It’s been over a month since I received a rubber escrow refund check from my former mortgage provider, Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker. For those who didn’t catch the story the first time around, my husband and I refinanced and had a $1200 escrow refund due.
At the end of August I received and deposited the check into my bank. A few days later it was returned NSF, causing us to be charged a bunch of overdraft fees that were eventually reversed.
Here’s the update: there is no update.
The Status of Escrow Accounts at Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker
I have called TBW three times now to find out what is happening with my escrow money. Every time I was on hold for around an hour before being told that the money is there. It’s just frozen by the FDIC. According to Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker, I will receive the money, when the FDIC decides to unfreeze the money.
I’ve talked to the FDIC. The FDIC put is blaming TBW in the matter. And they had someone from TBW call me back, basically telling me the same thing TBW told me when I initiated the call.
So basically, nobody at either the FDIC or TBW is giving anyone a straight answer.
The Status of Former TBW Mortgage Holders
Former TBW mortgage owners are in a world of hurt. Some have had to come up with property tax payments out of their own pockets…after having paid a year of tax payments into their escrow accounts.
Some people can’t afford to pay their property taxes and have been assessed late fees. Some are even in danger of having leins put against their property, because they haven’t paid their property taxes.
Some people were part of an Equity Accelerator program that somehow ran through TBW. And payments they made to TBW didn’t make it to Equity Accelerator, so now they’re behind on their payments. Ironic, since the reason that they signed up with EA was so they could get ahead on paying down their principle.
Others still aren’t sure to whom they should make their mortgage payment. On one day they’re told that their mortgages are with Bank of America, and on another day they’re told their mortgages are with CENLAR. And still others have been told that they are part of TBW’s restructuring, under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, meaning that the need to continue making payments to a company whose funds are frozen. Not very encouraging.
Where are the Answers to the Taylor Bean Whitaker Crisis?
In doing a Google search for the status of Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker and the funds they (or the FDIC, depending on who you talk to) are holding, I haven’t come up with much. Neither has anyone else.
Other than local Ocala, FL papers, there hasn’t been much news on the third largest mortgage provider’s bankruptcy, other than the fact that they have indeed declared bankruptcy.
Basically customers are forced to get information from other customers. My last post on Taylor, Bean, and Whitaker has over 160 comments from mortgage customers sharing what they know and what they’ve been told. One reader mentioned that a ruling had been made in the legal case between the FDIC and Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker, but I’ve had trouble coming up with an online source to confirm that.
You’d think that there would be a better way to keep consumers, some of whom have thousands of dollars at stake, better informed about what is happening and what to expect.
I also think it’s sad that here we have a situation that is affecting hundreds, if not thousands, of people: people, who have done everything right, but are paying a high price for the failure of their mortgage company. Yet in the national news, Jon & Kate’s unraveling marriage is of more concern than what happens to people when Taylor Bean & Whitaker doesn’t pay property taxes and insurance.
Search Results:
- CNN: 0 for Taylor Bean Whitaker, 7 pages for Jon & Kate. A search of CNNMoney.com produced 2 results for Taylor Bean Whitaker.
- MSNBC: 29 for TBW, 1,580,000 for Jon & Kate
- Fox News: Difficult to tell, as there doesn’t seem to be a good way to do an exact search. However a search for “Taylor, Bean, and Whitaker” returned two results for the mortgage company on the first page. Other results included Taylor Swift and Green Bean Casserole. A search for Jon and Kate turned up at least three pages of results that were purely about Jon and Kate Gosselin. I stopped looking after three pages.
Does anyone else see something wrong with this picture?
Photo by lrargerich.
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I recieved a $5800 hot check for my escrow fund. I would love to treat Taylor Beene the same way they would treat me if I would have bounced a mortgage check to them. I wonder if I should be filing complaints with any federal or state agencies? If anyone has any information or advice I would appreciate it.
i too am caught up in this whirl wind of who holds my mortgage. i accessed a web site called department of labor & economic growth.(ofis) i live in michigan and i contacted my attorney general’s office. through the office of dept of labor & economic growth i was asked to file a formal complaint against tbw. what good it will do i am not sure but i hope it prevents tbw from foreclosing on me.i think the next step will be to contact an attorney.
Thanks for the advice Jeanette!
I too live in Michigan and had a bounced escrew check. I do not no what to do. TBW stated they would get my money back but did not say when (I contacted them by e-mail) I am not sure this is sufficient to get money back however. Can you give me where or how to contact attorney general. Writing bad checks is against the law is it not!! Linda
Wrong with this picture? Oh, yes. That was driven home to me – again – last week when David Letterman’s infidelity was the top story on cnn.com ALL DAY, while little mention was made of our men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you’re not ‘pop culture’ in this country, you’re not newsworthy. Sick, sick, sick. Our news outlets should be hanging their heads in shame. Is it any wonder you can’t fine information on TBW? Taylor Swift and green bean casserole – that says it all.
Your post sums it up better than any I have seen!! I am out $2900 via the Equity Accelerator Program who by the way, kept debiting my checking account “after” the FDIC froze the TB&W and Colonial Bank accounts. Like everybody involved, I have been frustrated at the lack of answers from any of the parties involved…FDIC, TB&W, EA as well as my state banking authorties. So much for consumer protection!! The Tampa newspapers are stating that there is 10/31 deadline for “submitting” a plan to the bankruptcy court on how TB&W via Freddie Mac will process all of the frozen checks and payments. I am fed up with the lack of information so I wrote Barney Frank’s office….he is the Chairman of the House Finance & Banking Committee and he also happens to be my Congressman. Also sent an e-mail to Freddie Mac asking for more information on the court decision. I’ll let you know what I find out should I get a response from anybody.
I’m in this Equity Acceleration Program boat as well and apparently am STILL waiting.
I just talked, again, to a TBW rep who has told me that the Mortgage payments from EAP were released. They say that they sent over 50,000 individual checks to the new mortgage servicer two weeks ago and that they are just not posted yet.
Of course, BoA cannot confirm that they have received ANY check from TBW because it has not posted on my account. This is Christmas money that they are sitting on!!
How fortunate for them that they can feed us information that can neither be confirmed nor denied.
The TBW rep also told me, because she thought I was talking about escrow funds, that the funds have been authorized for release but they do not have any time table for disbursement of funds held in escrow.
I don’t know if anyone has seen this yet, but Clark Howard has a resource page for people who’s mortgages were held by TB&W at http://clarkhoward.com/topics/taylorbean.html. I hope this helps! I feel rotten for you guys. I guess the very, very, very slim silver lining is that when (if?) you eventually get your escrow accounts refunded, it will seem like a windfall. Sort of. Except for the fees and heartache and agita you’ve had to suffer going through this…yuck. Maybe that’s not even the slimmest of silver linings.
What a nightmare! Praying this gets settled and soon!
We’ve had our share of mortgage fiasco this past year too. Incompetent ninnies!
http://www.superlawyers.com/florida/lawyer/Edward-J-Peterson-III/67970e65-6148-42b3-af9e-252850e22e52.html
this is the Trustee in bankruptcy…we can always try and bombard him with compliants about TBW
My heart goes out to all suffering injustice at the hands of mortgage companies. We have had to deal with other injustices in the past and I am so very thankful that we now own our farm free and clear.
What a mess! Yes, the media truly does need to be ashamed; they seem to cater to the lowest common mentality with so much attention to things that matter very little if at all. Sensationalism sells. I really hope this is resolved soon. So many people are really hurting because of this lunacy.
That really sucks!! But this is a good example of why you should have an Emergency Fund because unfortunately, things like this happen.
Hopefully, you get your money back soon.
I hope this gets settled soon. I’ve been having to make my monthly insurance payments to keep it current and, with all the escrow fiasco, for the moment anyway, I’m out $4200. The FDIC is fighting with Fannie Mae and TB&W insisting that they know how best to handle and disburse the escrow monies. But my thought is, if the govt. handles that part of it, it may be well over a year before anything goes out. =(
I am in the same boat. I sold my home more than 2 months ago, but have not seen the $2800 escrow check. Any updates would be appreciated.
This wouldn’t have been a problem if TBW hadn’t taken out a $3500 insurance policy on my condo without notifying me. It was a duplicate policy. The same policy had been in place for years through my HOA. They had this on record, but chose to take out a policy through their insurance branch just when they were clearly desparate for money. There is no mail at the physical address of the condo and I can only guess if they sent anything they sent it to that dead end instead of the PO box that they had on file. I canceled the policy and the $2800 they owe me is the pro-rated balance. If they were still in business I would try to get the $700 back, but at this point I would be happy with the $2800 that they admit they owe me.
I’m in the same boat refinanced and awaiting $3500. Just talked to TBW and the same thing still frozen
I search daily for updates on the bankruptcy and there is very little info because every article indicates that the folks at TBW aren’t talking to anyone in the media. The FDIC and TBW are supposedly working on an agreement and are scheduled back in court on October 31st. I wouldn’t expect to hear anything before then.
I still can’t get any information either. I have turned it over to an attorney friend of mine. I’ll post any information he digs up.
I am another victim of this mortgage “swindle.” TBW issued my escrow fund check for $3000 and it bounced like all the others. It will seem like a God send if we ever get our money. Thanks to all of you who have been on hold and gathered the information that you have.
This is really sad. I think this needs to be a big part of the “CHANGE” we were promised. All I see is what the rest of America sees: Movie Star problems, Jon and Kate and their debacle of a marriage. Why does American media think that is all that matters? What matters is what is happening to Americans who are working and trying to make ends meet just to see it all get taken! That is the priority here. That and our soldiers! Families should be the priority. Instead, we get people who had a lot of kids! They make the headlines! Get real News Media and get the word out on these people losing their homes and money that they had depended on!
