ll ever get it back. Screw you FDIC, Equity Accelerator and TB&W!!
I am also in the same boat as the original post! My situation is also compounded due to my move to AL from UT. I am left with a dilema of trying to recover the $$ lost from TB&W what is the process to try and recover our lost$$?
Wow was reading over your story, and just realized that the bank had went under. You’re right bad times right now, and I’m sure many are devastated daily from this kind of stuff.
I received a property tax refund check from TB&W in late August, deposited it to my credit union savings account a few days later, and it bounced x2…each with a $9.00 overdraft charge. Yes, fortunately it was in my savings account and the OD charges were only $18, but I still want my money. Thanks for this info, Lynnae.
Keep us posted all, i am in the same boat but happy to report this has only cost me 10$ so far on nsf fees. I had a feeling that check (escrow refund after a refi) wasn’t going to clear. So now i have to wait for my 2k (don’t have a great fealing on this). Lucky me, i refi’d my TB&W mortgage and my broker put me back with them :(
Ours bounced too. It was about two weeks ago. We had not received our coupon for our payment from TBW so we went online but we were unable to access the account. Something seemed fishy then. About a week and a half later the escrow check showed up (we put it in savings–there aren’t any “Platinum Banks” that we could cash it at unfortunately–so we stuck it in savings–nervously). The kicker for us is we had started paying extra on our interest in July–and our payment was cashed but not applied to our account. We know now that BOA has taken over our mortgage–and have already started with the collection calls. Boy I feel a class action coming down the pipe–thinking about calling O’Reilly myself.
I agree with the class action lawsuit. I am not a lawsuit-happy person, however if I lost money through check bouncing fees at the fault of the bank, I would certainly be raising hell and talking to a lawyer.
Haven’t had this situation BUT a similar and common one perhaps. We leased an office for 7 years. According to our rental agreement, we were owed the deposit we’d made within 30 days of the last day on the lease. 55 days later, we still hadn’t received the deposit which LEGALLY was owed to us. I went to the property managers’ office who said “they’d mailed it”. (I know they didn’t. They had never responded us when we’d asked to renew our lease 4 years in.) In any event, I decided to use the “big guns.” I took my 4 and 6 year old boys with me to the property management office and sat in their lobby waiting for SOMEONE who could give me an answer while my boys terrorized their office, their hallway and disrupted the employees in the office. The employees were slightly concerned when the boys started pounding on the interior glass and I also apologized profusely to them for irritating their office neighbors because the boys made so much noise running up and down the hallway. (Usually I am very strict with them but I figured I wanted them not to want me there again!) In any event, on day 57, we finally received our check but this was only after multiple phone calls, faxes and in-person visits. My guess is that they’d used our deposit for other purposes and didn’t have it on hand. Sounds sort of like your situation in the end, doesn’t it?!
UPDATE: I just spoke with a rep from TBW (30 mins on hold). Was informed, as were many of you, that I would receive a replacement check within a couple of weeks. I inquired about the NSF fees I incurred and was told there would be instructions for reimbursement of these fees attached to the replacement refund check. I was assured the NSF fees would get reimbursed. Whether I will or won’t remains to be seen, but wanted to pass on this info to others. Good luck…
Hi All,
I had to pay my own taxed as TBW informed me my escrow account was frozen. I told them at this point they would be late (since they were suppose to pay them on the 1st) and who was going to pay the 12% penalty (yes 12%) They told me they would if “i was still a TBW customer when the escrows were unfrozen” Which means nothing to me as once those funds are unfrozen I doubt any of us will still be with TBW by that point . This is such a nightmare, I am one of hte unlucky peopl ewho are still stuck with TBW and hasnt gotten a new lender…is anyone else in the same boat?
My TBW check bounced too. My bank took the money out of my account. TBW are a bunch of crooks. I hope I get a check reissued dammit.
I also received a escrow check and it also bounced, Bank calls wanting there money back and I returned it. Telling them it was’nt my fault and that I would check into it. Ive called twice to TBW once last week for them to tell me that it will be 30 to 45 days til a new check will be processed, Then called today which this person told me that all funds are frozen and until they come unfrozen that they cannot do nothing..
There is power in numbers. We should all get together and do something about this. Someone has to punish the corrupt.
call the FDIC and complain they froze the accounts and caused all this mess!! If enough people will call maybe we can get something done, TBW hands are tied! Your only hope is to contact your government!!
I thought about pitching this story to a major news organization…
Lynnae, you should. I tried my local station but I guess they didn’t want it. I want my freakin money before I have to come up with it out of pocket!
My $3500 check from TB&W bounced! Who’s really to blame? Bad business practices of TB&W? How about the feds for freezing funds and refusing them to restructure with a chapter 13? I’ve left messages with my Senator (Orin Hatch), Congressman (Rob Bishop), FDIC, Freddie Mac, and local news guys. The only one to called back, the news guys! Actually, my credit union did call back and reverse the bounced check fee (thanks Deseret First CU). Situations like this make me question the system (ie: feds) competence in management of um….uh…..healthcare or anything else for that matter. Anyway, the truth is that no one seems to care…..it seems that we are out our money!
i am in agreement with you, seems TBW hands are tied, I have read every article and can’t see where anything other than not filing audited finacials on time. I call the FDIC and Freddie Mac on a daily basis to no avail. They don’t care they are to busy shutting down banks and nationalizing the banking industry!!
lynnae you should pitch this to mainstream media! if it winds up in a real newpspaper or on one of the major nightly news we may finally get the FDIC to unfreeze those funds so we can get our money!
Yes, this happened to me as well. Woke up to my checking account being $1200 less than what it was the day before because my TB&W escrow check bounced.
We do have some funds for a rainy day, but this is heart breaking to us–a normal, average, hard-working American family.
Me too. This morning I found that I’m in the negative because the $1082 is returned insufficient funds. If anyone manages to get this worked out, let us know.
I’m currently on hold with the criminals, but I don’t expect a positive outcome. They sent a rubber check for overpayed property taxes as well. Lets hope the CEO’s unemployment check bounces too.
I talked to them again this afternoon. According to TBW, their accounts are still frozen. There’s some court battle going on between TBW and the feds to release the funds. I think the battle has to do with who will gain control of the funds and be responsible for the disbursement.
The lady I talked to assured me that the money was there, and we will get good checks when the funds are released. Unfortunately nobody knows when that is. And she said she couldn’t promise that anyone would be reimbursed for fees that were incurred because of the bad checks.
Not that I’ll believe it until I see it, but that’s the latest I’ve heard.
Has anyone contacted the FDIC? I contacted them through email. I was told to take this to the FTC. Seems it should be in their jurisdiction if they have control of the funds. I also contacted Taylor, Bean, and Whitaker on multiple occasions and asked for them to update my account online to show that the escrow was not paid in full since I got a bounced check for $1800.00.
I am glad that I was able to refinance. The payoff from my new lender to TBW was a week before the raid.
I have contacted the FDIC twice. Both times I was told I would get a call back, and I’m still waiting.
I also called the FDIC about this yesterday, and my funds aren’t even from TBW. The funds they are holding is my money paid to Equity Accelerator to pay my mortgage. Can’t they just give it back to me?
I registered a complaint with the Florida Dept of Fiancial Regulation at first they said they would not help me because I am out of state, but my states AG’s office called them due to the fact that mortgages are not regulated in the state of RI. We shall see if they can do anything. I am also filing a Proof of Claim with the bankruptcy court, it will perserve the possibility of getting paid on the escrow funds they have held hostage that I may never see again. I would urge everyone else who has had a bounced check or an unpaid tax or insurance bill to do the same. you can find the form online
Thanks for the information. I will be filing, too.
I also copied the FHA on an email I sent to TBW, and have not heard back from them either.
FDIC won’t do anything. I called ‘em. Tell CNN. We all have to sit and wait until these checks arrive.
Same happened with me. Refinanced in July with TBW and I received my escrow check for $700 last Monday. It bounced on Friday. What a joke! Did my own digging to find out that B of A now has my loan. I doubt we will ever see that money. I know money is tight but do everything you can have that emergency fund. Makes me wonder what I would do if it had been my employer that went under. Lost wages for 2 weeks! They say 90% of Americans are 1 paycheck away from bankruptcy. Scary, scary thought.
Things just got more complicated! I received a call from staff at my Senator’s office. It seems there is a bankruptcy hearing for TB&W on Friday. We have entered a new era of “who is responsible” for our money. Be careful what you believe from TB&W, they are interested in their own welfare, not necessarily yours. If they were completely innocent in all of this, then why would they have filed for bankruptcy before the feds seized their assets? Also, it seems there are criminal allegations rumored against TB&W. I was told it would be 3 to 4 weeks before I would get my money, last week, and again this week. I imagine we will be told 3 to 4 more weeks, next month!
Taylor Bean bounced my escrow refund as well. Hope the Judge in the Bankruptcy hearing today allows the funds to be released. I was out $270 in my bank fees for the bounce which they graciously wrote off.
Tracy, the Equity Accelerator folks refunded my August deductions so I could pay my September mortgage to my new company directly. Their number is 866-520-4554. FDIC put a hold on any deductions so you are responsible for your own payment until this is resolved. Equity would no longer deduct until FDIC gives OK
Randy -
I’m on the phone right now with Equity Accelerator…I have no idea how you got your money back, but they won’t give it to me because the FDIC has it frozen still. I realize I’m responsible for my own payment, but I can’t make my payment because 1/2 of it is being held in this account until further notice. This is after I called the FDIC earlier this afternoon and they told me they came to a resolution yesterday and I should be able to have my money back. Everytime I call someone I get a different answer! So frustrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I told them this is MY MONEY that was deducted and it does not belong to TBW or the FDIC and it has nothing to do with either party nor will it go to TBW as they are no longer my servicer
Yeah, I told them that too, but they obviously only did this for you, because they’re not giving it up…after I’ve called them about 10 times! Do you know who you talked to? Because I’d really like to know how you got your money back…did you yell at them? I was told earlier when I called the FDIC yet AGAIN that they are working on a solution and the goal is to have the money back to us by the time the 60 day grace period is up for new loan servicing.
I am in the same situation as you – enrolled in Equity Accelerator program, but have a mortgage with a lender other than TBW. I was told by EA that TBW was the sponser of the progam and the custodian of the account and, since their funds were frozen, I can’t get the money that was withdrawn from my account that was supposed to go to my September 1st payment. I called the secretary of state’s office for my state and was told to file a written complaint with that office but that they expected the funds to be unfrozen very soon. Did you get a letter from the EA program explaining the situation? I told them that it was weak on their part not to tell us what was going on, and they said they sent out letters this week, but I haven’t received one.
I sent a letter two weeks ago to TBW asking them to update my account to show that my escrow was not paid in full (due to the bounced check). I got a letter from TBW today in the mail. It said they were researching this issue and would get back to me in 60 days in writing.
As part of the agreement between the FDIC and TBW, TBW had to file a report with the court by October 31st detailing all the money in their accounts, where the money was supposed to go, etc. TBW filed the report on October 30th. They have not finished that accounting, but the report detailed what they know up to this point. I got a copy of it. I suggest you all call the court and try to get one to. It is too long to post – 35 pages. Tell the court that it is document number 555 on the docket. It does appear that the judge needs to sign off before the money is released – that is why he wants the report. TBW said in the report that they are going to have a meeting with the FDIC in mid-November to finalize the accounting. The report also breaks down the different issues. For those of you who used EAP, like me, that money is in a Colonial Bank account with a bunch of other payments from other third parties. The report said that TBW is close to straightening that issue out and should be able to have those funds released soon (assuming the judge allows it). For those of you who got a bounced escrow check, that seems to be the complicated issue that will take some time. This is consistent with what Mr. Roth said. There must be thousands of people impacted by TBW’s bankruptcy, because the money in the accounts is in the very high millions.
I talked to Customer service at TB&W finally and she told me that TB&W is in Bankruptcy. She could not tell me if I would ever see my escrow$$ again.
So the call to customer service was pretty much useless.
Thank god I refinanced just prior to their downfall, I just hope I see my escrow funds some time in the near future and pray for all of you that lost more then I did that it will work out for all of you.
I am in the same situation as Tracy – enrolled in Equity Accelerator program, but have a mortgage with a lender other than TBW. I was told by EA that TBW was the sponser of the progam and the custodian of the account and, since their funds were frozen, I can’t get the money that was withdrawn from my account that was supposed to go to my September 1st payment. I called the secretary of state’s office for my state and was told to file a written complaint with that office but that they expected the funds to be unfrozen very soon. For anyone in the EA program, did you get a letter from them explaining the situation? I told them that it was weak on their part not to tell us what was going on, and they said they sent out letters this week, but I haven’t received one.
I should also add that I called the FDIC and told them that I heard the assets were unfrozen today, but they said that they could not release that information. I then called the EA program and said that I wanted my money back now because the assets were no longer frozen, but they said they had no confirmation of that yet.
Yeah, I got nowhere on Friday when someone at FDIC told me that there was an agreement made and I should be able to get my money. I of course was so angry when I called EA and they had no clue and wouldn’t give me the money back. I have tried to also call my new mortgage serivicer, Cenlar, with no luck. I hope they know that they aren’t getting any money from me until I get my money, at least for 60 days. I am refinancing and hopefully this whole mess will be behind me in the next 45 days.
I got the same response for the EA when I called them today, and no I was not notified. The did state that letters were going out this week as if that does us any good. I notified my current mortgage company and they could care less about the situation they just want their money. So much for help from either end. Does anyone else feel as helpless as I do at this point.
Thanks
I too am in the same boat as all of you EA customers. My mrotgage is through a different company then Taylor Bean, but I purchased the EA when my mortgage was under Taylor Bean. I was not notified that our Septemeber mortgage was not going to be paid. I found out yesterday when I called our current mortgage company to make sure it had been paid. I believe that the EA program did not act ethically or professionally. As soon as they knew our mortgages were not going to be paid, they should have contacted is. Now, alot of people are going to have late payments. The only thing that EA could tell me is that they will mail be a report of my account showing that they did take the money out. He said I could give that to my mortgage company. My mortgage company could not care less about this said report, they just want their money. Does anyone have any updates on the status of the accounts??
I am in the same situation. Bank of America has turned me over to Credit Reporting because I refuse to pay by August payment AGAIN, to Bank of America. Equity Accelerator took August payment and has it “frozen.” BOA says I need to pay it again, to them, as well as, September payment. They are ruining my credit at the expense of crooked, predatory lenders who could care less how they effect the homeowners out there who have faithfully made payments for years through Equity Accelerator. I have been assigned an FHA case work who is “investigating” the situation. Good luck with that. I know of 3 people in my community that are in the same situation and are told the only recourse is to make that August payment again. Equity Accelerator pretty much said, too bad, sooooo sad. Nothing we can do, make your payment again to BOA or ruin your credit. Thanks AMERICA!!!!!!!!!! Your federal government was again kicks the human spirit in the dirt for being responsible citizens and paying your bills on time.
I’d definitely fight that one. It’s my understanding (but I’m no expert) that when a mortgage company goes under, you have a 60 day grace period that you can’t get charged late fees, if you’ve tried in earnest to make your payment. And since you’ve already paid your August payment, I would think that would count as trying in earnest.
Check out this link, and either email or call the executive offices. Keep your cool on the phone or in the email, and let me know if you have any success. Sometimes going straight to the bank president or ceo works wonders.
http://consumerist.com/336673/5-bank-of-america-executive-email-addresses
I know that the court date was today, so hopefully something will happen soon.
Theoretically, and only theoretically, mortgage and escrow monies should be fine and should eventually get to where they’re supposed to go. I believe everyone whose mortgage is still with TBW has a 60 day window from the time TBW ceased operations that you cannot be assessed late fees if you try in good faith to make your mortgage payment, whether you sent it to TBW before you knew what was going on, or if you can’t figure out where you’re supposed to send it now.
And now I guess we wait to see how it all really works out.
Proposed Order Stipulation and Agreed Order Between Debtor Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, as Receiver for Colonia Bank Filed by Russell M Blain on behalf of Debtor Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. (related document(s) 64 , 83 ). (Blain, Russell) (Entered: 09/11/2009)
I just went to the Bankruptcy court’s website and there was an agreement reached between the FDIC and TBW yesterday. The parties filed a proposed order with the judge. It appears that the parties are just waiting for the judge to sign it. Above is the docket text of from the court’s website.
okay I give up. I can not get the Taylor, bean & Whitaker case to come up on the US bankruptcy court website can you post the line I would like to read the proposed agreement
Let’s keep this thread alive with info.
I also have a bounced escrow refunds check for over 5k from TBW.
Just sent them a letter today. I’ll chime in here with any updates on my end.
Thanks for sharing everyone!
Danny,
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I sent them a letter a few weeks ago. I asked for a cashiers check or money order and that I wanted them to update my account online to show that they have not paid my escrow reimbursement as of yet. They sent back a response that arrived late this week that they would investigate the account and get back to me in writing within 60 days.
Thanks Gary!
I sent a letter today too. At least I want to have a good paper trail in case this does have to go to court.
Hopefully it gets resolved somehow, but gotta prepare for the worst.
It is a bummer. Almost like someone reached into your savings account and just grabbed 5k…
Good luck to all!
- Danny
We refinanced in July and have been waiting for our escrow check. Last month we were told it was in process and should be receievd within 30 days. We called today and were told they didn’t have access to the funds due to banking issues. When my wife asked if she would ever see the money TBW told her “I don’t know”.
Here is what I got from the FDIC Ombudsman today in DC. I asked why is the FDIC involved in the court battle and why are they holding up customer refunds from the equity accelerator program if they are not involved?
FDIC response below when I asked why are they holding us hostage.I told him to check with Chairman Bair or someone that had a clue.
Taylor Bean and Whitaker is not a regulated bank and the FDIC does not
have a role in its supervision or its bankruptcy.
We have received many complaints from customers of Taylor Bean and we
found a customer help number for them. You can call (800)530-6509.
Office of the Ombudsman
(877) ASK-FDIC
That is nonsense. I talked to the FDIC today and they said the same thing. I asked them if they are not involved, then why did they enter into an agreement with TBW in bankruptcy court (I provided the text above). They then back pettled and gave me a number to call, which only ended up being a number for TBW. So I called my congressman (Ed Markey) and he is going to open up an inquiry of the FDIC. I am going to call the FDIC again tomorrow and ask them if they are involved. They clearly are.
I just found out today that the monies witheld from my account in August by Equity Accelerator was now frozen byh the FDIC. I tried to call the FDIC an got nowhere. I tried to call TBW but of course they are closed. When I tried to reach them a few weeks ago I didn’t get a person from tbw. I was told their doors are closed. So, good luck. I will try again tomorrow. I am on hold with Cenlar right now to make arrangements to get my Mortgage pmt made for Sept. Of course it really puts me in a bind like everyone else. Tough to come up with $1450 unexpectedly. I have been on hold with Cenlar for about 40 minutes now.
I live in Louisville and notified Congressman John Yarmouth and Senator McConnell’s office. McConnell loves to take on Financial issues
I just called the FDIC again. The guy I talked to admitted they were involved, but only “indirectly”. He said that they froze Colonial Banks assets, and TBW used Colonial Bank as a holding company. He said that there is an agreement in pace, but they are waiting for the judge to approve it. He would not give the details of the agreement. I did talk to someone from the Equity Accelerator program, and she was actually helpful. She said once the assets were unfrozen, we would get them back. She looked up my info, knew exactly how much I was owed, and knew where to send it to when the time comes. She said we would get our money back “some time in the near future”. However, when I asked the gut from the FDIC, he said he could not say either way on the record.
“Indirectly?” Freezing money that TBW was going to use to pay back escrow reimbursements isn’t quite indirect.
This whole situation gives an “appreciation” for the FDIC.
On another note, Bankrate had a good article today about this whole situation.
I should add that the guy from the FDIC kept telling me to call back Friday and the FDIC may have an update to pass it on. He said it three times. I may be reading between the lines, but it sounded like he knew something was in the works.
Did anyone call FDIC today or Friday to get an update on the whole situation as to when the funds might be unfrozen? And has anyone actually received a letter from Equity Accelerator, because I haven’t?
Here is the link to the article I mentioned by bankrate. It actually mentions escrow checks bouncing:
Apparently, it didn’t go through:
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/mortgages/options-after-mortgage-servicer-fails-1.aspx
Hmmm. Sounds like a lot of finger pointing between TBW and the FDIC. And it doesn’t look real promising for those of us with bounced escrow refunds.
Thanks for the link, Gary.
TBW called me today after the FDIC called them (because I had called the FDIC). Basically all they were able to tell me was that their assets were still frozen, but they were hoping to come to a resolution this week. I sure hope she was telling the truth.
As far as the FDIC goes, they’re pretty directly involved, if they are responsible for freezing the assets, IMO.
Get a hold of Andy Grosmaier at the Office of Financial Regulation in Tallahassee he is one of the heads on TBW complaints on this topic
his number is (888) 494-7380
Does anyone have an estimated date as to when the checks will be sent? TBW never had an answer for me. Also, can we sue them for this? Maybe can get half our mortgages paid for!
I’m following all of this from California, where I had a TBW mortgage and now am owed an escrow refund. The time difference makes it very difficult to try to contact anyone on the east coast early in the morning so I’ve been relying on all the comments here for news. Big THANKS to those of you who’ve been sharing your research! Please don’t stop.
Just had to share a funny story. I called TBW as I do each week to see if I had been transferred to a new lender. I was nice and pleasant and the woman I talked to went absolutely nuts on me and said people are unintelligent and stupid to think this is TBW fault. I cannot beleive this mess, there is no recourse I could have asked to speak with a manger but whats the point. She also told me that people may be reported late but it would just be a mistake and you could request the credit bureas to remove for you…what a nightmare.
Great info everyone! Keep it coming, it is a real service.
I just got notice in the mail today that my $3,270.77 escrow refund from my refinance was returned NSF. I am now $800 overdrawn and am in the boat with all of you. I will see what I can find out and post.
Could someone provide me the phone number for the equity accelerator program? I have received no notice from them and they have not made my Sept. 1 payment. I would really like to know the status of my payment.
I finally got thru to TBW and they gave me the number for the EA program 800-209-9700. Total waste of a phone call. The gentleman I spoke with said “I have no clue when funds would be released and no one here has a clue either.” He said I am responsible for making the September payment.
Tina, who was your loan transferred to from TBW? If it was Cenlar they are working with their customer’s to get payments made. No late fees and no reporting being done to adversly affect credit, at least for now. You have to be patient to get through to them but the service was good.
I called 800-223-6527 at 8:30 in the morning when they first opened and got right through. The lady was very nice and said she would put a note on my account about the whole situation with EA. This was a week or so ago though, and now I can’t get through to see if I should go ahead and try to make a payment. I don’t want to be late but I also don’t really have the extra money that’s being held to make the payment right now. We already have other bills and daycare to pay for, we live on a budget…thanks for all the help FDIC! (insert sarcasm here)
I tried calling CENLAR all day yesterday and all I got was a busy signal. After talking with my local bank representative concerning the fact that my payment had not been deducted from my checking account she realized I was using Equity Accelerator and not paying TBW directly. I called Equity Accelerator and got a very pleasant person who had the same message everyone else has been getting…
funds are frozen and it is up to me to make my September payment to CENLAR. They also would not make any promises about whether or not I would eventually see my money again.
By the way, I did not receive a letter from Equity Accelerator and I think that is really sorry on their part. They did say a letter was going out soon, but that is a little late, right? I feel really bad for the people who read the letter from CENLAR and assumed their automatic withdrawals were going to happen and it would be a smooth transition. That is exactly how I read the CENLAR letter and almost just let this issuw go for another week or so thinking the payment was held up because of timing issues and that it would eventually take place. Had it not been for my local bank representative figuring out from our conversation that I was using Equity Accelerator I probably would have realized too late that I had a problem.
I am from Kentucky and if this doesn’t get resolved soon I am taking Randy’s advice and contacting the politicians in my area.
Thanks for the comments, I don’t feel so alone now!
I have spoken with EA several times and I eventually ended up saying I want to cancel the program completely (I thought maybe they would refund my money that way, but no luck). I have yet to receive a letter or even be told that I’m going to get a letter. One guy told me that they would be the first to be excited if they were told they could give us our money back, but why didn’t they tell anyone? I think it’s very sketchy and unbusinesslike to not let customers know. I feel really bad for those that didn’t even have their mortgage with TBW before. This is such a nightmare!
Is anyone on this board still stuck with TBW and has not been transferred to a new lender yet?
I was with TBW then refinanced. I stayed with the EA so that I wouldn’t have to change any of my payment information. We didn’t find out any information on this until our payment wasn’t taken out. When I called I was told. “Not to worry, this would all be taken care of.” I asked if my Sept. payment would be on time and was assured that it would be. I called my mortgage company yesterday and was told that the payment had not been made yet. I took money from my savings and payed directly to them and called the EA back. The lady their told me that I should plan on making my Oct. payment too. I was furious and canceled my account with them. I was told that I would receive a check as soon as the funds were “unfrozen” though she didn’t know when that would be. My mortgage company let me set up the exact same payment schedule as I had with EA for free. I don’t know why I ever paid someone to do that for me. Live and learn, I guess.
Hi all – I just got a letter from my county treasurer. My tax payment – the check from my escrow account from Taylor Bean – bounced. Does anyone know what I can do? I keep calling them and can’t get through to anyone! That was my money – now it’s gone and I’m in trouble for not paying my taxes. I’m so upset I could just cry. I don’t know what to do, or who to call. That was almost 600 bucks that I now don’t have, and the county wants it ….. any help/advice??
Jamie –
I was told to fax a copy of the notice from my bank account (showing that the check bounced) along with notices of any applicable fees to TB&W at fax # 888.329.9270, ATTENTION: Cashiering.
Like everyone else on the board, I was told by TB&W (late last week) that the FDIC has frozen their assets (through Colonial Bank) and that they are hoping it will be “unfrozen” soon. She said they “hope” checks will be reissued within 2-3 weeks, but wouldn’t guarantee that I’d get my money back.
Good luck!
Jamie,
You are in a similar boat to all of us in one fashion or another. The FDIC froze the escrow accounts that were at Colonial (it failed now merged with BB&T) and Platinum Community Bank was seized, so the checks bounced. I refinanced away from TBW so they owed me $1800.00. It bounced and I accrued NSF fees and other fees.
The FDIC and TBW are both pointing fingers at each other, and the little guy is the one hurtin’.
Welcome to the club. Folks here have written TBW, contacted the FDIC multiple times, contacted their congressmen, signed up as a creditor on TBW’s bankruptcy, contacted the Florida regulators, etc and still no real information.
Just keep looking here. The newspapers have barely even mentioned the escrow mess. Hopefully, information will be forthcoming.
But you may have to brace yourself for having to pay your own taxes and not ever getting that money back. I would probabl stop including escrow monies if I were still with TBW.
Gary, how do you “sign up as a creditor on TBW’s bankruptcy”? I want my friggin’ money!
Gary, thank you. I’m going to keep checking here – but, yes, I wonder the same question Megan just asked? I am just so frustrated – why aren’t us customers getting any help???