Seems to me like those Mortgage companies put the money in their pockets to pay their bills with and flat out robbed all of you people to do it! Just as bad as the big help to the big companies who used it to go get massages and have fun! The real folks who needed the big help are people like you! People like all of us who work hard and pay in just to pay in more and more! The worst is not over yet. Grocery prices, gas prices, just living prices are amazing! Some things at the store are DOUBLE what they were last year at this time, but…we are still waiting on “Change”. The only change I see is in my nearly bankrupt piggy bank!
I am going to be praying for you all. I hate what has happened with the rubber checks. Someone should be accountable. But…it will take something like a miracle to fix this. God bless. Hang in there people. That is all any of us can do. Hang in there.
Lucy’ s suggestion on the super lawyer site: http//www.superlawyers.com/fl…..22e52.html
is a good idea. Also scroll down to the bottom of the site, hit the
“contact” in the row at the bottom, then pic out the site for the publisher who wants to know if you have an interesting story. Tell them yours people! Everyone needs to do it so they can see that it is needed. Won’t hurt to try. At least it may get some attention.
Yep, same story. We sold our house and TB&W wrote us a refund check for what they owed us from our escrow account and overpayments, $4400. It bounced when I cashed it. Please keep us posted and thank you for writing this!!
We are also waiting for a re-issue of our $3,800 check that bounced. It has been very frustrating. I have made several calls to TB&W and have spent hours on hold just to find out there’s nothing more they can tell us right now. I just want MY money back!! It feels a little more comforting knowing we are not alone. Thanks for all of the posts.
My wife and I found out last month that our insurance and taxes are not getting paid with the escrow $$ we have go in each month. She called TBW and asked if we could just pay it ourselves. The rep told my wife that, as indicated in our note, we would have to have that done through the state of AZ and that they would request a fee of .25% of the loan to process it. ??? We both read through our note and there is no mention of that at all, only that TBW has the ability to let us out of automatic escrow payments at their discretion.
I sense a lawyer is going to be needed soon, as I am adamant about not sending another dime until I know who my $$ is going to and none of it will be tied up by the FDIC.
TB&W owes me $2,156.00 from my escrow impoun account. I refinanced in July 2009 with a different lender and have had the same problem contacting TB&W. My last call went through and I was told when the bankrutpcy court gives the go ahead, TB&W will issue the refunds. I hoppe it is soon.
We are in the same position as many of you on here. We refinanced our mortgage in July and received our escrow refund, deposited and proceeded to pay several bills with it, to find out 5 days later it bounced causing over $900 in fees from our bank. Our bank would only remove a few of them. So, now it has cost us several hundred dollars more of OUR money. Don’t they realize escrow accounts are the customers money, not theirs! Then to add salt to the wound, I hear about TBW coming up with $70,000 to the utility company in Florida to keep their lights on! Why not use some of that money to offset what they owe thousands of customers. I’m sure the big wigs at TBW aren’t losing sleep over a few thousand dollars, but I am and I am sure many others are also. It might not seem like much to them, but we were counting on our escrow refund, after all it is our money!
scott,
I tried that too about a year ago when I sensed they were improperly handling my escrow account. my closing documents never mention that I have to pay escrows. in fact I was the one who requested that I escrow with my mortgage when I first bought my house, I thought it would be easier! The only thing I could think of is escrows could have been a condition to underwriting the original loan. If they cant handle escrow accounts we should be allowed to withdraw from the program. I sense more and more each day, no one is looking out for the consumer!
I Am also waiting for a re-issue of our $1400 check that bounced. It has been very frustrating. I have made several calls to TB&W and have spent hours on hold just to find out there’s nothing more they can tell us right now. I am Glad that I got out, But I need to Know how and when I can get my money.
I thought I was the only one swindled of $4500 for the Escrow refund till I stumbled on to this website. In my case, I wasn’t even able to get a call through to TBW. So does this all mean no hope for getting our money back>
I too am waiting on TBW to pay my property tax out of escrow. I talked to them and they said their hands were tied and it was up to the FDIC and they were trying to un-freeze the escrow accounts. I asked them what I was to do concerning the property tax payment and was suggested I go ahead and pay it. I suggested I quit paying into escrow and I wanted my money back. They said I couldn’t do that and to continue making payments into escrow. Good money going after bad. I don’t know what to do?
I worked for TBW as a Quality Control Underwriter until 2008. I always had to tell people what I did with my tounge in my cheek.
1st off ,TBW was a privately held company. Very few checks and balances and what checks and balances were there ,were there for show to the regulators. Fannie Mae cut TBW off years ago. What took Freddie and FHA this long????
The TBW is also very complicated because they were in bed deep with Colonial Bank. The FDIC wouldnt normally be involved in a mortgage company case, they are more of a bank regulator. TBW and Colonial Bank were playing a shell game for hiding huge sums of Bad mortgage loans so you have multiple government agencies
making a bigger mess of it.
I really feel bad for TBW customers.
There are people who just closed on TBW home loans a few days before the FED came in and thyre loan never funded. Theyre old mortgage company never got paid off and theyre TBW net proceeds check bounced after borrowers wrote a bunch of checks to pay off other debts.
I knew TBW was a disaster waiting to happen, not only has it come to fruition ,but also has effected so many Joe homeowners in ways that never occured to me.
I have a bounced check for $4300 after I did a refi. Isn’t escrow money protected somehow? Aren’t we supposed to be paid first as debters of a bankrupt company?
Anyone contacting an attorney should update us if this is worth it
It was suggested to me that I should try to file a creditor claim with TB&W and after a quick call to the Middle District of Florida (Jacksonville) Courthouse I got info for the bankruptcy court. Which directed me to BMCGroup.com and I left a message and found out the Proof of Claim form for TB&W
http://www.bmcgroup.com/restructuring/geninfo.aspx?ClientID=218
However that being said my lawyerspeak is veryyyyyyyyyyyyy weak so I’m having some issues filling it out.
Go to the website in Victor’s post.
http://bmcgroup.com/restructuring/geninfo.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.
I think article 6 in doc 222, “Tax and Insurance Payments” cover most folks in the bounced check/unpaid escrow refund arena. You’ll find it on the 10th page of doc 222 (although it shows a page number of 7).
looks like the timeline is “as soon as reasonably possible” (last line on that page).
Victor and Bratt,
Many thanks for some great and valuable info. I would suggest anyone that is waiting for bounced check filling a written claim via this web site.
thanks to all of you who have called TBW and spent the hours on hold. Many of you have gathered valuable information and I have used the claim form to file my claim and get in line for my $3000. I finally got the claim form and the information on where to send it. Now I pray I will some day get my escrow refund… which was my money and got tied up in the mess. I need that $3000 more than TBW and it was so wrong of them to rob me!
I’ve had pretty good response for escrow issues using:
866-369-6509
LoanFunds@TaylorBean.com
A question for the folks who field up the claim form. Can you say what you put in for “entitled priority under U.S.C 507(a)”? Are there any claim priority that we can assume for a bounced escrow check?
We are not entitled to any priority that is listed in this case. I checked with a bankruptcy attorney about it.
that form seems to be intended for creditors.
As I understand it, the priority given in bankrupty cases is:
1) depositors
2) creditors (w/ preference given to non-subordinated)
3) shareholders
I’m not an attorney, but from my perspective, I didn’t provide any services or products to TBW. They were holding my money. The fact that it was in an account with their name is semantics.
I think we’ve got a strong case to say we’re depositors, not creditors, which puts us at the top of the list. There may also be other laws protecting those funds, which might put us in a different class.
At any rate, there seems to be quite a bit of rumbling that the money will start flowing at the end of this month, with some kind of prioritization. I haven’t seen any official prioritization, but would assume tardy tax/insurance payments will be 1st.
I don’t think I’m going to fill out a form, labeling myself as a creditor, yet…..
Good question about what box to check for “entitled priority. Any answers?
I, too, am going through something very similar. We refinances and TBW issues us a rubber check for $4651.63, a rebate of the amount held in escrow.
My understanding is that the bank, Platinum Community Bank, upon which the check was drawn (majority owned by TBW) was seized by the FDIC. When this fact is stirred in with the FDIC’s statement to me that TBW’s assets were frozen by the FBI, and TBW’s argument that the escrow funds are subject to the bankruptcy proceedings, it is impossible for me to know WHAT caused the check to bounce. If the bankruptcy proceedings then I still don’t get it because escrow funds are not the property of TBW but instead held for a client’s benefit.
Thanks for sharing your experiences. Maybe if we band together we can get to the bottom of this?
Margaret Rover
As i understand it, Platinum Community Bank, functioned off of a line of credit from Colonial Bank, which happened to be taken over by the FDIC (unrelated to TBW). When that happened, all Colonial (and consequently Platinum) accounts were frozen as is typically done in a bank takeover by the FDIC. Complicating the matter was the suspicious relationship between Colonial and TBW and Platinum, where it appeared that operating funds were co-mingled with escrow funds. Anyone out there correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that is why this is taking so long. Part unfortunate confluence of events, and part bad business practices by TBW. In any case, it would appear, based on the statements from the court, FDIC & TBW that our money will be returned….someday.
Anyone have a good attorney working on this issue? Are we all going to have to band together in a class action suit to get the money which is owed to us? It is about time that we stand up for our rights and make TBW pay dearly for the anguish which they have put us all through!
I was told today the court case number for Jacksonville Florida is 3:09-bk-07047-jaf and that the Judge in this case has all assets frozen. Of course I have been told this for four months.