I RECEIVED A PHONE CALL THIS MORNING 9:00 A.M. PACIFIC TIME, FROM A WOMAN FROM TBW. SHE CALLED ME BECAUSE SOMEONE FROM THE FDIC TOLD HER GET IN TOUCH WITH ME. I HAD CALLED THE FDIC ON SEPT. 4 TO TALK TO SOMEONE ABOUT A BOUNCED ESCROW REFUND CHECK FOR $1,009.00 WRITTEN FROM PLATINUM COMMUNITY BANK. SHE SAID SOMEONE WOULD BE CALLING ME IN A FEW DAYS. THE WOMAN FROM TBW APOLOGIZED FOR THE PROBLEMS, BUT THAT THEY WERE IN THE PROCESS OF TRYING TO REISSUE CHECKS. SHE COULD NOT GIVE ME A TIME FRAME OF WHEN THIS WILL HAPPEN. I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW THIS MORTGAGE MESS WITH TBW IS STAYING OUT OF THE HEADLINES.PEOPLE I HAVE TALKED TO HAVE NOT EVEN HEARD OF THIS HAPPENING! I WILL FORWARD NEW INFORMATION WHEN I RECEIVE IT. DONALD
BTW, my check is from Platinum Bank also (which also went bankrupt and is somehow related to this mess).
I think most of other people’s checks are from Colonial Bank.
The end result seems the same.
- Danny
Hi All,
Check out Tampa Bay newpaper, they just posted an article. Looks like a tentative deal has been reached between FDIC and TBW to release the frozen funds…
So are we supposed to call the FDIC ? Is there a special number for that situation/issue ? I am guessing my new loan servicer, Bank of America, can’t help me …. they are saying TBW made my tax payment….
I got a copy of the agreement between TBW and the FDIC. It is sixteen pages. Basically, the agreement says that October 31, 2009 is the target date to have everything straightened out. But the agreement says that date can be extended. Bankruptcy documents are public, and if you call the Banrupcy Court, you should be able to get a copy. The case is in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida (Jacksonville), and the case number is 09-7047. The agreement says that TBW is supposed to send us the money, but if they don’t, the FDIC should.
I don’t have anything from the bank – I just have a notice from my county treasurer saying “Hey, the check TBW sent to us bounced. Send more money or else.”
Here is the link to the Tampa Bay newspaper article about the TBW FDIC deal http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/banking/taylor-bean-fdic-have-tentative-deal-over-frozen-escrow-accounts/1036485
I’d like to sign up as a creditor on that bankruptcy – is it possible??
I called the EA program, and they actuualy gave me some useful information for once. I asked them for an unpate, and they said they were contacted by TBW, who told them that an agreement was reached with the FDIC and that the judge should approve on Monday. They told me the funds will then be unfrozen and we can get our money back. They said for me to call back on Monday afternoon and they should have more info to pass along.
That sounds really awesome, let’s all cross our fingers that this is actually true and we can get our money back…I’ll be calling on Friday and Monday to see what’s going on.
Story in the Tampa and Ocala newspapers stated that a tentative agreement between FDIC, TB&W, and the FL bankruptcy court had been reached….judges ruling is pending for Monday. FDIC provided me with number for TB&W (888 225 2164) to validate status of my Equity Accelerator Account. They advised that my funds would be sent back to EA…..suggested that I instruct EA on how to process the funds….either credit my account or forward to current mortgage lender. Feeling more optistic that I will see my money but won’t rest easy until I see the funds in my account. Never received a letter from EA….I have opted out of their program going forward.
This has been a big source of information – Thank you all for your updates !
I called EA today, the guy I talked to was very nice and very helpful. He suggested that I should cancel the account with them, because when the funds are unfrozen – open accounts with begin to have the withdrawls made from their accounts right away.
I closed my account with them – he gave me my balance and told me to check back often so that I know when the funds are available. He also said that I would have to call to get my funds sent to me.
Hi guys, just an update. My county treasurer’s office called yesterday and said Bank of America (where my loan went after TBW) paid my taxes and the late fee that was charged after my TBW tax check bounced.
I was also a month late in paying my first mortgage payment after TBW got my loan because I was confused on where to send the payments. I was told BOA is not charging late fees for the first 60 days. And if you have BOA and you’ve had TBW checks bounce, call them, because they are so helpful!! Thanks!
Thanks for the wonderful resources of information you all have given. I have shared a lot of the newspaper reports and notices to EA a moment ago since they gave me their legal department’s fax number and still some of the reps seem clueless on what has happened, but after not receiving a notice from EA like all of you, I’m not surprised….very unprofessional in my opinion.
I got an email from Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker today:
“Thank you for your inquiry regarding this mortgage. Please be advised we are working with our bank to resolve the situation and anticipate a resolution over the next few weeks. We apologize for any inconvenience.
As soon as the banking situation is resolved, these funds will be disbursed. “
This whole situation is exhausting. I have spoken with a rep from Taylor Bean several times and keep getting conflicting information. When I spoke to someone last week she advised holding off on paying my property taxes that are now past due as a result of the bounced check Taylor Bean sent. I just got off the phone with a different rep who advised paying the taxes now as this situation will likely not be resolved for several months and by then the county will sell my taxes and put a lien against my house! This is absolutely ridiculous I have always paid my mortgage on time and have done everything I’m supposed to. How is it this company can be taken over because of fraud and there is no one helping us? There has got to be something we can do? Fortunatley we have just enough in our savings to pay the taxes but who knows if I will ever see my money again as they say I will. Does anyone have any suggestions of anyone to contact?
Finally TBW noted my August payment but charged me a late fee!!!!!! The nerve, especially after I weas forced to pay my own real estate taxes since their accoutns were frozen!!! This debacle has gone on long enough. they should not be allowed to get away with this.
Tara, did you try the Florida Dept of Financial Regulation?
Lucy
Thank you for the suggestion. I looked on their website and it stated they would continue to post updates but the most recent update they have is from September 9! I just called and and the person I spoke with was less than helpful. He basically told me they have no further information (or any clue apparently) when the situation will be resolved. He said it will be resolved but he has no idea when. I guess it was worth a try! It’s not a good feeling to be at the mercy of this company.
So I just called Equity Accelerator to see about an update on when funds would be frozen. The lady was nice but didn’t have much information. She said there was no updates and when they did have an update, they would send a letter. Well they were supposed to send me a letter when they closed my account, but they didn’t! She also said to please not call back until next month for inquiries. She was nice about it, but I thought how rude! You say you’re going to send me information, but thus far, you haven’t sent me anything!
The Bankruptcy hearing for the judge to sign off on the Plan was at 1PM today so no sense calling Equity Accelerator until tomorrow at the earliest. You can read all about the case on the United States Bankruptcy court- Middle District of Florida under Judge Funk
Below is what I got from the Ombudsman at the FDIC today
Mr. ,
Your facts are not correct. Actually, the funds are frozen due to the automatic stay that is imposed by the court because of TBW’s bankruptcy filing.
The agreement you mention below has been an effort by the FDIC to get funds released and credited to their proper mortgage account as well as to reconcile the escrow funds. None of that has been possible because of the bankruptcy. The FDIC has been urgently trying to get the account information from TBW for some time – since Colonial Bank was closed. It appears we are close — the court is expected to make a ruling today.
I hope that sheds a little more light on the situation.
Please call me if you have any additional questions.
Phil Roth
972-761-8270
I can’t find anything on the ruling that was supposed to happen yesterday. Any news?
That is very helpful! My rhetorical question is, I guess, how come if we can find this stuff on the internet, how come equity accelerator can’t give us any more information than they do?
Any more news or updates? Please keep this thread alive until all of us have our money back!
Well, it looks like it has been rescheduled for October 8th from what I can see on the United States Bankruptcy court- Middle District of Florida website. You can see the calendars of the judges and it’s under judge funk and everything says rescheduled. Really want to get my money back. Thank goodness we sold the house before this mess hit and all we are owed is our escrow account which was only about $562.00. Sorry for those that are worse off than I am.
I call Judge Funk’s office about 5 times a day and I keep sending him the bounced check and letters from Taylor Bean at least 5 times a week. Get a few thousand people calling and mailing his office, at least his staff can bitch to him about the calls and mail and maybe get that Oct 8th date moved up. I also include a bill for the bank fees charged when the check bounced and interest accural on that as well as the money Equity acceleerator is holding.
Can you provide Judge Funk’s phone number and address? Thanks.
Any one still stuck with TBW? I am being required to send them checks with escrow amount sincluded only for them not to make disubursments as last month I hate to pay my taxes on my own or face a 12% penatly.
Any one just not sending them checks until this resolves?
randy,
can you post judge funks’s address at the court house?
B of A took over everything on my end. I don’t recommend sending anything to TBW. Any idea when the checks will be resent? This is getting insane. I haven’t even seen media coverage. I’m a Real Estate agent, and this is totally unprofessional.
I just got an email from the FHA whom I copied on an email I sent to TBW, below is the most relevant part:
“If you believe your escrow account is being handled incorrectly by your lender, you should first contact that lender in writing, outlining the nature of your complaint. The servicer must acknowledge the complaint in writing within 20 business days of receipt of the complaint. Within 60 business days, the servicer must resolve the complaint by correcting the account or giving a statement of the reasons for its position. A sample complaint letter can be found on HUD?s website at:
http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/ramh/res/reslettr.cfm
If the servicing lender does not respond or the borrower is not satisfied, they can file a complaint may be filed with the Office of RESPA. The complaint should outline the violation and identify the violators by name, address and phone number. Complainants should also provide their own name and phone number for follow up questions from HUD. Requests for confidentiality will be honored. Complaints should be sent to: Director, Office of RESPA and Interstate Land Sales US Department of Housing and Urban Development Room 9154 451 7th Street, SW Washington, DC 20410″
My loan is also still with T, B&W and I have continued to send my payment including the escrow. I’m not sure if that is the right thing to do who knows I may just be throwing my money out the window. On the other hand I have copies of my checks so if anything ever comes back on me I have proof of payment. I will definately be using the sample complaint letter. Thanks for the information!
Tod I am still with TBW, & sending my payment including the escrow. I also copied the checks. Hope I am doing the right thing. No advise from the media etc.
My original investor was wells fargo, from what I understand we are the only ones swtill stuck with TBW….radica, todd do you also have wells fargo as original investor??? I am wondering if we can call wells fargo and somehow fast track getting transferred to a new lender…this has gone on long enough…
Lucy we were not originally with Wells Fargo. We refinanced in 2006 through a broker and Taylor , Bean has been our servicer ever since. Even before we refinanced we were not with Wells Fargo…I don’t remember who it was but am sure it wasn’t Wells Fargo.
It was just people that originally went with Wells Fargo as their broker. TB&W was the investor that bought your mortgage loan. We financed our home through a local community bank, who unfortunately, sold our loan to TB&W. I actually used to work in the mortgage department when we bought our home and quit just as this whole mess began. The bank knows about it, but basically they cannot do a thing because they sold the loan to TBW and they then became the servicer of our loan. There’s NOTHING they can do for us at this point. This whole thing is so unfortunate because even people that had been waiting 45-60 days to get an FHA loan (TBW did FHA government loans) were screwed because TBW went under maybe right when they were getting ready to close on a refinance or purchase. Therefore they had to go back and start all over again. Of course in the long run, they should be happy because obviously TBW was a horrible, horrible company. We had our mortgage with them two years. They’ve always been hard to deal with, customer service wise. They raised our payment each year we had them because of escrows not being estimated correctly. They were also very hard for the bank to deal with while trying to fianance a loan, they had loans in underwriting for weeks. We should all be glad they went under so they couldn’t treat people that way anymore. But so unfortunate that we have to deal with the crap of trying to get our escrow money or other money being held in some custodial account somewhere (Equity Accelerator). Can anyone tell me the phone number for Judge Funk’s office in Florida? Thanks!
Lucy I never had wells Fargo, I first had Flag bank. Yes I agree w/you this has gone far enough. I am still sending my Payments to TBW, they told me a few days ago they will pay my insurance/taxes. I hope they will.
wells fargo is just the investor, has nothing to do if you went through a broker or not-the originals investor is the bank or in a lot cases, the govt who backs the loan, it is not necessarily the company you go with.
Someone at TBW told me most of the loans left the original investors were Wells Fargo. of course who can believe what they say anyways.
Oh well, guess I will keep sending checks and hoping for the best!
http://www.ocala.com/article/20090924/ARTICLES/909249968?Title=City-and-TBW-sign-utilities-payment-agreement
Maybe they are using our escrow money to pay for the lights!
That’s not even funny! My money just went to a 71,000 dollar light bill! How could the city even consider turning off their electricity? They would be leaving us even more powerless (nopunintended) and adding to this mess resulting in a longer wait!
Hi Lucy,
Judge Funks address and phone are on theirwebsite. Google United States Bankruptcy Court Middle District Florida. He is in the Jacksonville location
I called EAP again today to check on the status, and I was told that, although the bankruptcy judge has not endorsed the agreement, once he does, the we will get our money back. The EAP worker said that our money is still there in the account and will definitely get it back as soon as they are unfrozen. Hopefully he is right.
Awful news, I was just informed by TBW I am stuck with them and my loan is not going to be transferred.
great. anyone else get this horrible news?
Lucy – How is this possible when they have gone bankrupt and are no longer able to service loans? It just doesn’t seem possible.
Lucy, I am in the same boat. My loan has not been transferred from TBW. I am going to send them my october payment but the whole thing feels very sketchy. I have been advised by the Office of Financial Regulation, to continue to stay up to date with my payments. Just keep record of your check. I am not sure about our escrow money though. This whole thing had taken up way too much of my time on the phone, trying to figure it all out.
I am confused as well. I was told by TB&W that Bank of America was taking over my loan, so I sent them my payment, and then the next month received a letter from CENLAR, stating that they were taking over my payments.
I received a check from Taylor Bean and Whitaker for my escrow money and it bounced last week. I have no idea who to contact. The hold times are unending and I am uncertain if anyone is even answering their number anymore.
Any ideas on what I should do?
TB&W does answer their phone, but only after an hour or so of hold time. And so far they haven’t given me any information other than the money to pay the escrow refund is there, but they don’t know when it will be released. Not that I’m sure I believe them.
As far as your mortgage goes, I’d probably call BofA and CENLAR to figure out which one has your account. You should be protected from any late fees or legal action, as long as you can demonstrate that you made an honest effort to pay your mortgage.
Best wishes with that!
I used this # to call TBW and was only on hold for a few minutes.
1-800-530-2602
The Bankruptcy judge approved the agreement between the FDIC and TBW today.
kim,
agreed. I have been sending my payments all delivery confirmation with the escrows included. If I do not get my refund from paying taxes out of pocket by the end of october, I am not including escrows in novembers check. If you hear anything otherwise about our payments and escrow, please post it!
tracy, they are in bankruptcy but chapter 11 which means they are restructuring not liquidating, so they are trying to remain in business. When the woman at TBW told me i was a loan remaining as part of the rebuilding of TBW it was all I could do to keep myself from saying to her “oh joy” :)
Hey D, Can you post where you got your information about Judge Funk signing the deal? Nothing on his calendar till October 8th and nothing in Ocala or Tampa newspapers.
Thanks
I have access to the docketing system for the bankrutpcy court through work, so I was able to look at the judge’s docket and see that he approved the agreement yesterday. I just called EAP and told them about the agreement, but they said they had not been notified about it yet. However, the EAP agent said they have my money (and I assume everyone elses) and once they get the okay from the court, they are going to refund it.
I should add that the docket does show that there are hearings scheduled for October 8th, but none of them involve the FDIC. The judge’s order on the FDIC/TBW agreement said it was a “final” order, rejecting all the objections that were filed by other parties.
Since our loan is still with T,B & W I’m assuming we are in the same situation of being stuck with them. Hopefully something is resolved before the end of October with the whole escrow situation. I had to pay my taxes out of pocket and just hope that I see that money again. Which seems a little ridiculous that I continue to send my escrow payment. Thanks to everyone for all the information…this has become my lifeline for knowing what is going on with this situation.
I also want to thank everyone for their comments and updates. This keeps my hope alive that we’ll all receive our money back soon. Please keep the comment stream alive until this is all resolved!
Just a small update from my end.
I sent TBW a letter requesting for a new escrow check.
They sent me a letter yesterday that they got my request and will reply in 60 days.
Not much, but at least someone is still out there answering queries.
hey todd, I actually posed that question to TBW again today…why am I sending you full payments if your not disbursing my escrows. they gave me a very vague answer about trying to resolve the situation
. lets keep our fingers crossed our money isnt falling into a black hole!
Below is the email I received from my contact at FDIC about Judge Funk signing off and how EA refunda may work
Your information about the judge’s decision is right on target.
Now, the FDIC will be working with the servicer companies to get the payments posted — we have no information on how those servicer companies will communicate or work with Equity Accelerator (which is not considered a servicer).
One option is for you to contact the actual servicer of your loan and have them connect with Equity Accelerator. If you don’t know who that is, I can help you find that by identifying the owner of your loan.
Phil Roth
Great info. Thanks. I am with Cenlar and I am up to date on my mortgage now but have $1450 sitting with EA. I stopped the EA program so I am supposed to get a check. As far as I know they will not automatically disperse my money to Cenlar but if they do then I will be paid ahead on my mortgage.. Cross your fingers, at least there is progress.
I was told by EA that when they were able to release funds, they would be transferred into the account from which they were drafted.
I talked to Phil Roth from FDIC yesterday. He gave me some good information. He basically said the judge did agree to start giving back the money. He said that for people that had money with other mortgages, that money was going to start being applied to the mortgages. But for people, such as me, that have EA, it could take a little longer because for some reason the money was going into an account at Western Union and then going to TBW and they will need to verify that the money is not owned by TBW before going to the mortgage or back to me, the borrower that has canceled the EA program. But at least we know something is happening.
I too hold TBW mortgage…only I have a hail damaged property and have received a check made out to me and TBW…do you think someone down there will endorse and mail me back my check to do my home repairs?!!!!!!! Shirley
Shirley:
I to had this problem.I sent the check ti TB&W Loss Draft Dept.
1417 N Magnolia Ave Ocala Fl 34475.
TBW is servicing my loan for Wells Fargo.
Good Luck.
Did you speak with anyone there…when I called they said to send the draft there and it would take 5-7 days and that I would have to sign it prior to mailing it to them. Then a whole bunch of requirements for draws on the money and permits, contractor copies of licenses…I have several properties and none of the lenders required that much…one even signed the draft and sent it back to me to deposit and start repairs..that is why I don’t want to send it …may take forever and then wait for draws..
I just spoke to my contact Mr. Roth at the FDIC. Those of us in Equity Accelerator (EA) are still in limbo and we may never get our money back from EA. He told me the bankruptcy agreement does not cover the money EA is holding. He said the FDIC lawyers are working with EA but they have to prove the money is ours (you and me) and not Taylor Bean’s. The EA money goes through Western Union and they have it tied to Taylor Bean so the creditors are going after the EA money even though it is ours and not TBW’s. He said this one will take a few weeks to months to resolve so dont expect your EA refund anytime soon. Mr. Roth is very helpful and I will keep posting after our weekly talks.
Do you have a contact number for Mr. Roth?
I just spoke with Ken at the FDIC and he told me sometbhing completely different – he said the agreement did cover the EA program and that the FDIC and TBW were currently going through all of the records to determine where the money goes and we would get our money (those of us in the EA program) in a few weeks. ???
Phil Roth’s number is 972-761-8270
ok, so i transferred my loan and received a refund check for my escrow account which bounced. where do i fall in the whole return process? who do i need to contact other than tbw?
radica, todd-
have either of you called TBW this week???? I just talked to someone who said they are getting rid of all loans by months end!!! There may be hope for us after all!
Lucy
I have not called this week but was planning on calling sometime next week. Sounds like good news…lets just hope that it actually happens! Thanks for the information! I will let you know what I find out next week.
Thanks Lucy
I got similar news as Lucy. I called TBW regarding my escrow fund this morning and she said the funds still had not been released, but that they did expect everything to be reconciled by the end of October!
So when should we expect checks?
If anyone recieves a new escrow check let me know? For the last month they said they have been trying to get there funds released and heard they have so do we just get our escrow checks and why cant we get more if it was our check that bounced they would sure get more from us not matter why our check bounced if you know what i mean.
so far haven’t gotten anything from them.
I got a letter saying they are looking into the matter and will get back to me within 60 days.
If anyone gets a check, or anything more substantial do keep the rest of us posted.
Thanks everyone! The feedback was really helpful!
Danny,
No check yet for me. I got my letter from TBW on September 8th, saying they would get back to me in writing in 60 days. So November 8th is their deadline to get back to me. Didn’t think it would take this long.
I rec’d the same 60day letter way back at the beginning. Like everyone else I’m hopeful I’ll actually receive a check this month but I wouldn’t put too much stock in the form letter they sent out.
latest update, I was told today looks like some company named American Home Mortgage may be taking over my loan. of course who knows because you get a different story from TBW each time you called. I looked them up, a million consumer complaint against them…
Lucy I just called Taylor, Bean because looking at my account as of yesterday they were transferring my loan. Apparently American Home Mortgage is taking over my loan as well. I also asked how the escrow situation will be rectified and was informed the escrow money should be sent to the new servicer in November. Who knows it seems like every day we are being told something different. But hopefully this is a step in the right direction.
hi todd,
I wonder why they arent sending it right away? from my research and from infor posted by radica on another site it looks like this new company has already been in bankruptcy once before. I just hope that we finally catch a break and this new company isnt as bad as the blogs indicate!
Just got a call from Phil Roth at the FDIC. He said he read today that all escrow monies and Equity accelerator refunds should be out starting next week. Keep your fingers crossed
I also got the same call, keeping my fingers crossed. He said to wait until the middle of the week to call EA because they hadn’t gotten the notice yet as of Friday, it was brand new news.
I tried calling EAP today, but they had not heard anything yet.
I am short $1740 for this deal. I had automatic payment to TBW and it went out 3 days before they closed down the server. Now it is stuck with colonial waiting for this judge to release the Money. does any one here have the same issue and if so what are you doing about it. thanks
Sven,
In one way or another, lots of folks have the same issue. I am out $1800. I refinanced away from Taylor Bean and my escrow account reimbursement check bounced. The bank that issued the check was closed by the FDIC. I am waiting on these funds as well.
Has anyone actually seen an Assignment of Mortgage that has been transferred? My fear is if TBW is not filing these with towns and cities and once they compeltely go belly up getting a copy will be impossible
The only thing you will probably receive is a letter from a new servicer. I would think you would have already received one.
Go to http://www.taylorbean.com/
As of Oct 20, 2009, the 3rd paragraph pertains to a link to find out who your new service provider will be. You’ll need your TBW loan number.
In my case, it also provided a telephone number to the new service provider.
The issue is if TBW does not file that Assignment it looks like they still hold the loan. eventually they will cease all business and if you ever try to refiance without a valid assignment being filed, the pay off of the exisiting mortgage will be to TBW and they will not be in business to rectify it. I urge everyone to request a copy so that down the line a year or two or ten or 20 if they try to sell their homes or to refinance the issue of who holds the actual mortgage is in black and white and on record with their registry or deeds
I would suspect that your new service provider would be the one filing the reassignment. They’re the ones who’ll be left holding the bag in the event of a default. It may require a signature from TBW, but I’d think you’d have better luck looking to your new service provider.
Hi all,
Please consider this post a correction of my October 8th post regarding my conversation with Mr. Roth from the FDIC. He had indicated there would be movement on the mortgage payments sent to TBW but not yet cashed and sent to new servicer. I had misunderstood our conversation/Those of us still waiting for a new escrow refund check or Equity Accelerator refund are still SOL
How about your October 16th post that:
“Just got a call from Phil Roth at the FDIC. He said he read today that all escrow monies and Equity accelerator refunds should be out starting next week. Keep your fingers crossed.”
Tracy seemed to have received a similar call from Mr. Roth. I called EAP today but they said they have received the notice yet.
I haven’t called EA yet this week, because I had a feeling the call from Phil Roth was too good to be true. So am I understanding that we still shouldn’t expect to see our money for a long time if we had EA?
I just called Phil Roth. He said that the bankruptcy judge did release the funds from the Colonial bank accounts that EA used to store our money. He said that the FDIC is working on getting our money to our mortgage providers. I told him that EAP keeps telling us that once the money is unfrozen, they (EAP) will send it back to us. But Mr. Roth said that the money will actually be sent to our mortgage providers and he told me to call my lender in a week to 10 days to see if they got it. I told him that money for my September 1st payment is what is frozen and that I sent the September 1st payment out of my own pocket after learning of the frozen funds. He said that once my frozen funds make it to my lender, I will probably be able to apply them to my next payment.
What about those of us who have canceled the EAP program because of all of this crap and the fact that EAP hasn’t informed its customers of any of the goings on? I don’t want it sent to my new mortgage provider as I am refinancing with someone else. Do we not have a choice as to where the money goes?
He made it sound like we had no choice – it would be sent to our lender, and he said that we would have to call the lender to work out the logistics.
I called the Case Manager in Judge Funk’s courtroom assigned to the TBW case. She directed me to a website that is a repository for documents related to the case:
http://bmcgroup.com/restructuring/Docket.aspx?ClientID=218
After you hit the “Agree” button, a “General Information” page will be displayed for the TBW case. From there, look across the top (orange) navigation bar & click the “Court Docket” link. If you’re gathering info. on the FDIC’s involvement, you’ll most likely be interested in documents 468 & 222.
Doc 222 is the original “stipulation” that the judge laid out for FDIC. It appears there were several fillings by multiple parties to modify that stipulation. Doc 468 is the final result that addresses all of the subsequent filings & amends doc 222.
If my understanding of doc 222 is correct, FDIC & TBW are supposed to finish the exchange of information on or before Oct. 30, 2009. After that, they’ll determine the best course of action.
correction: doc 222 (10th page of PDF, shows page number 7) says escrow accounts to be handled “as soon as reasonably possible”.
I think the Oct 30 date is for Colonial accounts & loan payments that have been in limbo.
Called TBW today. They said the judge is now allowing the money to be unfroze in stages. Right now they are in stage one with depositing the checks that are in the lockbox and getting loans current.
She said to check by next week. Maybe the escrow stage is next. That’s what I’m waiting on. they have $4000 of my money.
Brad
I called EA again today and they said they have no new information. The representative said looked up my information and said that my money is still being held in one of TBW’s custodial accounts and that the release of the money won’t happen until the release is approved by the bankruptcy judge. He said to keep calling back. We are back to getting the run around – the FDIC says the judge released the money, but EA said it hasn’t happened yet. My plan is to call the EA and the FDIC every day until I get a definite answer. I might include the judge’s chambers on that list. It has been two months now – enough is enough.
Hey D,
Dont hold your breath for that money anytime soon. The FDIC has no plans to notify EA about the Judge’s approval as they state EA is not a mortgage servicer. I wrote a letter and mailed it to Chairman Bair at the FDIC yesterday. Maybe going to the top will get something moving. It works at my company but probably not in DC. Your gov’t hard at work again.