I pride myself on paying ALL my bills, in cash, on time. I joined this Equity Accelerator crap in order to pay down my home mortgage (15 yr note) in just 12 years. I will be the first one in line to march up to the A-hole(s) house, knock on his door, grab him by the throat and JACK HIM UP — just to gain some satisfaction that some no-good stuffed suit can STEAL our cash while other stuffed suits sit around and watch.
I am in the same boat. I refinanced my house before TBW went bankrupt, without knowing they were having financial problems. I received my escrow check balance from TBW of around $800 only to have it bounce.
I have since been calling every number I can find only to get different answers from everyone I speak with.
Today, I called TBW. They told me their accounts were still frozen and they were not sure when the funds would be released. When they were released the funds would be paid in stages. I asked for a time line (1 month, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years), she said she did not know.
I called the following number with the FDIC, 1-800-378-9581 (Missouri office). The lady their said she had a letter in front of her stating the funds had been released on 10/16 and that refund disbursement had begun. She said the Dallas office was handling this and referred me to their number, 1-888-206-4662.
I spoke with the lady in Dallas, and she was clueless. She said the FDIC had nothing to do with the holds on TBW’s accounts. She forwarded me information about contacting my current loan servicing provider. I became tired of telling her that I refinanced prior to TBW going under and that my current service provider had nothing to do with this. She was determined to forward me an email that she thought would answer my questions. She forwarded it, and it had nothing to do with escrow refunds.
If anyone is considering filing suit against TBW, please let me know.
I will keep you posted on any information I gather.
FWIW,
I’ve had pretty good response for escrow issues using:
866-369-6509
LoanFunds@TaylorBean.com
BMCGroup is helping administer the bankruptcy case. Go to their TBW website:
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 (dated 10/16) is the final result that addresses all of the subsequent filings & amends doc 222. The last time I checked, there was an appeal of the final stipulation, but it didn’t state the basis for the appeal, only that one was filed (doc 520). Whether it will have an impact on the timeline or not, I don’t know.
At the far right of the top menu is a link to “File A Claim”. You’re welcome to fill that “Proof of Claim” form out & mail it. However, I’m not certain that’s what the holders of bounced checks need to do. There’s another law that governs escrow accounts, RESPA, & I’m hoping it places us at the top of the list, since TBW was holding “our” money, not TBW money.
I just got off the phone with my new provider American Home Mortage and was told to fax a copy of the canceled check and receipt from my county showing I paid my property taxes. The rep I spoke with said it should take 14 days to resolve the issue and at that point I will receive my reimbursement for paying my taxes out of pocket. We’ll see if it actually happens. On a positive note the rep was very nice and helpful and I didn’t even have to wait on hold!
I called BOA for an unrelated question about my loan. While I had them on the phone, I asked them about my missing money from TB&W. The guy (who admittedly did not really sound like he knew what he was talking about) told me to fax a copy of the bounced check, both sides, and a bank statement showing it bounced, with a reference to the loan number and a note. He said it would be taken care of. I am not sure I should do that, I wanted to see if anyone else had talked with bank of america and heard something similiar.
Also, first post with all of the useful comments, now has the comments locked for some reason and it was very useful in keeping me up to date. I am not sure how to let all the other active posters on that blog to post over here. We need the information.
I doubt your new loan servicer will be able to help you on the bounce escrow check.
“Todd”s situation sounds different, in that it sounds like his full escrow balance from TBW was transferred to his new service provider & the new provider didn’t pay his taxes. Since he paid out of pocket, he just needs to send them proof that he paid it & they’ll reimburse him from the funds that they have in his escrow account.
In your (& my) cases, TBW cut us a check that bounced & sent our new servicers what was left over. I already asked my new servicer to help & they said that since the funds in question had never been sent to them, they couldn’t do anything. They said TBW would have to handle it.
hi todd,
AHMS told me the exact same thing yesterday, so hopefully we will get our checks. The girl was very nice who I spoke with. although then they transferred me to someone in India to discuss my October payment and he was not so nice!
does anyone know how we can keep our escrow money and pay the taxes ourselves? Do we have to do this forever? I would like to save it myself so I won’t be in this situation again
I talked to TBW two days ago. They said that their accounts have be unfrozen and they should be sending checks out over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully we will all be get are money soon.
Brad,
Based on the research I did before I requested Cenlar close out my escrow account (no longer wanted one after the TBW fiasco) I found out that escrow is not required for “conforming” loans. If the loan is more than 80% of the property value/purchase price, escrow is required. As well, for most FHA and VA backed loans, escrow is required.
I closed my escrow account with Cenlar by faxing the request to the appropriate department. It took a little time, but the account was closed and I just received my escrow refund check.
mark, how long did it take? I dont have the same new lender but just wanted to know if I shoul dtry and start the process before decembers taxes or after…
Lucy,
I faxed the letter requesting the closing of our escrow account Sept. 30th. The refund check was cut on October 21st and we received the check October 29th. I had money set aside in case the check did not make it on time to pay my remaining taxes, so the timing of when the check was sent was not a big deal for us. If the money from your escrow is the only way you can pay your taxes…I would wait, let the mortgage company pay it, and then close it after the taxes are paid.
thanks mark. I am more concerned with something strang happening like they close my escrow account the day before my taxes are due and dont inform me, I am going to wait until atfer Dec 1…who knows maybe the escrow refund will come before xmas ;0
This was all tremendously helpful. I had the exact same experience. TBW has thousands of our dollars and calling them was excruciating. Glad to hear that (hopefully) they have started dispersing funds. If anyone receives a check – preferably one that clears (!!) please comment and let us know!!
Melissa,
Unfortunately, the check I received was for escrow money that was transferred to Cenlar after TBW closed. The money was not for a past check that bounced. The $470 check that TBW sent to my insurance provider bounced and is still MIA. Not sure if I will ever see that money.
Talk to TBW again this time they say the money is being unfrozen in stages and that my escrow is not in this phase and they dont know when it will be released. This is such crap. Had i done this to them I would have had my house takein from me by know. CRAP CRAP CRAP!!!!!!
My new lender AHMS stinks. First they told me I would be reimbursed for the taxes I paid out of pocket within 14 days, now they are saying 90. I dont want to wait another 3 months, I paid them in Septmember-the amount in my escrow account far exceeds what it should per REPSA guidelines. I just want to stop making phone calls and worrying about this. I should bill TBW for all the hours I have spent on hold and writing letters!
Well that sucks…I was told 14 days by AMHS as well which I believe is tomorrow. I was planning on calling Monday if I hadn’t heard anything I’m assuming I will be told the same thing. This feels like we are being stung along. First 14 days then 90..what’s next!
todd, did you talk to them? I called today and the tax dept had no idea what I was talking about and forwarded me to a call center….this is starting to get annoying
I am in the same boat. Hundreds of phone calls later I am still out $1400 from a bad check that was wrote to me the first week of August. My loan was bought by BofA, I sent the request into them and they are “proessing the papers.” Taylor Beam owes me this money, this is wrong. Please let me know if Taylor Beam sends you guys a check, I am still waiting!
I received my package today from TBW & bankruptcy courts notifying me of the bidding process for TBW properties. I guess this is what has to take place before they have the assets to give me my $3000 escrow funds, that were MINE, not theirs. This country has to make some major changes to stop this type of fradulent rip off of us American tax payers. I have done everything right, TBW has done everything wrong, but somehow I am the one that is missing $3000 of MY money! Has anyone received their funds yet?
My wife called the same number today that she called when they told us 3 weeks. Now they tell us they don’t know where that person got that info to tell us that. I have never even been formally notified that there is a problem or even bankruptcy. I recieved a hot check for insufficient funds. I am going to the sheriffs department in my county to file a case against the person who is named on the signature line. Let’s see how that person would like to cough up my $5800 or face a felony warrant and be extridited back to the Texas Panhandle! Hey it’s worth a shot!
The BMCGroup site posted a doc yesterday in the Docket section (Document 648).
http://bmcgroup.com/restructuring/Docket.aspx?ClientID=218
If I’m reading this correctly, it looks like TBW is supposed to provide the judge with a status report on their reconciliation efforts by Dec. 15, 2009.
I switched mortgage companies right before this disaster and TBW still has my taxes and my last payment (which they took AFTER I already closed with a new mortgage company) in escrow. Do I need to fill out a claim on the BMCGroup or write a written request to TBW? I’ve called TBW several times and they won’t tell me anything.
I have a friend who’s an attorney. He said like it or not, that’s probably our best bet. I just mailed a claim for my bounced escrow refund check last week.
Barrt,
I read in the comments that you sent in a claim for the bounced escrow check. Where did you get the claim and how did you find out about it? I’m in the same boat with a bad escrow check. We refinanced with another company in July and got our bad check in August.
Sarah,
Here is the link to the website that is handling the bankruptcy
http://www.bmcgroup.com/restructuring/geninfo.aspx?ClientID=218
Top right is file a claim button.
Jean B’s post below explains the section of lawyer speak I didn’t understand.
The website has good info, so I’d poke around on it, but here’s a direct link, straight to the form, which includes directions & mailing instructions:
http://bmcgroup.com/restructuring/TBW_POC.pdf
It looks like they’ll scan your claim & post it on the website for anyone & their dog to see, so be sure to take a magic marker to any account numbers.
I found the information to file a claim from the Bankruptcy Court off of the website. The TBW case number is 3:09-bk-07047-JAK. My claim was filed with Clerk, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida. I am number 172. We who have bounced checks from TBW do not fall into a Priority category under section 5 of the claim form, so do not check that box. When a company such as TBW files bankruptcy, you have to file a claim form and get in line. This could take 6 months. They have to sell off TBW assets prior to claims being disbursed.