I know – that is what EA told me. They said that they would be notified by TBW. I don’t know why TBW and just let them know. The FDIC keeps giving us inconsistent information. First they say that they have their lawyers working with EA and Western Union to prove that the money is ours and not TBW’s profits. Then they tell you that they will not notify EA because they are not a mortgage provider. I just hope that if I call everyday they willet so sick of me that someone will at least give me some useful, and true, information.
Okay. I just called TBW. I told them that I used to be with them, refinanced a few years ago to another lender, stayed with EA, and had my September payment frozen, and that I wanted to know if they knew when I could expect to see the funds, since they are the sponsor of the EA program. TBW said that the accounts at Colonial Bank that housed EA’s funds should be unfrozen now, or in the very near future and to call EA and see how they will disperse the funds, since they will be responsible for doing so. TBW also said that they see the “light at the end of the tunnel” and that the funds that were frozen should all be released by the end of this month.
I then called EA. Of course, EA said they ahd no news on any funds being unfrozen. I then said that was unacceptable and that the FDIC and TBW both said that some funbds were unfrozen and that they, EA, needs to be more proactive in getting information about our money. She then put me on hold and checked with her supervisor. She came back and said that they were notified that some funds were unfrozen, but they were still waiting to hear if the funds for their program were among them. She said that their corp. office is working with the FDIC on deciding what to do with our money once they get the green light to release them, i.e., wehther to send it to us or send it to our mortgage lenders. She said that there has been some “movement”. At least that is something.
D – Can you tell me what number you call when you call TBW? I would also like to call. EA is being absolutely ridiculous that they aren’t being proactive with communicating with the FDIC and TBW, especially when they apparently have so many customers that have this problem. I was told a couple of weeks ago that I would be receiving a letter from EA explaining the situation, but have yet to receive anything.
I just called the TBW customer service number: 1-888-225-2164. We should all just keep calling both EA and TBW daily until they send us our money.
I was given a TBW number for Escrow issues:
866-369-6509
I’ve called a couple of times & wasn’t on hold long either time.
I was also given an email address for escrow issues:
LoanFunds@TaylorBean.com
I got a response w/in a day or two.
I called Mr. Roth today. He said that the funds held by EA should be released “fairly soon”. The way he explained it to me was that there are two kinds of funds frozen – “payment” funds and “escrow” funds. He said the funds held by EA that were frozen are “payments” funds, and those are the funds that the bankruptcy judge said could be released now. Mr. Roth said that the “payment” funds are in the process of being released, but that it takes a little time because, pursuant to the agreement between the FDIC and TBw, the parties have to show documentation of the funds that are being held, where they were suppossed to go, etc, – generally, they are performing an accounting of the “payment” funds right now. So he said that there is no cause for the concern about the fact that EA hasn’t released the funds yet, since EA won’t be notified to release the funds until the accounting is done. I mentioned to him that TBW told me the accounting would be done by October 31st, and he said that is entitely possible, but to keep checking back because it may take a little while longer. For “escrow” funds – property taxes, homeowner’s insurance payments – he said that it could take a little while longer, but he did not elaborate since my funds are “payment” funds and not “escrow” funds. I will continue to check back with EA daily and Mr. Roth weekily, if anyone else wants to do the same.
I have yet to receive any offical paperwork from my new lender, but if my escrow balance is not transferred in its entirety, I am goign to be very dismayed. First of all, I had about $1300 in escrow when TBW went bankrupt, yet I continued tomake my mortgage payemtns to them which they cashed. Now I have about $1750 in escrow, if they try to claim all that is frozen then somehting is amiss, because two of my payments came after the bankruptcy….I just wish I had something in black and white from this new lender showing my totals. The not knowing is killing me
Lucy, Our property taxes are due on November 15th. I thought for sure things would be straightened out by now, but obviously they’re not. So I’m holding my breath, hoping my taxes will be paid. BofA is my new lender, so I’ll give them a call this week to make sure all is well.
good luck lynnae!!!
Has anyone with American Home Mortgage called them yet???
No, TBW told me not to call as AHM will send me a letter.
my payment for Nov will be to American Home Mortgage.
Hi Lucy, just found out last nite American Home mortgage is my new lender, will be calling them today to start to straighten out the mess. Plus, I have hail damage check made out to TBW & me that will have to be figured out with their loss drafts, plus I had to pay insurance to keep it in effect until escrows get straightened out, plus the tax is due (escrowed also with TBW). Feel better now knowing who’s what where. Good luck.Hopefully the end is in sight.
hi shirley,
good luck, I hope it all goes smoothly. I was going to call tehm next week if I do not receive my letter by then. Did you receive a letter yet or was this thru TBW you were told? Can you let us know youre experience when you talk to AHMS, curious to see if they are ok to deal with which other blogs indicate they are not….
Hi Guys,
I just posted this on anotehr site as well:
http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=136817&catid=3
looks like anyone waiting on a refund from a bounced check should file a Proof of Claim
Does anyone know where/how to file a proof of claim? I want my $1,850.00 dollars back, NOW!
I sure we don’t have to file a claim with everyone else… we will be last in line behind the electric company… the gas man… the bagel guy..
oh my.. I called again today and they said check back at the end of the week.
Brad
I called EA today and asked to speak with a supervisor. I told the supervisor that the FDIC and TBW both said that the funds have been released and, as a result, I wanted my money back. The supervisor said that they, EA, did receive a letter from the FDIC on October 15th saying that the funds have been released, but that they cannot do anything until the bankruptcy court tells them to release them. So now I guess we have to follow up with Mr. Roth at the FDIC and see if it is true, or maybe call the judge’s chambers.
Is someone going to call Mr. Roth? I really want our money back, with the holidays coming up, it would certainly be nice to have it. I called EA yesterday after receiving a letter from them saying I have a credit balance in my account after we refinanced and that I could call to have my money refunded. I was really excited until I called and the guy said it was a letter automatically sent out when payment methods change and to disregard it. Of course the first correspondence I got from EA during this whole fiasco is a piece of rubbish. He didn’t seem to know anything about when the money would be refunded, but that’s not a surprise. I’m going to call Mr. Roth today.
I just called him the other day, as discussed above. I plan on calling him next week. If you call him today, I would appreciate if you post what he says. Maybe if we just keep calling all the relavnt parties regularly, they will finally have a little sense of urgency. It has been over two months now.
It seems that this is the only forum that is tracking the issues and I’m glad we are teaming on this.
If the question is asked to Mr. Roth… ask about will we have to file a claim with the court or will TBW do the right thing and refund our money?
It’s been too long…
Below is the response I got from Taylor bean about when will I receive a new escrow refund check for the one that bounced. Sounds like we need to keep calling Judge Funk’s office and not the FDIC
Please be advised that checks will be reissued once the Jacksonville, Florida Bankruptcy court approves the disbursements. Unfortunately, a date for the resolution has not been provided yet. We apologize for the delay and inconvenience.
Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.
Respectfully,
Loan Servicing Department
According to TB & W my loan was transferred to American Home as well on 10/19 and I am to start making my payments to them for the November payment. It is now the 2nd and I have yet to hear anything from anyone on whether this transfer has gone through. Apparently I am going to have to contact someone this week to figure out where I need to make my payment. I thought the escrow payment reimbursement issue was to be resolved by 10/31? Does anyone have any updates?
I can still log into TBW and I see my account was transferred and AHMS was paid but no word yet from the new lender. I did get an email from TBW on my escrow issue and they said “if there is an overage I can request a refund from my new lender” I know for a fact there is an overage since I made my own tax payment in Sept! I am hestitant to call this new lender as I want to see something in black and white from them before I start in on the next headache. If I d o not get anything by Friday I am going to call.
update, AHMS now has our info online I am on hold with their tax department right now
Thanks to whoever set this site up. I too am an escrow account bad check victim. It is nice to follow all of the comments and know that at least something might be going on. Having common friends all trying to get the answers gives me hope that maybe I may get my $1200 back. I am in Utah, and called the Utah Department of Financial Institutions on Sept. 29, 2009. The person I spoke to said she would file a Proof of Claim with the Middle District Court in Florida, Jacksonville Division. I can’t remember where I found the form. It may have been at bmcgroup.com, who is handling the court documents. It is in PDF, so I filled in the blanks, printed it and mailed it with a return stamped self addressed envelope. I don’t know what good has done me. I did recieve the reply back saying it had been filed on Oct. 5th. About the only thing that is now happening, is that I recieve notice of court dates and the court documents in the mail. I don’t know what to do with any of it other than sit and wait for Judge Funk to do his thing. I saw one comment that said that by filing a claim, it just puts me in line with utilities, other employees of TB&W etc. There is probably a lot of truth to that.
Good luck to us all and thanks again for some kind of forum to share and vent!!!!
Duane
Todd and Lucy,
My loan ws transferred to Roundpoint September 8th according to TBW. I just got my first statement on Halloween from Roundpoint showing the escrow moved over and they paid my Homeowners insurance 10/27. Be patient as it took almost 2 months for Roundpoint to get the file. File the Proof of Claim at BMCgroup.com if you are owed a new check
For anyone who has tried to comment on this post in the last day or so, I’m sorry the comments got locked. I have them set to close after so many days, to prevent spam, and that time had elapsed.
Thankfully, a reader alerted me that the comments were closed. I’ve reopened them again, so you can continue to post updates on your TBW status.
Hopefully this will be resolved before the comments close again!
Lynnae,
Thanks so much for having this site, I guess when you set the date for the comments to close you never would have anticpated this debacle would still be going on, just like the rest of us who assumed we would have our money back by now!!! :)
Thanks Lynnae, this page is really helpful to all of us.
called TB&W again today and they said the funds have been released but it’s being done in phases.
They have told me about the phases for weeks now.
Just want my escrow back.
has anyone tried calling Judge Funk’s chambers since it seems he needs to sign the paper in order for people waiting on their money from EA back, I think that would be the place to call. I’m going to look it up and call later maybe. I did call FDIC on Friday and that is what Phil told me, we are waiting on papers to be signed for the funds to be released.
I called EA today. The finally had an update, the first time in weeks. They did say that they recieved notice from the FDIC that the EA accounts were going to be unfrozen in the next few weeks. At that time, as said before, they will send letters to us to let us know that the accounts have been unfrozen and that we need to call to tell them what to do with our money. I thought that this was atleast progress to the “I have no new updates” line.
Hey all,
You can get all the court documents at the BMC Group website. It is bmcgroup.com and click on the bankruptcy tab and go to Taylor Bean list. (Read all about how complex it is. I sent my Proof of claims for my bounced escrow check today.
Judge Funks Courtroom administrators number is 901-301-6566. His name is Ray. Keep calling him daily. Fill up the voicemail
Randy,
Can you elaborate a bit on what you did to file a “proof of claim”.
I’d like to send one too.
I have over 5k of funds from a bounced escrow check.
Serious bummer.
Thanks for all your help!
- Danny
As part of the agreement between the FDIC and TBW, TBW had to file a report with the court by October 31st detailing all the money in their accounts, where the money was supposed to go, etc. TBW filed the report on October 30th. They have not finished that accounting, but the report detailed what they know up to this point. I got a copy of it. I suggest you all call the court and try to get one to. It is too long to post – 35 pages. Tell the court that it is document number 555 on the docket. It does appear that the judge needs to sign off before the money is released – that is why he wants the report. TBW said in the report that they are going to have a meeting with the FDIC in mid-November to finalize the report. The report also breaks down the different issues. For those of you who used EAP, like me, that money is in a Colonial Bank account with a bunch of other payments from other third parties. The report said that TBW is close to straightening that issue out and should be able to have them released soon (assuming the judge allows it). For those of you who got a bounced escrow check, that seems to be the complicated issue that will take some time. There must be thousands of people impacted by TBW’s bankruptcy, because the money in the accounts is in the very high millions.
Thanks to everyone who has added a post and given helpful information. Special thanks to the person who created the site!!! I sold my home with the Taylor Bean loan in July and closed on Aug 4. Yes, one day before they went lights out. I have over $3,000 in escrow that TB owes me. I think I’m lucky they didn’t send me a bounced check. But, now check? Not sure how that will work out. In the search for a new home, the deal, then moving, I’ve put this on the back burner but realize now, I need to move on this.
I will be contacting all the people you suggest. I will post my update as I have them. Please continue to post updates as it is very helpful to get the information … this too shall pass :)
Today, I filed a complaint with the North Carolina Commissioner of Banks. The form was simple and easy to fill out. To do the same, go to http://www.nccob.org/nccob and select Consumer Assistance, then complaint information.
Not sure if this will improve my standing but hopefully pressure from outside groups will move this forward.
I filed a complaint with the central FLA BBB and received a response from Laura Nigels, VP of Loan Servicing, TB&W.
Here is the response:
“We are currently working through the bankruptcy court process to resolve TB&W’s outstanding issues. The outcome fo the Borrower’s specific escrow issue will be subject to resolution obtained from the bankruptcy court. At this time, escrow funds are unable to be disbursed. We apologize for and inconvenience this may cause the borrower.”
oh well… hurry up and wait.
Danny,
Go on BMCgroup.com This is the company that posts all the court documents and filings in the TBW case. They also handles all claims. Click on the Bankruptcy tab and it will allow you to search clients. Clicon the T and it will take you to Taylor Bean. It will then say File a claim. Click the form, print it, fill it out and mail it with all documents you have. In my vase I sent a copy of the bounced escrow check I received back from my bank. Include all fees charges by your bank. Include a self addressed stamped envelope and they will send you a copy of you Proof of filing. You will then be treated as a secured creditor. Hope this helps
Does anyone have any updates lately?
I called today and it was the same… $$$ being released in phases
I’m another victim of the TBW fiasco. I refinanced my mortgage, and they sent me a check for 33-hundred dollars. of course, it bounced. so i, too, am waiting for this money to be released. thank you for setting up this site. it’s been a relief to know that i’m not the only one they screwed. let’s keep fighting for this and maybe one of these days we’ll see our $$!!
I just called EA. I spoke with “Stephen” and I asked him if EA had any bew information on when we will get our money back. He said that EA received a letter last week from the Bankruptcy court stating the accounts in which EA keeps its funds will be unfrozen in a “few weeks.” He also said that we should be receiving letters from EA in the next few weeks informing us that the funds are unfrozen and that they will be sent back to our checling account. He then the funniest thing I heard in a while – the letters will iremind us that we have the option of continuing participating in the EA program. Like that would ever happen.
Thanks for calling D! I feel that we’re making some progress and there may be light at the end of the tunnel…but keep calling EA (as I am going to next week). If they haven’t sent any correspondence thus far, I have this feeling that they might not let us know exactly when the funds are unfrozen. Haha, yeah if anyone continues the EA program after this fiasco, they have to be a complete idiot!
Thank you all for posting your findings. I had been told by TBW representatives that our money was released and sent to the new loan servicers in the form of a check and that the new servicer just had not posted it yet.
After seeing your entry, I called EAP as well and they told me that the money was still frozen and they were waiting for approval form the bankruptcy court to release it, which they expected in the “coming week.” Then they would direct the funds as we request, back into our checking account or on to our new servicer…
It seems like everyone has something different to say about whose money is where and, of course, none of it is confirmable!
I talked to Phil Roth from the FDIC today and he didn’t have a lot of new data. He heard about some of the funds being released but no news on the escrow checks. The FDIC is working with the court and the bank to get the funds to us, but with no timetable.
I wish I had better news. Brad
My kudo’s to this site’s/blog creator. If anyone has eMail addresses and/or telephone numbers for any correspondence to involved Judges, Atty’s, Clerks, TBW personnel, etc. PLEASE POST THEM IN THIS BLOG! We should ALL be sending as MANY eMails as possible to these contacts.
When people say that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, they mean that the person who complains or protests the loudest attracts attention and service
(http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/squeaky+wheel+gets+the+grease.html)
I received a statement today from AHMSI after the transfer from TBW. This statement lists the escrow balance I had prior to my september and october payments to the defunct TBW. Does anyone know if the escrow funds have indeed been transferred to the new mortgager? And is it possible the unaccounted escrow funds from the past two months is frozen or hasn’t been forwarded to AHMSI? I will call the new loan company, but when I spoke to them last week they were not very helpful.
And I’d like to reiterate that to whomever created this blog – it has been very helpful as there is such a minimal amount of information. Thank you.
kathy,
did they note the payments from sept and oct? If not that may be why the escrow funds are not there? Mine was all accounted for but I never made my Oct payment to TBW. I paid AHMS instead as by time October rolled around I was sick of TBW and was unconvinced they would make my next tax disbursement. If TBW hasnt cashed those check, can you stop payment on them?
Kathy,
I am with Roundpoint now and got my first statement last week. All escrow transferred but I paid August, September and October directly to Roundpoint after I got my new servicer letter
Judge Funks courtroom administrator is Ray Readdick Phone is 904 301-6566 and his Judicial assistant is Edrie Brown 904 301 6560. You can get all info you need at BMCgroup.com All court documents and file a claim if you are outstanding a bounced escrow check
Any idea how we can collect our fees from TBW? We did some contract work for TBW and they never paid us..How can we file a claim? Rex
Looks like there is a hearing this Friday the 20th to approve the Debtor in Possession funding for TBW. Hopefully the judge will sign off. The court docket states that they cannot finish the servicing reconcilation without the financing. Maybe this is all coming to an end Docket # 617 on the BMCgroup.com website under the Taylor Bean case
Randy -
For those of us who do not understand, can you please elaborate what exactly Debtor in Possession funding is and what it means for us?
Hi Tracy,
When a company files for bankruptcy they need to get debtor in possession (DIP) financing. This allows the company to continue operating or liquidate smoothly. Basically a bank gives them a credit line to fund their operations and I assume in TBW’s case, to reprocess the outstanding escrow checks and move escrow to new servicers. The BMC group handles all the claim filing and posting of court documents. If you have not been out there I would sugges it. BMCgroup.com, click on find a bankruptcy case, click florida and scroll done to TBW. Tells you all court filings.
Thank you, I have went to the website and read, but it all sounds like French to me…your explanation makes more sense. Hopefully we’re coming closer to an end.
Thanks for this site. My husband & I are victims of the TBW fiasco. We came back from vacation on 8-10-09, and tried to change HO insurance policies – this is how we found out TBW had been shut down. They wrote our old insurance provider a check for our new policy the day before they were shut down. This $2200 has been my quest to get back since that day. Fortunately, during all of our research we found that we should start paying BAC on 9/1, instead of TBW. I’m really glad we did this or else we’d be even further in the hole. We’ve been trying to work with BAC to get to the bottom of this, but this 5 month process is getting old. Everytime we thingk we give them everything they need, we get another letter daying what we provided isn’t good enough. Like everyone else right now, we feel robbed. I just wish there was a way to file a civil suit against them for providing fraudulent information to the people who took over the loans, hence the reason why we can’t get the money from the agencies that took over the loans.
I’m so glad you posted this blog. Knowing there are others out there going through the same issues you are, makes it a little more tolerable.
If there is anyone out there that used or uses St. Johns for their Homeonwer’s Insurnace provider – I have been speaking to the most helpful person yet. Her name is Annette Capilos. She was able to obtain a copy of the check that TBW sent in for my payment and e-mail it to me so that I have proof that they were not paid. Her e-mail is: annette.capilos@sjicsips.com – her boss is also a big help, her name is Carol Cooper. Her number is 800-748-2030 and e-mail is: carol.cooper@sjicsips.com
Good luck everyone and keep the postings coming.
I’ve been a lerker on this site for a while now. Thanks all for the great information. I’ve got a bounced escrow check from TBW’s Platinum Bank. I was lucky enough to refi before TBW went under and but got caught in the frozen funds fiasco …I am only out the escrow refund ($1K). I did register my claim with BMC…thanks Randy for the clear instructions!
I’m waiting for the day when I see someone post a message here about actually getting a reissued check that doesn’t bounce!
My google alerts have been going off for TBW… Seems that Freddie Mac filed a claim for like $600 Million.
http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/11/23/daily16.html
Part of that may be our bank where the escrow money is…
I was one of the lucky ones to refinance before all these. I can’t remember when my refinance closed, but it was around the July & Aug months. I got a escrow refund check in the mail a long time afterwards (I remember I was checking the mail everyday for it). I think it came some time in sept, but I forgot about it and didn’t deposit until last week… of course it bounced too….
i started out blaming partly on myself for not depositing right away, but it seems like even if i did, it would have bounced too. what i don’t get is, why did they mail the checks if they didn’t have the funds for it?…
i called Taylor Bean today, and the rep was pretty mean. she said escrow funds still haven’t been released. and when i asked her about the bounced check fee, she was like “huh, you should feel lucky if you ever get your check.” it sounded like i’ll never get it… my check is not much, compare to others here, but still, i work hard for the $$!
oops… forgot to thanks Lynnae for setting up this page! it’s very informative!! thanks so much
Happy Day! I just called EA and told me that my funds were unfrozen and that they are sending them to my mortgage provider this Friday. Since I paid my September payment out of my own pocket after the funds were frozen, my current mortgage provider told me that the funds EA sends this Friday will be for my December payment. EA also said that they will not be withdrawing any more funds. They said they had “good news”. You think? It has only been three months.
After seeing this comment, I called also – even though I had already called them this morning. I got the same response, stating that they would start sending checks to the new mortgage servicer on the 27th!
I wish all the best to those of you with the Escrow issues and hope that you receive a good resolution soon as well!
WOW, I never thought it would happen either. I just called EA and they are sending my balance (equal to one mortgage payment) on to my new loan servicer. They said that if the amount is enough for one mortgage payment that is what they are instructed to do. If it is less they will send a check to you. That is for those of us with EA. I also hope that the money shows up for all of you bounced escrow checks. It’s been great keeping up to date with you all. The guy at EA said that all of this money just became unfrozen within the last hour!!
Just called again, the same woman answered the phone, but she sounded a lot nicer this time.
Anyway, she said the escrow accounts are still frozen, but call back next week. I’ll call again on Monday… I want my money back :(
I just talked to EA and they said some people will get checks, it depends on when you stopped the EA program. She told me anything after September 9th. In my particular case she said the refund would come to me within 5-7 business days of Nov 27th. Check the junk mail good in case you get the check LOL
Guys, has anyone else heard anything regarding escrow check refunds? This is getting ridiculous. I feel royally and doubly screwed. The FDIC seized Colonial, leaving us customers with bounced checks and bills on *FUNDS THAT ARE LEGALLY OURS*. And I’m not even mentioning the heart-ache and stress that naturally comes with misappropriated funds. Not only that, but since we’re all tax-payers, we are also indirectly footing the bill for Colonial’s insolvency (FDIC funded by taxpayer money). I can not stand the injustice on this. Who’s watching out for us little guys?
What I want to know is why hasn’t this gotten any media attention? This is obviously affecting a whole lot of families. Does anyone possibly have any connections? I emailed a couple of my local stations and linked this blog but got no response. Maybe if we can get some attention to it, it will give them a swift kick in the butt!
I called the EA and was told checks had been mailed and I should expect mine in 5-7 days.
I talked with EA yesterday and they said a check was sent by the FDIC on Nov 27th. I will let you know if it doesn’t show up.
I also talked with EA last week and they told me a check would be mailed out on 11/27 and that I would be receiving it in 5-7 business days!
Tracy and Tina,
Did you receive your checks yet? EA told me the same thing – 5-7 days after November 27th, but I haven’t received it as of today.
I received my check Saturday, thank the Lord.
Next Bank account reconciliation is due by TBW to Judge Funk on Dec 15th. First one was delivered October 30th. TBW says no escrow checks will be reissued until the reconcilation is complete. I would not hold your breath for a new check before Christmas. If you have a bounced escrow check like me, you need to make sure you file a secured creditor claim at bmcgroup.com to protect yourself
5-7 business days is what they said so that would be at least Dec 7th
Randy,
7 business days would be Dec. 8th, probably not counting the actual date they say they mailed the check (Nov. 27th).
EA told me the same thing (5-7 business days) so I am suspecting the same thing..around the 7th or 8th.
Got my check from Equity accelerator today! merry Christmas
Randy-
Was it from Equity Accelerator or from the FDIC? Hopefully mine comes today or tomorrow, at least by Monday.
I was wondering if anyone has gotten a escrow check back from Taylor bean and whitaker? or will it be coming from someone else thank you
I called them this week and got the same story… releasing money in phases… blah blah blah.
I asked them about escrow and the bounced insurance check. They said they would send the insurance check back to the company and I would have to get it from them.
I sure wish they would put out a news release or something.
How can I get a check from Equity Accelerator? Is this something that had to have been set up when TBW was in business, or is this something new?
I’m out $ taken from my escrow to pay for my homeowner’s insurance that was never rec’d by the insurance company.
I got a check from TBW Equity Accelerator program yesterday.it was dated for 11-27-09. I took it to chase bank since that was where the account was issued from, they refused to cash it! they said that the check was no good. so i called Equity Accelerator. The lady on the phone assured me it was a good check and to cash it. i told her that chase said it was no good and that was where it was issued from again she assured me it was good. so, I took the check to walmart and they cashed it for me i just hope it doesn’t come back on me. if the checks start bouncing, isn’t that check fraud on tbw’s part? i’m holding the money until the 12th of dec that way walmart can be paid back if this check is really no good. by the way Chase wouldn’t tell me why the check was no good just that it was. Please let me know if the checks do start bouncing, i would really like to know. Good luck to us all!
I’m in a slightly different position than many of the other posts here and would like to see if anyone in the same predicament as I has come up wit a staregy that has worked. I’m bing told by David Dantzlet of the law firm of Troutman Sanders that there are 749 people like myself who had their loan re-financed by TBW where TBW had the orignal loan and then also did the re-finance. Citrus Land Titla did the closing on 7/27 and supposedly TBW was funding the loan by 7/30/2009. Well the old loan was never paid off , and TBW issued me a new loan as well. Subsequently TBW transewfered the old loan to Cenlar. TBW has the new loan . Both companies are looking for me to pay their mortgages. I have not paid either. Any suggestion?
I’m in exactly the same boat as you are. We refinanced at the end of July (Taylor Bean to Taylor Bean). Also mailed my Sept mortgate payment in early August using the coupon in the refinance package. As I had always done in the past, I mailed them the payment plus additional escrow and additional principal. This payment went to Orlando, FL (per the coupon) and was cashed and then frozen at Colonial Bank. So I’m out over $1100 if I don’t get it back. My new mortage was never credited for that Sept payment. Subsequent payments (the bare minimum) were made to Taylor Bean and credited. My last payment, sent over 3 weeks ago, was never cashed and I can no longer view my Taylor Bean mortgage info online as in the past. The old mortgage went to Cenlar. Cenlar has paid my taxes but not my homeowners insurance, which is now overdue. It’s a huge mess.
Yvonne I have the same problem as you , except I have refused to pay anyone until the old mortgage is paid off. I feel that if I pay TBW and the old mortgage that is now held by Cenlar is not paid off that the money paid to Cenlar will be lot as they are in bankruptcy and the chances of ever getting any money from a bankruot company is slim and none. I refuse to pay Cenlar as the loan was supposed to be paid off 7/30 prior to this whole fiasco. I have been in touch with the attorney’s handling some of TBW bankrutcy issues and they claim there are 749 loans like ours, and that it will probably be resolved in the next 30-60 days.