As best I can tell, unless someone is holding a lien on TBW property as collateral (highly unlikely), they would have neither a secured claim (sec. 4) nor a prioritized claim (sec. 5).
That said, do your due diligence & consult an attorney, if needed.
Case number correction 3:09-bk-07047-JAF
we refinanced our home in august right before all this mess and our loan was still sent to BOA AND sold to our current mortgage company!! HU? Bank of America has sent us letter saying we are behind and need to pay and everytime all call I go right to the collect dept. and they ask do you wanna make that payment and be current?? I just have to laugh because they have it noted in my account as I call twice a week for the months now!! I finally got ahold of someone at Taylor Bean Monday to ask why they hadn’t released the fund to my escrow and the funds for my pay off all she could say was my account money was frozen and they had no idea when they would be released but it would HOPEFULLY be before Christmas!! really!! This is ridiculous and there has to be something we can do to get this resolved faster!! Does anyone know what we can do??? I would really like my money before Christmas like before Black Friday hello!! Jerks! Taylor Bean is horrible!!
If there is any comfort in numbers, i am glad i stumbled upon you all. I refinanced my 1st td with TB&W more than 3 years ago to finance my mother’s care in an Alzheimer’s facility and I had no problems with them at all. I am in California and our news is horrible. I continued to pay them until they sort of just disappearred. Somewhere in there, my insurance company messed up and applied all my homeowner’s insurance payments to my brother’s earthquake insurance(don’t ask how) They sent a non-payment notification to TB&W. They also sent a letter of explanation a bit later but i was never informed when. So they TB&W started to collect impounds for insurance i didn’t need, but they did it as a negative impounds account. This insurance thing seems to be a fovorite of theirs. In July, Chase took over my personal bank and messed up all my auto pay payments so the payment top TB&W was late – it wasn’t my fault but Chase does not write letters. So here we are, i am 1800.00 in arrears on a loan i paid each and every month on time.
No one can figure out why, and no one at AHMI seems to be able to do annything. Last Friday, i got so frustrated with the woman, I finally just asked if she were in India, not Texas, everyone i have spoken with at the company is very polite and totally useless. All i have figured out is you have to prove everything from August to now. I have faxxed and faxxed and faxxed but it does me no good. Now i have to fax her proof ofp ayment but my chase web site wont produce onfor that month . ARGH!!! Who do you report this behavior to? It is ridiculous, my credit score has hit the floor, and all i get is more requests of proof. I have spent so many hours with TB& W and now these people! I am losing it
As far as I can tell…this Web site and its comments are the best source of information on the Internet concerning the TBW escrow tragedy.
My fiance is out about $1,000 on a bounced escrow check. She sold her first condo, after only owning it 1 year, and lost $13,000 on it…because of the economy. And this $1,000 bounced check was just the icing on the cake. Can’t help but feel like the American Dream is dead…and we’re only 25 years old.
Will be checking back here for answers…since no one who is actually responsible for this BS is actually willing to be held accountable. They should all be thrown in jail.
Please don’t get too downhearted, I have been through the mill a few times and sometimes you win sometimes you lose. I am not being flippant, i have lost property because of junkies and flakes and banks. The economy is not good but if you can pick yourself up and keep on going, you will be fine.; The American dream isn’t dead, it just got messed up by people who though they could get something for nothing. These stupid lenders got greedy and all of us who did pay got shafted by the people weo should never have been given a loan in the first place.
Hold your breath and plow through it, it is maddening but i have spoken to 4 different people for AHMI today, none of which say the same thing. The last one was at least intellignet and she swears it will take a month for it all to sort out. They haven’t gotten all the records from TS&W so they are operating in the dark too.
It might take an injunction to force TB&W to be forthcoming, they have losts of ‘splaining to do.
I’m so frustrated. I don’t know what to do with this. Equity Accelrator or TBW still has my september payment and BOA is harrasing us about it even though i have told them via phone and fax about 35x that we paid it. “oh it will be fixed by the end of the month” i have heard that every month for three months.
I’m about to check my credit right now, if something is on there i’m going to FLIP out. My credit card company will probably revoke my accounts if if that hits my credit and then my mostly perfect credit will be ruined. I’m only 22, i have worked hard and been responsible enough to have good credit, and buy a house and its all about to be ruined.
read this link:
http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=136817&catid=3
According to the letter at the bottom of that link, BofA was supposed to back off of any supposed “late” payments.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve got a 3rd party company making calls. The article doesn’t provide any contact info. for him, but you might be able to get to him by calling the general BofA numbers.
If I were you, I think I’d start demanding to speak to Rick Simon. If that doesn’t get you anywhere, send a letter via USPS “Certified” service to a named officer (CEO?) with your complaint.
I have the same issue as Angela. We refinanced in July just a few days before TBW got raided by the FBI. My old loan was not paid off as it supposed to, and was sent to Cenlar as an active loan. My new loan was still with TBW. After months calling TBW and Cenlar, nothing resolved. All I got is waiting for the bankruptcy court order. I have escrow balance in both the old and new loan. I kept paying to the escrow every month with TBW since I have no choice. My tax is due in 2 weeks, and TBW said they don’t know if they paid my tax since they have to wait for court order. What a mess! What should I do? Do I need to file a complaint for my escrows? or the fund to pay off my refinance loan?
Wow!!! I hadn’t really digested Angela’s post until I read yours & then went back to hers. I think you two are in the most frustrating circumstances I’ve read (paying your intended mortgage AND getting a past due notice on one that you THOUGHT you were finished with).
I’m not sure you’ve provided enough info. Were you going to escrow in your intended new loan?
If so, my experience has been that your “new” loan company would have funded all the escrow that they needed at the time you closed. As long as you’ve been making payments on the refinanced loan, they should be able to pay the taxes. I’d call the new loan company to make sure they’ve got escrow funds to cover it. I’d also call your taxing authorities to see who they sent the tax bill(s) to.
If you didn’t escrow in your new loan, I wouldn’t count on TBW having paid your taxes or insurance.
As far as the old loan, have you gotten Cenlar (BofA in Angela’s case) to understand that they’ve got a “hangover” loan? That it shouldn’t have anything to do with you? I would think a HUD-1 should show that your TBW loan was paid off.
Did your refi include Title Insurance? Title Insurance “might” have a provision for botched transactions?
The problem is both my old loan and my new loan are (one was)with TBW. My old loan is transferred to Cenlar. I have sent Cenlar a letter, called them many times. Cenlar told me they knew the situation, but still waiting to work with TBW to get it resolved. So far that is all information I got. And TBW told me that they wait for court order how to handle this. My old loan still has an escrow balance, but since the loan is not paidoff, they cannot refund me. I have no idea how I can get my money back.
My new loan is still with TBW, and I do escrow with them. I pay the monthly mortgage and escrow to TBW. My tax bill was sent to Cenlar since the old loan was not released yet. And I faxed my tax bill to TBW since TBW still hold my new loan, but got an answer that TBW is waiting for court order how to handle escrow account. What should I do?
Your taxing juridictions are going to expect payment, regardless. If you don’t have the money to cover it, I’d call your taxing agencies & see if they can offer any assistance (deferred payment, payment plan, etc.).
In my case, when my loan was transferred to Cenlar, Cenlar also got my escrow account balance. As far as I know, my tax bill also went (will go) to Cenlar.
Have you contacted Cenlar to see if your old escrow balance transferred with the note? If so, I’d try to work w/ Cenlar using only the escrow portion of the old note, not the principal/interest. Assuming they got the tax bill, they may be willing to work with you to get it paid. Ideally, they would pay what they could of the taxes & you could pay your taxing jurisdiction the rest.
Aside from that, I wouldn’t count on TBW being able to do anything for several months. Formal complaints might make you feel better, but I’m afraid it get you any further down the road. They’re taking orders from the Judge Funk.
Check the BMCGroup website (Docket section) on/after Dec. 15. TBW & FDIC are supposed to provide a report on their progress sorting thru this mess.
To explain more about my refinance, since we refinanced with the same lender (that is TBW), TBW supposed to tranfer the fund of the new loan to pay off the old loan. They didn’t do in time, and the fund got frozen. So my old loan is still active. I have an escrow balance left in the old loan, but cannot ask for the refund until the issue of payoff the old loan is resolved (according to TBW).
My new loan is still serviced by TBW until now. I pay my mortgage and escrow every month to TBW up to today. They actually processed the payments and applied to my account. I have more than enough in the escrow of this new loan to pay for my tax. But TBW told me that they wait for court order how to handle escrow account!!! I don’t know whom I should send a complaint to to get this resolved.
TH, when I was still with TBW and they insisted I keep making my full payments even though they had not used my escrows to pay my Sept tax payments, I was disgusted. Then I realized, ok so the amount prior to the bankruptcy was frozen, well what about what I had been paying since the bankruptcy? those funds should be available. they were cashing those checks-so that money should not be going into the frozen account. I would contact the Florida Attorney General and let them know. I would also insist that TBW reduce my payment to just principal and interest and if you really want to play it safe, put in your claim with the bankruptcty court for the full amount of your escrow account. I hope it works out for you.
Thanks for posting this information here. I found a website a while back that said our Escrow Funds where with Colombia Bank and they were taken over by the FDIC. Taylor Bean and Whitaker did misappropriate funds, including some of our escrow money to the best of my knowledge. But I will problably try to make a claim with the bankruptcy company and with the FDIC.
AHMSI is terrible, but a trick is you can ask for a stateside representative and you will get a live person in the great old USA!