I wouldnt pay either of them until the old loan is paid off. TBW cant report late payments so your ok credit wise in that regards. Tell Cenlar unless they send you proof that TBW filed an assginment of mortgage (on the old loan) with your town hall, then you have no obligation to them as of yet because according to town evidence records TBW still holds the loan.
I got my check from EA on Friday, December 4th. I deposited it on Friday night in my local bank, and the check cleared. It was drawn on JP Morgan. Good luck to everyone else.
Received my reimbursement check fro TBW on Fri 12/4 .. mailed to Vanguard and it has cleared. ($2100+ change) Hope everybody else gets their due monies as well.. good luck
Hi BT,
Was that an escrow refund check, or an EA check?
It seems like the EA issue is slowly being resolved, but I understand that the rest of us escrow refunds guys are still SOL.
Thanks for keeping us posted.
- Danny
Danny – we were in the Equiy Accelerator program .. This was not related to Escrow so to speak. Again, the check definitely cleared.
Any new from anyone in the “Escrow refund – bounced checks” group? Haven’t heard much news lately. Other than just registering our claim, are we all just waiting for the alleged “release of funds” ?
I spoke to a rude rep a few minutes ago who snapped at me that the bankruptcy judge had not made a decision yet and they have no ETA for it. Bl**dy a*ssh*les
Srini, thanks for the update. Frustrating, especially when you have to deal with rude people to get bits of information about your money that was mishandled by their employers. Hang in there! Merry (fill in the blank).
I keep hearing that if your escrow refund check bounced that you need to register a claim to try to get it back. Where and how do I register a claim? I appreciate all the posts and info available here and hope we all get our money soon. Thanks.
Darrin,
Here’s Randy’s very helpful post from November:
Randy November 5, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Go on BMCgroup.com This is the company that posts all the court documents and filings in the TBW case. They also handles all claims. Click on the Bankruptcy tab and it will allow you to search clients. Clicon the T and it will take you to Taylor Bean. It will then say File a claim. Click the form, print it, fill it out and mail it with all documents you have. In my vase I sent a copy of the bounced escrow check I received back from my bank. Include all fees charges by your bank. Include a self addressed stamped envelope and they will send you a copy of you Proof of filing. You will then be treated as a secured creditor. Hope this helps
Jesse/Randy
I am not sure about the secured claim portion of the form (#4). Do I say the entire amount is secured and then fill out the details of my home? Please help.
THanks,
-Srini
Hi Srini,
Yes, entire amount is secured as it is your money paid from your mortgage payment into your escrow. TBW or any creditor DOES not have the right to that money. Hope that helps. I sent a copy of the bounced check along with the NSF from my bank as I stated I want interest and the bank fees incurred due to the bounced check
Thanks Jesse and Randy,
I already did filled out that claim many weeks ago, I just thought there might be a different claim other than the BK claim. Wanted to make sure I wasnt missing anything. Thanks again,
Darrin
If it is true that former customers of TBW need to submit a CLAIM to receive our funds back, why is the company, the federal government or legal sources informing us of this? I have not received any correspondence from any of the former.
Thanks for all this great info…I too had escrow refund check that bounced back in August and it would have been a nice x-mas present to get this mess cleared up by now…oh well…keep updating this site if anyone hears anymore news.
Scott
I have a slightly different problem than the bounced equity checks. Besides being caught in the refinance problem where my old mortage went to Cenlar and the new mortgage stayed with TBW, I sent Sept’s payment to TBW (regular payment, plus extra escrow & principal) on August 5th. I mailed it to the address on the coupon in the refinance package. This check went to a lockbox at Colonial Bank. The check was cashed, but never credited to my account. It went to Colonial Bank and got frozen there. To date nobody has received the money–Cenlar where my old mortage was mistakenly transferred, or TBW, or me! And Colonial Bank is no longer in existance! Does anyone know how I can get this payment of $1149 back?
Any news? I thought that the Judge was going to do something on December 15? Guess that fell through.
I keep reading about ea refunds or filing claims for bounced escrow checks what those of us that were not transferred over the correct amount in their escrow to the new mortgage company. TB&W had just withdrew monies to cover my homeowners insurance when they were shutdown and state farm was never paid so I had to pay out of my own pocket to cover the bill. Now I am out that money when will I get it back? What do I need to do?
I refinanced at the end of August and have been following this site since my escrow was never refunded. I just checked my TB&W account and the account info is no longer there. I called the court and spoke with somebody in judge Funk’s chambers they told me the court has decided on everything and it is out of their hands. She then gave me the debtor’s attorney number to call. I asked if my money should have been refunded based on the court’s motions and she said yes. I am awaiting for a call back from the debtor’s attorney, but I am now getting a little nervous. I never received a check, so I did not put in a claim. Should I have? Does anyone have any other information?
Spoke to Tiffany @ the FDIC she told me that tb&w should have by now finished reconciling who is owed what from there escrow accounts and supplied that to the bankruptcy court and that a ruling should given by spring of this year to either release or not release the funds.
“and that a ruling should given by spring of this year to either release or not release the funds.”
This is even an option?!? Dear Lord, help me now!
I just spoke with Sheila, I think that is her name, in the debtor’s attorney’s office. She told me to file a proof of claim for this money (I am one of those that is owed escrow, but never was issued a check) and that another motion was going in front of the judge on January 22nd. I asked about getting our money back, more looking for a when than an if, and she could not give me a straight answer. So then I asked her if I would get my money back and she still did not give a straight answer. I am beyond nervous at this point.
@ Jennifer What was that Tel # for the attorneys office and how do we file a claim?
The attorney’s number is 813 229 0144. The attorney handling the case is Robin Vaughn. As far as the instructions for filing a claim, you can find them on Randy’s post on November 5, 2009.
When filling it out, I did not know what to put in for the secured credit part. They ask what you are secured by. This is where it gets a little cloudy. This money is ours it is not owed to us for services they were holding it in trust, so I do not know what to put down as to what we are secured by.
I am slightly uncomfortable filing a claim as a creditor because I believe we are not creditors. It is our money. We should be given our money before operating costs, before payroll, before everything. They should be sending back the money that is not theirs, but was being held in trust for us.
Is there anybody who is looking out for the consumer in a case like this? You know… a court appointed somebody. I mean, how do we know our case is being represented correctly?I know the other major creditors have attorneys and I just hope someone is looking out for us. Anybody have any ideas on this?
Do we need to file a claim to get our funds back? I don’t understand… I thought our money would simply be reimbursed when the funds are not frozen…
@ Jennifer
That’s how I feel it is out money. But since they owe it to us I guess we would be creditors but hopefully we are first in line. As far as section 4 is concerned that is where i get a little confused.
I guess we check the box for real estate, put the value of our house but what about annual interest rate. Do not know. And what would do enter at the basis for claim line?
4. Secured Claim (See instruction #4 on reverse side.)
Check the appropriate box if your claim is secured by a lien on property or a right of setoff and provide the requested
information.
Nature of property or right of setoff: Real Estate Motor Vehicle Other
Describe:
Value of Property:$________________ Annual Interest Rate___%
Amount of arrearage and other charges as of time case filed included in secured claim,
if any: $__________________ Basis for perfection: ____________________
Amount of Secured Claim: $__________________ Amount Unsecured: $__________________
Last day to file Bankruptcy claims is March 15th. It has been posted on BMCgroup.com under TBW and then click court docket
I am writing the escrow refund that bounced that I never got off on my 2009 Federal taxes as mortgage interest. Figured the banks write this stuff off, so can we. Will check with a tax lawyer and post more
HI all, The court date motion to resolve borrower issues is set for February 19th. See court docket # 927 on the BMC group webiste. This porposes resolving the bounced escrow checks. Hopefully this is coming to an end
OMG –this is devasating… I received some money from my Mother’s small estate & was trying to pay off my mortgage to TB&W…. On 8/1/09 I sent a payment of $10,310.75 to TB&W….It was deposited to TB&W’s account at Colonial bank on 8/11/09….My account was picked up by BAC & I have spoken to them many times & forwarded a copy of the front & back of the cancelled check but they will not credit my account because they DO NOT HAVE THE MONEY…. They told me just yesterday that the funds are frozen & have not been released and they don’t know when funds will be released……In the meantime my mortgage should be paid off but I still have to make monthly payments…..My funds are not escrow funds, but a payment on principle….what should I do…..?
Does anyone know what the ruling was on the 2/5/10 motion “Emergency Debtor’s Motion”? According to the docs sent out by bmc this was the plan to solve the bounced escrow checks (among other issues).
Emergency Debtor’s Motion for Order Under Fed. R. Bankr. P. 3003(c)(3)(I), was granted on February 5th. This motion set a cut of for indeviduals who have not filed claims with BMC. The cut of is 10am on March 15th 2010. It’s just another stepping stone.
Here is a link. I’m not sure if it will work unless you go through the BMC terms agreement page.
http://docs.bmcgroup.com/TBW/docs/flmb_3-09-bk-07047_873_0-4.pdf
so, am i reading this right? i have to file a claim to get my money back and i have until march 15th to do so? don’t they know who they owe money to?
Randy,
Any word from a tax preparer on writing off the escrow money lost as a miscellaneous deduction on taxes?
I will wait to file until Feb. 19th, but if the end isn’t in sight, I was also thinking of deducting the last escrow as a deduction, and then if I ever receive the funds, I would declare as income the next year.
hi guys,
someone posted this on another site: “I am trying to get us more media attention. Please visit the following I report link. Hopefully if we get enough web hits someone at CNN will take up this story and our cause.”
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-408074
maybe if enough people comment this will finally get some media attention?
I too Have an escrow refund check worth nothing from TBW.
I contacted Riedel, Blain & Prosser in Tampa, Fla as are representing Taylor, Bean & Whitaker in the bankruptcy.
The paralegal guided me to this website to see the headway that they are making on filings to refund our money. It is http://www.bmcgroup/TBWmortgage.com.
What I want to know too is if this is considered a “bad debt” and can I write this off along with the back charges incurred from the dubber check that TBW issued.
In addition, in the state I live in, issuing a bad check is a criminal charge, but that would probably only pertain to Colonial Bank and not TBW.
One of you inquired about the FDIC covering these payments as obviously TBW would have been covered to a certain limit on their account at Colonial Bank. FDIC insures deposits up to $250,000 now which I suppose is a drop in the bucket to what they owe customers and their former employee’s who also have a law suit pending.
Judge Funk approved the Motion to Resolve the Borrower issues and overrode all Objections on Friday. End of the road soon hopefully
Great news. Thanks for keeping us all up to date and informed Randy. Now I’ll just will wait for the day that someone reports that they’ve gotten their escrow check and that it didn’t bounce!
OMG I have never been this frustrated before!! Bank of America has been of no help on this TBW issue. I get so mad that one department knows that my payment was made, and other departments are so clueless, they keep calling about “late payments”. This stems back to August 7, 2009 when I made my payment by telephone to TBW. Now, I would like to refinance through Bank of America, but can’t due to my “deliquent” payments!!!!
File a complaint with the BBB. I did that in regards to the late payment and TBW removed the late payment from the credit report!
BTW – Per my post above, I will be shopping elsewhere to refinance my loan….Any suggestions???
Kelly – I refinanced with Wells Fargo and have been really happy with them.
I have already been speaking with someone at Wells Fargo…Thanks for the advice! Last I heard though, rates to banks were going up a quarter of a point….FOILED again!!!
I SPOKE WITH TBW LAST WEEK AND TODAY AND YOU DO NOT NEED TO FILE ANY CLAIMS. THEY HAVE ALL OF OUR INFO AND WHAT THEY OWE US. THEY ALSO SAID IT MAY BE 3-4 MORE WKS AND THIS WILL BE OVER.
so they should be sending us new checks?
At this point…would you REALLY believe these people? They have lied to us before. Just file a claim to CYA.
BOFA has been helpful just wish i had my cash so i didnt have to pay anything up front like i had to do because of late fees but oh well what can we do. It is like we can go to FL and burn down TBandW because nobody should be there. sad face :(
happy face :^0……..<===3
I also called a FHA rep in my state from a number I found on one of the websites yesterday…I gave him my FHA case number found on my original note document and he was able to give me a ticket number and stated that someone from FHA will be calling me on or before Monday. This means that someone will be dedicated to researching my case….I was also told that we do NOT need to submit a claim and that our money is guaranteed to be returned to us.
Just talked to someone at the law office representing TBW. The protocol to resolve borrowers issue (docket #927) now has a written order, I believe. Investors have 10 days to tell TBW lawyers if they are taking part in the protocol, and by all accounts, they will. From there, investors will post contact information for borrowers on the taylorbean.com Web site. Checks will be issued from investors (those who own your loan) and not TBW. So the end is near, hopefully.
My current loan servicing company issued me a credit to my escrow for the amount of the bounced check. I noticed it on my statement. So I had to call and ask for that money, they are not just willingly turning it over.
jonna-
who is your current loan with?
It was with AHMSI. Those people are AWFUL to deal with. I just got done refinancing with Waterstone mtg. AHMSI decided to credit my acct the $$ that I paid out of pocket too and are sending me a check for my escrow…so I am told!
I am with AHMSI and they also credited my escrow for funds I paid out of pocket due to a bounced check for my property taxes. I was on the phone with them constantly and ended up filing a complaint with the BBB. Shortly after I filed the complaint they credited my escrow and mailed me a check because this put my escrow in an overage.