Very glad to have found this site and all the information. I had a TBW mortgage and was using Equity Accelerator to pay the monthly mortgage. I noticed at the end of August that my checking account was not being debited for my bi-weekly mortgage payment and I called TBW and got no reply. I called my local mortgage agent and he told me TBW had filed for bankruptcy. I tried calling TBW many times and never got through. I refinanced to a local bank in here Massachusetts at the end of September. I had to pay September mortgage payment, closing costs, attrorneys fees etc etc. To date I have not received any notification from TBW that they were filing bankruptcy or what they are doing with my funds including $1,085 escrow and $4,600 in prepaid mortgage through Equity Accelerator. I called EA and found that they would deposit my mortgage payments into an account at TBW and When my mortgage was due TBW would apply my funds to my balance. EA did provide me with a reference number for my funds, an exact amount of those funds and a letter detailing the circumstances surrounding the frozen funds in case any negative impact would occur to my credit rating.
From what I read and what I have heard from EA the funds are there, just frozen. From what I can tell everyone on this site has done the right thing, been model citizens with respect to their mortgages and ended up getting hosed – All of our money is insured through the FDIC so I am surprised those guys are not more proactive and forthcoming.
Thanks for all these helpful comments.
I’m not an attorney, but I’m not sure our funds are FDIC insured.
Any attorneys out there who could clarify?
Phil your story sounds just like mine. I too noticed payments weren’t being taken out by Equity Accelerator and I had to call around to find out what happened. I am so glad I found this site because I felt like I was the only one this was happening to. In my situation, after waiting for the September payment to be paid…and waiting…and waiting..and calling…and getting nowhere… I started receiving foreclosure notices from my new mortgage company for that one missed payment, even though I paid October and even though EA claimed (or TBW or whoever these people are) told me I would have a 90 day grace period due to this “situation.”. First of all, why am I the one needing the “grace period” since I did nothing wrong? I paid that payment! Second, how can Wells Fargo also not know what’s going on? If this truly was the third largest mortgage company then Wells Fargo must know the situation I’m in, but yet they claim there’s nothing they can do to stop the late payment calls, and notices and threats and all that? All this after one late payment that wasn’t even my fault. To protect myself I had to take a loan on my 401K to cover that missing payment. But what has really burned me is the secrecy of it all. I did not receive one scrap of communication from anyone connected with this situation – not EA, not TBW, not Wells Fargo, not the FDIC. Well, that is, not until I wrote a letter to EA courteously indicating that I was aware that they had stolen my September payment and that I would be happy to file a suit against them to retrieve it. They were the ones debiting my bank account on m behalf and since the money never made it to my creditor I didn’t think it was too much of a stretch to blame them. A very pleasant man named Aaron Fabela must have agreed and did his best to talk me off the ledge, shoulder off the blame and FINALLY send me a letter explaining the situation. (I’m happy to provide a copy to anyone who is in need of some documentation but is also not getting it.) Note that this letter is dated November 12 nearly two months after the bankruptcy happened. And note that I had to ask for it repeatedly. The first service rep out in Utah that I talked to indicated he was not allowed to send me anything personally but “some” customers were getting notices from TBW directly. I asked him to please just open Microsoft Word and type the words “TBW filed for bankruptcy and we can’t pay your mortgage now” but no deal. Yes I do believe I am living in the twilight – welcome the 2009 American financial system! BTW you might also want to know that Equity Accelerator is actually Paymap, which is owned by Western Union – they’re the “middle man” in this deal and are sitting on their hands playing pass the hot potato. My buddy Aaron, the one who finally called me back and sent me my letter, indicated that the FDIC is “really” the one who deserves my wrath because well they were the ones who froze the TBW account. But he assured me that they (Paymap) had their lawyers working diligently to get those funds released. Three weeks later – no more contact, updates, phone calls, letters, emails or money. They sure are worried about me, me the valued customer. Anyway, if you want to get your own letter from Paymap/EA explaining the situation give Aaron a call – 720-332-4148. In fact give him a call every day just to say “hi!” until your money gets returned. That’s what I do. Heck even if you haven’t been burned by EA/Paymap, give them a call anyway and share your “I got screwed” story. This news needs to get around somehow. If anyone knows of other sites where we can get news please post them!!! The only thing the news is talking about is poor Freddie Mac and how they are getting burned. (sniff)
sherrie and phil, I was just wondering if you ever got your issues worked out. EA finnally sent my payment to BOA in late november so now its just a fight with BOA to get the late fees removed and my escrow payment lowered. I hope you two have similar good news
Has anyone recevied an escrow refund from AHMSI yet? I am so sick of the run around from them-they are absolutely useless!
Aaron thanks for the tip about AHMSI, They have me on spee dial, i think. I got two people who called made the paragraph long introduction of who and what they were and then asked for $291.00. I told the first one i had faxxed materials to them as requested to clear that up. Taylor Bean did this weird thing with my payments. It all started with Chase screwing up my automatic payments and now has gotten totally out of control. They revised my loan to cover the insurance i didn’t need and raised the payment. Because the payment did not include the extra money, they put it in a holding account until the next payment came in and took money from that payment to added the escrow to the payment and continued to do that. I was told that was all straightened out, but she said no, and that i had late charges for October a payment that was made a day before it was due. I was put on hold again and told to call back Thursday. I mentioned that Thursday was Thanksgiving, this was totally lost on her. Later, i got another call, same thing. Last week, I was asked if getting calls at work was a problem, I told the woman no-if the calls were germaine and important. This is absurd and i can not have them calling three and four times a day. All talk and no correction. Very frustrating. At least the taxes are not connected, it’s hard enough to come up with them once. Never could do it twice. But the state doesn’t care why you don’t pay them.
This is so frustrating, i wish my mother was here to give them hell. She was excellent at doing it in such a way you thanked her afterward. I tool over her business when her alzheimers manifested itself but she was quite a force to be reckoned with
for a very long time. I have to bundle the trouble into the whole
thing and just pray it works out. What else can you do?
HEADS UP TO ANYONE TRANSFERED TO AHMSI, they informed me today they arent making any escrow payments for former TBW’ers as apparently they are in mitigation with TBW and have put stop payments on all those accounts. they told me they have 60-90 days to reconcile our accounts from date of transfer and they arent making any tax or insurance payments on our accounts. everyone I urge you please keep calling them and harassing them. this is our money, they cant hold it hostage in the accounts. I filed today a comlaint with HUD, the AG for State of Texas and BBB,
I would be happy to call AHMSI on your behalf if you will call Paymap on mine (see post about with the number). Post the number and I will join the chorus. How are they getting away with this???
I too am waiting on a refund for property taxes that I paid out of pocket because Taylor Bean sent a bounced check. I was recently transfered to AMHSI and thought this was a step in the right direction. I called 11/3 and was told the situation would be resolved by 11/24 and I would recieve refund check shortly after. Hadn’t heard anything 11/25 so I called back and now am being told 11/24 was a tentitive date and as of yet nothing has been resolved. Now they have no idea when this will be resolved. Of course the word tentitive was never used in my first phone call…I should have known not to get my hopes up! But, I looked at our account the other day and they did pay our homeowners insurance that is due 12/1. Does that mean they are going to cancel that payment? Who do I need to be filing complaints against Taylor, Bean, AMHSI or both? Lucy what is involved in filing those complaints? I am so ready for this to just be done.
hey todd,
I would call them and ask about the homeowners check they sent, I think that you get a different answer every time you call so they could be giving me misinformation but the people I talked to today said they arent making those payments and everything in the system has been halted as they are in “litigation” with TBW. I filed a complaint with the Attorney General for the State of Texas as well as one with the Better Business Bureau for the Dallas area as that is where AHMSI is incorporated. I also faxed a letter to AHMSI telling them they were in breach of my mortgage as well as in violation of RESPA guidelines by not making timely payments on my behalf out of my escrow account. I faxed that to: 18667956529
I also sent a letter to HUD at this address: Director, Office of RESPA and Interstate Land Sales
US Department of Housing and Urban Development
Room 9154
451 7th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20410
The filing of the complaints at BBB and AG for Texas was really easy, it was pretty much a fill in form.
I really fear we are worse off now than when we were with TBW at least their bankruptcy was a reason for the non payment, AHMSI just seems to be jerking us around for no reason.
Let me know if you get any updates….
Just got word from one of the restructuring officers at TBW that they “hope” to file something with the court that will allow the FDIC to “potentially” cover our bounced checks (issued from Platinum Community Bank) out of the TBW funds frozen at Colonial Bank. According to this person, there was a meeting last week in Orlando with TBW, FDIC, Freddie Mac & Ginnie Mac regarding the speficic issue of bounced escrow checks. I was told that in Mid-December something will hopefully be filed. Looks like it is still a work in progress.
Hi,
Just to let you all know that I am yet another honest, law abiding citizen who has paid every mortgage payment on time over the past 8 years, and am one of the unfortunate individuals stuck with a non-refunded escrow balance with Taylor Bean since August (refinanced two weeks before they went bust). I currently have a mortgage with a local cooperative bank (I am tired of large, corporate giants twisting our arms) and have taken the wise decision not to escrow my tax/insurance payments. It is ironical how law abiding citizens get the raw end of the stick for BOTH desposit and loan accounts!
Anyone having issues with Taylor Bean and Whitaker can and should file a claim with the bankruptcy court. Here is the information. We’re out our escrow for now.
Go to http://www.bmcgroup.com/restructuring/clients.aspx
Scroll down the client list to Taylor Bean and Whitakerand click on it. It is a link to the court proceedings and documents. Click on Agree to terms of website. It will take you to REO Sales Assets. If it doesn’t, the address is http://www.bmcgroup.com/restructuring/geninfo.aspx?ClientID=218 but I don’t know if it will take you there without the clicking on Agree to the terms of website. On the left-hand side, there are section titles. Look down to Where to Send Claims. In that section is a clickable editable pdf of the Proof of Claim form. This is what you need. The instructions are in the form. Fill out this form and send it in with a self-addressed stamped envelope and documentation of your claim, like a bank record of their bounced check or your escrow fund from the title company. The form lists some things you can use. Send it to the address listed on the form, and make sure to do trackable mail. This will start the process. It will be handled by this group. Probably not by Taylor Bean. Hope that helps. I’m doing mine today. It looks from the docket as though they have two more hearings. Tomorrow and the 15th of December. Hope this helps.
I read the claim form on the BMC group website, and we can claim only the amount on or before the date TBW filed bankruptcy?? I paid them my escrow up till today since TBW still services my loan. And TBW said they don’t know if they pay my tax since they wait for court order. What is going to happen to my escrow from August till now? I cannot pay them only Principle/Interest because they said they couldn’t change anything on the account.
Any updates on the escrow funds? Haven’t been able to get ahold of anyone at TBW and FDIC says they can’t help.
I was just told by AHMSI that all TBW escrow accounts actually are frozen and there is actually no money transferred over from our escrow accounts. We should all file our claims with the bankrputcy court.
I GOT MY Money Back !!!!! Finally!!! Today, Friday Dec 4th I opened my US Mail and received a check from TBW — in the FULL AMOUNT they owed me ($2100+ change). This was the exact amount withheld from my wife and I since August, 2009. As an FYI, I did NOT file ANYTHING w/ ANYONE. We just patiently waited.. (almost fainted when I saw the CHECK) .. There really is a SANTA CLAUSE !!!! Good luck everybody… I’m sure your $$ must be on its way as well.
Is your check related to the Equity Accelerator program?
I just called the TBW “escrow hotline” & was told that TBW has not issued any new escrow refund checks. They’re still in reconciliation mode.
Bartt, or anyone…
Can you post the TBW ‘escrow hotline’ phone number you guys have been calling to inquiry about the escrow refund? Thanks.
(866) 369-6509
LoanFunds@TaylorBean.com
Bt, please let us know if the check clears or bounces. I’m skeptical untill it actually pays out.
Will do Aaron.. I just placed it in the mail for deposit to Vanguard.. Should know by TUes/Wed 12/7-8 timeframe.. I’ll post the result then. Has anyone else in here received checks from TBW (recently that is — since mid-November) that have bounced?
Yesterday I got a new escrow refund check from Cenlar. I hope this one does not bounce like the one from TBW. I had sent them a copy of the bounced check from TBW and they had said they will look into it. It took about two months but I got a new check just in time for Xmas.
When I contacted Cenlar (back in September) they said I needed to talk to TBW.
Today, the TBW ‘escrow hotline’ said they are still in reconciliation mode & haven’t issued any new checks.
Was the new check the exact same amount as the bounced check and did it come w/ any letter of explanation?
My TBW check that bounced was only for $87.00, thank god. Cenlar is my new servicer. I had to hound them, call weekly and finally send an email to their executive team to get them to pay my homeowners, which they paid two months late (State Farm gave me an extention). Thanks to this site for those exectutives contact info.
Today I got notice from Cenlar that I owe them more than $450 for my escrow account and that my mortgage payment is going up over 100 bucks a month. I noticed they didn’t mention my bounced check from TBW, or that they OVERPAID my taxes. I don’t want to have to keep fighting this company, but I will. It’s exhausting.
I was in the middle of a refi, under HASP, with TBW. No one will come near me to refi now. One mortgage broker told me that any mortgage that had anything to do with TBW can’t be sold on the secondary market, they are worthless. So I’ll now loose over $100,000 over the life of the loan becasue of Freddie Mac’s decision to give my loan to Cenlar to service, who does not refinance.
This is a friggin nightmare. And so the nightmare continues…
I haven’t got my refunds from TBW yet. But I was able to refinance from Cenlar to Quicken Loans and they gave me a pretty good deal.
so AHMS is my new best friend. Contrary to what i have been told repeatedly, the o call me at wor for frivolous reasons. I get some indian woman, who repeats this mantra about them being a debt collection company, then wham, they ask me for money. My records show ALL payment made on time, and as asked i faxxed them a bunch of papers to show them. So i tell her that , and she says they have made comments on the file but she doesnt know what they are, she puts me on hold, where i stay for about 15 minutes, then the call drops off.
I called back, each time, you get the canned speach and i have to
repeat the whole story, she wants money as well, but she also cant figure out why. She puts me on hold(much to my protestations)she checs in about every 15 minutes to tell me that they have sent my insurance company money(news to me) am i sure i never had an escrow account(positive) and gee whiz i can’t tell why, a total 45 minutes later i have to hang us, my cel is dying.
so still no resolution, i am sure i will get my afternooon call fro them. I do not understand what these people do. I have no idea what to do. I have sent them everything they need, all payments are made and still they 2k.
you are all right- it is a nightmare,
dotti
Everyone having trouble getting frozen escrow funds and August payments applied to previous TBW mortgages need to contact your state senators. I did. Bankruptcy funds will never be released to you. The deadline to file a claim was Nov 20th, according to bankruptcy documents. When there is a bankruptcy, money is no longer available. The babble you are being fed about funds still frozen and being released bit by bit may be true, but you are the LAST person those funds will be released to. Bills need to be paid. Employees need their wages. They come first. Whoever is now servicing your loan should honor the terms of your loan, and many calls, faxes, etc to your senator may help. It is the FDIC that shut down TBW, so the FDIC is who you should mention to your senators. Not the mortgage company. They can’t help with private companies but they CAN help with government agencies. Ie, FDIC. Mention the problem the FDIC has caused by ordering TBW to cease and desist.
That no one is helping homeowners understand and process what has happened is a disgrace. Isn’t there supposed to be a “stimulus” program at work with the banking system?? Use the phrase “consumer protection” and that should help get some attention!
What document shows a Nov. 20th deadline?
Letter from the FDIC:
Please note the FDIC is not the Receiver for TBW and had no control over TBW checks that were drawn on and returned from Platinum Community Bank prior to that banks failure on September 4, 2009.
Per the attached Public Statement – TBW Bankruptcy, the FDIC as Receiver for Colonial Bank is supervising the process of loan payments that were processed through Colonial Bank; this is the FDIC’s only involvement with TBW.
All other issues are being handled by the restructuring management of TBW, Navigant Financial Advisors. You will need to contact them directly regarding your escrow refund check as the FDIC does not have access to any of the records needed to handle your issue. The telephone number previously provided to you 1-866-369-6509 is the only telephone number we have been provided regarding escrow payment issues.
I finnally got a notice that my sept payment was being sent to BOA and it actually was! Now I’m just struggling to get all the late fees removed and the escrow payment lowered back. Mine was an equity accelator issue btw . But at least this is some progress
tbw says the court date in dec 15 will determine when escrow funds will be dispersed. the person i spoke to said i will get my money they are just waiting for the outcome of the court date because the federal government is in control of funds at this point.
he told me to call after the 15th and they should have answers.
I am so glad that I was informed of this site! I have been trying for months to get in contact with someone anywhere to help me figure out what I needed to do to get the remainder of my money from TBW. I refinanced with TBW-paying off TBW to a new lower rate-in May. In August I received a check from TBW that of course bounced! I have since tried to correspond via email thru their website and even tried calling; however, have received no information. After reading much of everyone’s comments, I feel better about my situation; however, I am still at a loss of what I really need to do. Do I need to file a claim or just sit on my hands and see if I receive a check or contact the exectutive team at TBW? Any suggestions? My mortgage was sold to Cenlar when TBW went out the window! If anyone has some new information, I would really appreciate it!
Thank you!
Aaron – my check cleared today !!!
Cenlar “may” be sending me a refund check. I’ll believe it when my bank says it’s been cleared.
I’m not wild about posting this because I don’t have much confidence in what I’m told. However, with the holidays (& big bills) approaching, if there’s a chance we can speed this up, I don’t want to delay it for anyone else. So….
First, I’ve gathered that there are a big variety of circumstances so let me declare mine:
1) My loan was transferred to Cenlar (not BofA or AHMS)
2) I’m holding a bounced escrow refund from an analysis that showed excess funds (i.e. the check isn’t for the full escrow balance due to a refinance)
After reading Arnie’s post (Dec 5, 2009 10:25 a.m.), I logged onto my Cenlar account that was opened when my TBW loan was x’ferred to them (i.e. Cenlar’s website) . I then used the “Contact Us” form & asked them to explain how someone else could have gotten a refund check after they had told me in Sep. that my only recourse was through TBW. The next day, I received the following response:
Dear Customer:
Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding your loan.
We have received your email advising that you have experienced an issue with a recent escrow refund that was forwarded to you by your previous servicer. Please forward a copy of the check and a bank statement verifying that the escrow check was returned for non-sufficient funds.
Upon receiving this information, our company will issue a replacement check.
Please send this by mail or fax with the Cenlar loan number and “Escrow Refund Returned” in the subject line.
Fax to 609-718-4622 Attn: Clerical Unit
Or by mail:
Central Loan Administration & Reporting
PO Box 211091
Eagan MN 55121
If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact our CS@cenlar.com.
Sincerely,
Customer Service Department
I faxed the legal copy of the bounced check that was stamped “NSF” along with the letter from my bank that explained why the check was being returned.