Same here. Filing that BBB complaint was the best thing I ever did. AHMSI has not bothered me since and sent me back all my money.
You DO NEED to file a claim if you are looking for bank fees charged to you caused by the bounced escrow checks. Read that in the Borrower protocol Docket 1079
Anyone get a bankruptcy claim form in the mail today with bankruptcy papers? I already filed a claim, but I guess I will do it again. Also, the deadline to file the claim is in June. So that means this situation won’t be worked out before summer time.
I too got a bankruptcy claim form in the mail. I already filed mine, though, and got proof of it, so I think it’s just operational. Not going to file again. Hopefully we will all get our hard earned money back soon ….
Is everyone getting packets from TBW or the BMC group?
I haven’t received anything. It seems like everyone who had checks made out to them have gotten notices. My problem is, my bounced check was made out to my homeowners insurance company – a company I no longer have a policy with. Chances of me ever seeing my money is slim to none it seems. Unless of course the insurance company cuts me a check for no longer having a policy with them instad of returning that portion to TBW. Yea, right!
Randy-
I believe I’m in the same boat as you. You seem to have alot more information than I do about the Taylor Bean and Whitaker situation. I sold my home in IL at the end of July, purchased another home and was waiting for my escrow check from TBW. Like everyone else my check came up NSF. Just to clarify do I need to fill out the form on the BMC website to claim the funds? From your earlier you said the judge approved the the motions; does that include individuals whose escrow checks didnt go through? If anyone can help me or has any information please let me know.
Thanks!!!
Alica, Yes you do need to fill out the claims form. The deadline is June something but I would do it soon.
hey guys!
The website has changed and the call center will shut down today. I called them and they have a new recording and no more humans. There will be a link in TBW’s website soon to type you loan number in and find out who has your money for escrow.
OK… I transferred my loan and TBW never gave me the money at all. So they have my money… I sure hope someone has it and will send a check soon. We no longer have anyone to call.
TBW web site is down.
are they working on it to add contact info for us?
It’s back up. Nothing new posted.
Ok, I need some help. I read through the protocol documents and I fall under issue 3. i refinanced prior to Aug 5th and received a check from Platinum and it bounced.
This document doesn’t really explain any actions I need to take. Just that i should receive my money back.
Any suggestions.
If you want to make sure your proof of claim is registered, you can go to http://www.bmcgroup.com and select find a bankrupty case, choose TBW. Then when the case info comes up, you scroll down until you see Claims registery, click on it and scroll until you see your name and the amount they owe you. Hope this helps, I want my hard earned money back also and I am tired of being patient. They sure aren’t patient when you owe them.
So I went to the Claims Registry and my name wasn’t listed. What should I do?
Aimee,
Did you file with BMC? Did you get a stamped return copy? Just feels like busy-work anyway because nobody seems to have gotten their dough yet…
I sent in my claim last week. Was there a deadline that I missed? It seems that there is no one place in which to get all of the necessary information.
Aimee,
Go to http://www.bmcgroup.com/
Click on find a case
Scroll until you see Taylor, Bean, and Whitaker
Click on Taylor, Bean, and Whitaker
Scroll until you see a section called “Where to Send Claims”
Click Proof of Claim
Fill out the proof of claim and attach any supporting documents.
Send the completed proof of claim and supporting documents to:
If by regular mail
TB&W Mortgage
c/o BMC Group, Claims Processing
P.O. Box 3020
Chanhassen, MN 55317-3020
If by messenger or overnight courier
TB&W Mortgage
c/o BMC Group, Claims Processing
If you include a copy of your claim and a self addressed stamped envelope, they will return a copy to you stamped with “filed” on it. That will be your proof that it has been filed.
The deadline to send in the proof of claim is June 15, 2010.
18750 Lake Drive East
Chanhassen, MN 55317
Do you guys think we’ll ever actually see our money?
I do think so for escrow… eventually. Hopefully this summer since the deadline to file claims is in June.
Taylor Bean did finally include on their website a place to put in your loan number to see who will be dispersing escrow checks. I tried putting my info in, but it doesn’t have anything for the contact information yet, but at least you can check to make sure they have your loan number and information!
WHAT A BUNCH OF BS. I contacted the servicer that the Taylor Bean site listed for my loan. Not only is it not the servicer who currently services my loan today, but as expected, they have no record of this issue and are unable to help. A call to my current loan servicer was met with the same response.
I find it hard to believe that those morons at TB&W were able to stay in business as long as they did, given their clear ineptitude at resolving even these simple issues.
Has anyone actually had any success in contacting their servicer?
We refinanced last summer, but then never got a check at all for our escrow. I put our loan number onto their website, which provided a vendor that we are supposed to contact. We contacted them and they have no record of our loan at all. We don’t expect to ever see the money since we can’t trust anything we are told by TBW.
Keith,
I had the same thing happen. They listed my servicer as Bank of America. At this point my hope is that Bank of America doesn’t have all the information filtered down to their customer service people.
Meanwhile TBW has become nearly impossible to comminicate with. When I email them they reffer me to their website to login. The online login tells me that there is no account set up for me.
yep… BOA was me as well… I talked to the lady on the phone for a while… She called the number for TBW and got the recording… She sounded amazed and was meeting with her supervisor since their instructions tell them to contact a recording.
I sure hope they figure it out… sounds like somebody didn’t transfer some data… my insurer is ginne mae… maybe they need to cut us a check.
everyone keep posting!!! drive them nuts!
If you are waiting for a new escrow refund check, it might be awhile. I talked to the FDIC and one of the people at Bank of America in Dallas handling the issuing of the new checks today. They hope to have a process hammered out in the next 2 weeks. They all sound pretty clueless. The money has been transferred from TBW to the investors to cut checks but there are servicing releases to get from TBW and work out a process. Hope to see a new escrow refund check by June. Dont even waste your time calling TBW. Good luck all
I’m a bounced escrow check victim too and I’ve registered my claim. When I plug in my old loan number on the TBW page I get Freddie Mac as my investor with no Subsequent Servicer or Servicer Contact information. I’ve called Freddie Mac borrower outreach center (800-373-3343, then press 1 three times to get to an agent). But all they have is the months old line that they are “waiting for funds to be released by the FDIC and the bankruptcy court”. Very disheartening. The gal I talked to was pretty clueless and had nobody else to put me through to. I indend to keep calling until I get answers. Yuk.
I’ve called BOA today again… They are pulling up old loan info from 2008 and have no info on my loan at all… they say to call TBW.
I’m going to call Ginne Mae…
I spoke with BMC today and all that they could tell me was that the judge hasn’t determined if he will release the necessary funds so that escrow refund checks can be issued. If the judge releases the funds then either BMC or a third party will more than likely issue the checks. If he doesn’t release them then our claims will have to go through the bankruptcy court and it could be years before our checks are issued, if they are issued. I have left a message with the bankruptcy trustee to see if she had any further info at this point.
I don’t think that’s accurate. The judge has already approved the protocol.
It’s now up to the investors to start doling out funds to borrowers.
AMA is correct. Jeremy, everyone has until June 15th I believe to get their claims forms in. The judge has approved the release of our escrow money. *Hopefully* we will see our money sometime this summer.
Jfro,
You are way behind the times buddy. The escrow money has already been released to the investors, i.e. Bank of America and the others per the FDIC when I talked to them Tuesday. It is now up to the servicers of the loan that the escrow was tied to for them to send the check. Caklling BMC and Judge Funk is not what you want to do. You need to call who serviced that mortgage
Big suprise that I was given bad information.
Brad
I spoke with a contact at Bank of America the FDIC gave me Tuesday. Regular customer service will have no clue about the process to release the escrow funds she said. They are working out a process to cut checks. Dont waste you time calling the BOA customer service number on TBW’s website
Randy,
You seem to know alot about this.
My problem lies with Issue 4, the net-funded on. Any contacts I can call on that? Any info at all on Freddie Mac?
Randy,
You seem to know alot about this.
My problem lies with Issue 4, the net-funded one. Any contacts I can call on that? Any info at all on Freddie Mac?
thanks Randy… That sounds correct. They had no clue on what was going on…
Thank goodness for this blog… Keep the info flowing!
Randy, thanks again for the great (and hopeful) info. I’m a bounced escrow refund check victim (issue #3, Platinum bounced checks) and I have filed my claim with BMC. BMC/TBW says my investor is Freddie Mac and they have “opted in on the #2 ruling” whatever that means. I’ve called Freddie Mac’s call center and they are clueless and won’t put my call through to anyone who might know anything. Randy, it sounds like your contact at FDIC had a good number to call at BOA…might the contact also have a good contact at Freddie Mac???
Just take the time to read the Borrower resolution protocol. There are names of the attornies and the FDIC with email addresses
Just to let everyone know…BMC only goes by the info TBW provided which I found out is not correct–no, I am not surprised. We had the discussion last week and they referred me to the council for the creditors’ committee.
I emailed TBW but didn’t receive a response for over 1 week.
When I put in my loan number, it said BoA would handle my reimbursements. BoA won’t handle them because I don’t have a current loan with them. I was one of the ones who refinanced with someone totally different just before the bottom fell out. So, since I had no current loan with TBW there was nothing transferred to BoA even though the borrower protocol search on TBW website said it did go to BoA. After not hearing from TBW, I called BMC who didn’t know how to answer other than to refer me.
I emailed to the council’s address but am still waiting on a response–it’s been a week now. Coincidentally, after I emailed them, I finally received a response from TBW telling me to go to my account because they wouldn’t email the info I requested–I only wanted to know who would handle the reimbursements.
The problem with my account is that it hasn’t worked since March 2009 and we were having to send checks in rather than e-payments, at TBW’s request. So, I was thinking, if I couldn’t access my account since March 2009 and I no longer have a loan with TBW, how am I going to access the account now? I had to establish a new account and log in to see their response, which was call someone else…oh, and the number to call had no options to select that applied to why I was calling. I ended up emailing and hopefully I will get a response soon.
The worst part is our contractor who needs to be paid for the insurance work he did keeps calling us and I have no more money. (TBW negotiated the insurance check and never paid the contractor.) He has filed the appropriate claim but wants us to pay him while he waits to hear back from them. Every Tuesday my ulcer gets worse and I can’t sleep Monday night because I’m expecting his call. The physical and emotional tolls are almost worse than being out all the money. If it was only my own money I might be able to overcome but the harassing phone calls from the contractor are really doing me in. We have kept him informed at every step but he suggested I get a loan to pay him while he waits for reimbursement. I don’t even know I am going to put food on the table let alone pay a loan payment. We don’t even own a new car–ours is 12 years old and on it’s last leg. I can’t get a loan if I wanted to because of what this TBW mess has done to us financially.
I wish I could hold TBW liable for the emotional and physical stress this has caused.
Anyway, I am just hoping we can get the reimbursements ASAP.
Good news, just got escrow check refund in the mail today for the full amount. AMHSI is the issuer and I am on my way to the bank with fingers crossed to see if it clears. I was one that refinanced through another company and did not receive a refund of my escrow. Good luck to all and I really appreciate the support this site has provided. Thank you.
Did you file a claim to get your escrow check refund, or did you get it without filing a claim? Hopefully the rest of us can start seeing our checks come as well.
Jennifer-
Did you initially receive a bounced check or never receive anything at all? Were you included in the borrower protocol order? Just trying to get an idea if they’re getting around to the rest of us…
I was one of the people that refinanced end of August and got stuck between their bankruptcy and my refund. I never received a check. I filed a proof of claim back in March and received the POC back with the filing stamp. I believe I was number 3 in the borrower protocol order, but am not sure, and cannot find the paperwork. I was owed close to 3000 and received all of it today on a check dated 4/6 by AMHSI. I deposited the check this afternoon and will post as soon as it clears.
Thanks for the info. I have two situations, issues 1 and 2, and I filed issue 2 in January and issue 1 in February, both with stamped copies back to me. I am praying the checks come in soon.
Spoke to my contact at the FDIC today and they still can’t find anyone at Bank of America that knows when new escrow refund checks will be cut for anyone that had Ginnie mae as their investor. I will post the Bank of America contact person’s phone number tomorrow so we can bombard her. Dont hold your breath for a new check from Bak of America anytime soon if that who is listed as the successive servicer when you put your loan number into TBW’s website
Randy-
Thanks for the update. I tried, unsuccessfully, to talk to BoA yesterday and was ultimately disconnected. I also sent a 2nd request email to Ginnie Mae because they haven’t returned my phone call or email. It is getting even more frustrating that there is no answer for some of us on when we’ll get paid. I’m sure BoA doesn’t care because they aren’t out the money but for us that are, this is ridiculous.
Hey i refinanced in end of july and recieved a check mid august and it bounced and filed the poc and alot that so does anyone know anything about when i should get a new check or who will the check be coming from.. let me know please and thank you all for the updates
HI all,
If you are awaiting a new escrow refund check and your Investor was Ginnie Mae and the Servicer is Bank of America, according to the TBW website, the FDIC gave me a contact at Bank of America who we need to flood with calls. I have called her 3 times with one return call. That was two weeks ago and she said they were figuring out a process to cut checks. Please call Jennifer Dittrich at Bank of America’s Dallas office at 972-526-6435. I told her if she did not call me back today I would post her direct line on this website. I thought dealing with one person would be better than thousands, but she made her choice. The FDIC is frustrated with lack of answers from BOA as well. Please call Jennifer daily. I have aso been calling Judge Funk’s office daily to advise that BOA is not administering the Borrower Protocol. Thanks.
Thanks for posting this. I called her this morning at 8:30 am (central time) and was actually able to speak to her. She gave me the same song and dance she gave you with no time frame. Hopefully everyone else continues to call her.