I’ll post an update when something happens.
i just spoke with TBW this morning. they are having another hearing before the judge in Jacksonville Dec. 15th. they are hoping to have an answer then on when the escrow monies will be released. good luck. i’m not holding my breath.
I’m still waiting for my escrow refund of $1,800 and it’s frustrating that we can’t seem to get an update I’ve called BOA, who now holds my loan, and they are waiting for the funds to be unfrozen—-time TBD. This is crazy!!!
Does anyone know how to file a formal complain against AHMS?
I am still shaking,i am not well and i ca not take this much longer.
I want these people gone, i think i will have to refinance just to make them go away. They call and call and all they they then say their canned speech and ask you six questions about your account, deeo breath, then all they do is ask for money. Money i do not owwe them. I have told them over and over, all of my payments are made and current, They are in India so the language thing them kicks in and they repeat the demand for money. Somewhere between Taylor Bean Land and Ahms Land they have misplaced $3200.00 and they won’t admit it, or listen or even get what i am saying. Everytime i get a supervisor, which is not easy since they tell me they do not have private lines and you have to go through the phone tree from hell, i sit and sit on hold and eventually get cut off, not once, not even twice but 4 times. It is like a circle of hell. I have spoken to at least 20 people, wasted at least 30 hours an i am pretty much where i was in September, I have faxed proofs of payment and whatever they ask for, no one knows where the faxes are.
Anyone have any ideas?
Has anyone heard any info on the hearing that was supposed to be today?
The motion was presented to the court, and should be filed later this week. Looks like no ruling will be made until the next meeting on January the 8th.
tortiequeen,
best thing I ever did was file a BBB complaint against AHMSI.. I got a call from someone who went directly to a supervisor who resolved my issue without much work on my part. They were actually really nice and helpful. I have learned that the people in India have no idea whats going on, they clearly do not take notes on the calls you make. Last week they told me my escrow was frozen as were all former TBW’ers when I finally got working with someone in the States, the “frozen” funds never came up…she just handled the problem. good luck!
Cenlar sent me a replacement check for my bounced escrow refund.
I deposited it last night & it’ll be about a week before I can confirm whether it’s cleared, but so far, so good.
If you’re holding a bounced escrow check, call your new service provider. That approach seems to be working for Cenlar, even though they told me they couldn’t help when I first called them in August & again in September.
It’s been more than a week & I haven’t heard anything from my bank (i.e. no news is good news). My escrow with Cenlar has not been debited with the amount of my escrow refund. My Cenlar escrow also appears to have been debited with the amount I owe for taxes.
On a note of encouragement, I can’t imagine Cenlar cutting a check of this size w/o some reassurance that they’ll recover those funds from TBW. Regardless of each of our circumstances, I’m confident that eventually, we’ll all be reimbursed.
Unfortunately, depending on your circumstances, it may take a while to sort thru it all & get replacement checks mailed.
For Cenlar customers, send them your bounced check info & they should send you a replacement. I can’t comment on other, new servicers, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask them if they’ll do the same thing as Cenlar. Even if you’ve already asked them, ask again. Cenlar’s answer changed between Aug/Sep & mid-Dec.
Waiting. I sold my home on July 22nd and TBW sent me a rubber check for $3000 of my escrow funds. Five months later I am still waiting and there does not seem to be an end in sight. I filed my papers with the bankruptcy court, but I still have no idea if I will see MY money.
Happy holidays…
I am so upset with this whole TBW thing……I can’t begin to tell you the problems I had with them when my mortgage was sold to them in 2008. Finally straighten everything out and then I find out by going on line to look at my statement, that my mortgage was sold to Bank of America….I had no idea this was going on. My school taxes were due and I sent the bill to TBW back in July and they paid them out of MY escrow money but their check bounced and I received a late notice in the mail in November. I called Bank of America and they paid it out of escrow account once again (which was short) and now I am in a negative balance and they want me to pay $300.00 more a month on my mortgage payment to make up for the difference. I called Bank of America and after being transferred three times, finally spoke to someone that told me TBW just settled out of bankruptcy court and the monies should be coming in, once they do, that will post to my account and I should be okay. In the meantime, am I going to have late fees? They assured me no, but I don’t believe them…..they all lie!!! This is our money that they are messing with. I don’t have extra money to put towards my mortgage. If anyone knows what I can do, please let me know.
Hi..you said someone told you that TBW settled and the money will be coming in. Was that a Bank Of Am. person? I keep trying to call them for the same thing and have been told three different stories…nobody seems to know what is going on.
I received a check last week from Equity Accelerator (EA), drawn on a TBW account, in the amount of $4600 and it cleared. This represented a full refund of my prepaid mortgage through EA. Now all I am waiting for is my prepaid escrow from TBW.
I am still amazed that nobody from TBW or a successor bank ever called me to inform me of the bankruptcy and allocation of mortgage loans to new banks. I found out about all this in conversation with a friend.
Fingers crossed this will end soon – hang in there everyone
Happy Christmas
P
My loan transferred from TBW to Cenlar and my automatic payments continued w/o any issue. But I am now worried about the comments made above above property tax. How do I know if I owe any money for property taxes?
You should be able to go to your county website or call your county and someone should be able to let you know if you owe any taxes. In my case my county sent me a letter stating I owed taxes. That was the way I found out about this whole Taylor Bean mess, Taylor Bean never sent me notification to let me know they sent a bad check to pay my taxes. I would start there, hope that helps.
i also have been in this whirlwind of pay your mortgage here today and tomorrow pay it someplace else. i was behind 2 payments when this mess all started.i called,e-mailed,prayed for an answer to my delimea.finally selene finance wrote and said they were my new servicer for tbw. i calledto see where to make a payment(5 months worth ) and was told they could not accept a payment at this time and it was obvious i could not afford my home and how soon could they get an appraiser out so as to ready for a quick sale.OMG.what do i do now? my worst nightmare has come true.just waiting for that knock at the door.
jeanette:
ask to speak to the twit’s supervisor. given the tb&w mess, it seems rational that your bank would rather you pay on a tidy loan than have a sale, take a huge cut in the amount of their mortgage. ask for someone who has the power to do something and explain what happened, tell them you have the money and explain the rational path. most banks don’t want the property back, that is not what they do. you will probably have to wait till after the holiday to get anyone in charge. what city are you in?
who has your loan now? take a deep breath and go about it persistently, patiently and rationally. u are in my prayers.
let me know, you might have to see about a lawyer, but wait and see first-dotti
There are free foreclosure mitigation services that will assign you to a housing counselor in most states and cities. My advice is to contact them ASAP. They will guide you through the process and in some cities (e.g. Philadelphia) appoint a pro bono attorney to help you for at least a limited representation at a conciliation conference.
A conciliation is generally required before a bank can schedule a Sheriff’s sale. Since I don’t know the specifics of your situation I can’t say what the steps will be. That will depend on many factors and the housing counselor will advise you accordingly.
If you miss a scheduled conciliation conference the lender will likely receive a default judgment and a Sheriff’s sale will likely be scheduled.
Remember, while there are pay services out there, there are often FREE resources that can guide you through the process.
Best of luck.
My loan was transferred to AHMS and I am much worse off than I was with Taylor Bean. Happened to look at my acct online the other day and noticed they increased my escrow payment by almost $200 a month! I didn’t recieve anything in the mail, if I hadn’t looked at my account online I would never have known. I called because the numbers don’t make sense (why I was so short, why my payments increased so much) and the rep I spoke with kept telling me to call back Monday for more info! He didn’t know the answers to my questions and was just trying to pawn me off! I asked to speak with his manager and he hung up on me! I immediately filed a complaint with the BBB and will be calling AHMSI again today for answers. I understand paying more if that is necessary but I don’t understand where they are getting their numbers from and am not sure they even understand. I am starting to worry about this company and if it is some sort of scam?
todd,
AHMSI is awful. I was waiting and waiting on an escrow refund for an overage from the debacle and and on top of that they didnt even have any plans on making my dec tax payment. I called and called and got no where. literally got a diffrerent answer from everyone I talked to. through all the complaints I filed, the only thing that worked was filing a BBB complaint. they called me directly and resolved my issue within two days. I closed my escrow account and they overnighted me my money back as well as paid my dec taxes and the penalty for it being late.
good luck!
Lucy thanks for the info…this all just happened Thursday so I haven’t heard anything from anyone at this point. However, what did you need to do to close your escrow acct. I guess I assumed I had to have it. If I don’t I want that thing closed out now! Glad to hear your situation was resolved!
I wrote them a letter and faxed it to the tax dept. If you have a conventional loan (not an FHA loan which you probably dont as I think most of those people were transferred to BOA when TBW closed) and it was for less than 80% of the value of your home when you took out the loan, you are not required to have an escrow account and they cannot make you have one. My letter stated all that and I asked them to close it immediately. they ignored my letter for about a month, I reiterated the same info in my BBB complaint…I think after the TBW fiasco I will never ever escrow with another loan!
good luck todd!
u have to keep a sense of humor, if you can, ahsi has become my new best friend, they call me every day at least once. Of course they are calling from Mumbai and the don’t know squat. I have been trying to straighten out lender placed insurance that shouldn’t have been placed since tb&w put it on in July. I never got a policy but they escrow deducted me anyway. I have managed to get it down to 1316.00 from 3600. by sheer force of will but today ahsi said they couldn’t find any evidence of tb&w insurance at all, so instead of screaming i silently swore as the cut me off. no one knows how to put anyone on hold there, all the things one learns. So they are again starting a task to see about it. That’s what they call an investigation.
Things i have learned:
NEVER TALK TO ANYONE WHO IS NOT STATESIDE.
WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN, ESPECIALLY NAMES & DATES
CALL BACK ONCE A WEEK.
you have to start there with these people and be persistent. If tey say fax something do it but keep track of it. Hang in there, and i will keep at it as well.i will keep you advised.
dotti
I am in a similar situation as Sally. I was transferred to BOA in August 2009. My property taxes were due Aug 1. My escrow acct shows monies taken out and “paid”. After suprisingly finding out when trying to make a payment to TBW that they were out as my loan provider, I was able to eventually log into BOA and find out my escrow was short monies BIG TIME. I questioned BOA and they paid out my taxes also. So I was double dipped. After faxing all info from TBW website showing acct detail of the monies being taken out by TBW they proved to tell me that it was a prob between TBW and me! I called TBW and was on hold FOREVER. TBW told me that when the monies are released from the bankruptcy freeze, BOA will get an escrow check and it will be put in my escrow acct. Now, mind you in the process of all this, they are raising my mortgage payment $275. I am a single mom and cannot afford it. I pay my “regular” payment every month and can guarentee you that BOA calls me at least 4x a week to harrass me on why my payment isnt in full. I am about to take some legal action since this isnt my fault. I just want my escrow money put back in my acct. Just want to know WHEN!!! And there isnt any updates ever so we have to bank on hearing info from other TBW consumers.
BoA will, if you ask, spread the recovery of the escrow over 60 months, which will only boost your monthly increase by $50 or so (for $3000 in lost property tax payments). However, you have to ask after they’ve paid your property taxes: Ask them to “Remove the reserve and spread the payments over 60 months”, as I was told to do.
Also, TB&W told me today – 1-20-10 – that the escrow accounts are unfrozen, but the court has ordered a reconciliation of all accounts prior to disbursing them to BoA, which for me will work out, since TB&W also owes $109.98 in penalties for late payment (which BoA paid and wants to collect on).
At that point, BoA says they will automatically do an escrow analysis and reduce the amount for the rest of the year.
I’m in the same boat (I guess it is the Titanic!). I talked with someone from TBW and was told the same thing. How is it possible that our escrow account funds are frozen? Isn’t there some form of legal action that we can take…against TBW and or FDIC? I know it’s a stretch, but I’m getting very upset dealing with this issue.
If we all need to file a class action lawsuit against TBW and the FDIC, count me in
as for a class action suit, the only people who get anything is the lawyers, sick, sad but trus,, look at them the sufferes get a free game, or one free hamburer or some other smakll relateditem the lawyers make millions. it is really sad
sorry about the unintelligible response. carpal tunnel and rushing make mush.
I hate class action suits, My mother was in the Dow breast cancer one, she had implants replaced 3 times before they stopped becase of her age. The implants would encapsulate and harde, she died without getting a single cent.
Class actions suits have a good intent but they have become the refuge of ambitious lawers and hungry law firms. Good intent twisted by greed.
Has anyone heard anything from the January 8th hearing?
I am now with AHMSI and I had paid my property taxes out of pocket last October due to a bad check sent by Taylor Bean. I looked at my account and they credited my escrow acct, last week, the amount I paid out of pocket. I didn’t recieve any notification as to why ( if something was settled with Taylor Bean? ) As long as I got my money I’m not concerned! Still having issues with my escrow but I think slowly they are being resolved. Everything seems to be a process with this company. I’ve learned I have to keep immaculate records (names, times, all faxes sent). I have found if I call during the day I get a customer service rep in America. If I wait till after work or the weekend that is when I get someone from India.
I noted this on another site as well but wanted to let everyone here know as well I got my annual free credit report and TBW reported me late for sept, even though my payment sat in their facility for weeks without being processed because of their limited staff and besides countless assurances they would not be reporting anyone late. i called and they are correcting it however just wanted to let everyone know they should check their reports, just in case!
I have been following this thread for quite some time since there aren’t any other news outlets that actually care enough to dissiminate any new information. I ran into a problem with Taylor Bean when we bought our home Oct. 10, 2008. I work in the insurance industry and had the homeowners insurance policy with me when I closed on the house. For some dumb reason, Taylor Bean kept sending statements to my mother’s address, instead of the primary address I just purchased Oct. 10. Anyway, in June ’09 I got my escrow statement. They charged us for Lender Placed insurance, but I never got a policy. I hit the roof and called them. I was assured the refund would be processed, and still have the voicemail that was left stating that the request had been put in. So, at the 6 week mark, I went to log into the account to see if the refund went through and found out my loan was being transferred to BOA. Unfortunately, for us, we have a VA loan and we are required to have an escrow account whether we want one or not. BOA told me I’d have to contact Taylor Bean about the lack of escrow funds they owed us. I filed a complaint with the office of Financial Regulation in Tallahassee, and sent certified letters to Taylor Bean, Proctor Financial insurance co., and Bank of America. I even went so far as to have my homeowners insurance company write a letter stating that there was no lapse in coverage and my policy had been in effect since the house was purchased. I finally got a response back from the office in Tallahassee with a copy of the letter from Taylor Bean stating the lender placed insurance was cancelled retroactive to the sale date of our home, but get this, the cancellation wasn’t done until Oct. 8, 2009! So, essentially I was lied to the first time around! But at least I have it in writing that Taylor Bean at least acknowledges that they owe us over $5K in escrow funds, but no word on when I’ll actually see that money. I did file as a creditor with the US Bankruptcy court, and I keep looking for updates on when that bankruptcy is actually supposed to go through.
I think the Lender placed insurance thing must have been a scam. I got a request for proof of the binder, I called my insurer and asked them to send a copy, and i am sure she did. Nevertheless,TN&W placed Lender based insurance on the property. I found out when the loan grew a escrow huge debit I never received an insurace policy or notification until the reevaluated my payment and bunped up the payment. The payment is automatic, so i had just bneen paying the amount i hadalways paind and boom i am in arrears and have thes indian people calling me daily. AHMSI said the problem was TB&W’s. I called TBS&W I could not reach them by phone, so i send them an email. No reply. No matter when i tried to call i had no luch.and stayed on hold until they finally figured outi wasn’t going away and someone answered. Relaly nice woman, i spent a long time explaining the problem to her. She told me what to sendI had already faxed a copy of the bank verification to prove my payments were not late and that i had insurance, which no one read, i guess.
So far i have spoken to 5 people stateside, all very nice and no one seems to fix anything, no one calls back and you can not call anyone directly, so you have to keep telling your story over and over and over, I gave up and sent them a partial payment, just to get them to stop calling they were on the verge of harassment. So over the weekend i got the statement, for some reason having verified the insurance, they have increased the escrow amount by another $500.00.I am going to call them tomorrow, since i have asted over 40 hours waiting on the phone. It is beyond frustrating. I have never had so much trouble just making a payment. I would sue but for what being terminallly stupid.
I joke with my mother about all the time she spent on the phone, I now apologize,
dotti
I was looking on the site to see how I file with the U.S. Bankruptcy court to get my escrow funds returned. Does anyone have an address?
Hi Richard! First you need to go to the bmcgroup.com; they are handling the bankruptcy proceedings for Taylor Bean. Here is the form you will need to download: http://bmcgroup.com/restructuring/TBW_POC.pdf
Fill out the form and mail it with a SASE to:TBW Mortgage, c/o BMC Group, PO Box 211, Chanhassen, MN 55317-2011
The case# is: 3:09-bk-07047-jAF
Good luck!
What is an SASE. I am also awaiting escrow refund and would like to file with U.S. Bankruptcy court.
Mike,
A SASE is a Self Address Stamped Envelope. They will mail you back a copy of the claim form, but you can also locate it on the bmcgroup website under filed claimed, and save a copy to your hard drive.
Bankruptcy can drag on for a long, long time. We are all unsecured creditors, if we get anything, it will be pennies on the dollar. Better than nothing, but still upsetting.
Take courage.
Cenlar is my new provider & made me whole on a bounced TBW escrow refund check. I can only speak from my own experience, but there is at least one additional post in this thread, also w/ Cenlar, who has been made whole.
When I talked to Cenlar prior to their covering the bounced TBW check, I asked several different ways to make sure they weren’t going to turn around & ding my Cenlar escrow for the amount. To date, it hasn’t posted against my Cenlar escrow balance.
It boils down to Cenlar saying that Cenlar will settle up w/ TBW later.
If you’re not w/ Cenlar, holler loud & long that if Cenlar can do it, why can’t all new servicers?
Even if that doesn’t get you a check, I still say that it appears that Cenlar is confident they’ll get their cash. I can’t imagine them sending me a check unless they were sure they’d get reimbursed.
I think there’s a high probability that everyone will end up where they need to be.
Bart,
Just out of curiousity, when Cenlar decided to refund you themselves, are we talking about less than $1000 here, or thousands of dollars?
I’m going to take this post/thread and attach it to a certified letter to BOA along with another copy of that letter I rec’d from TBW that says they know the money is owed, and see if they will give us our $5179.00 back.
“We are all unsecured creditors . . . ”
That’s not the case. The moneys in the escrow accounts never actually belong to the mortgage company — they are only administered by the mortgage company — and are therefore not part of the pot of moneys available to creditors.
However, any fines that you or your current mortgage servicer paid for late property tax payments may not be covered out of the escrow accounts
You are correct but there are specifics about how escrow accounts must be set up by the escrow holder for an account to be considered an escrow account.
You are correct though. Escrow funds are held for your benefit and are NOT the property of TBW therefore should, I think, be exempt from the bankruptcy proceeding. If it is not TBW’s property then how can it be distributed to TBW’s creditors?
I too have contacted the FDIC, TBW and the attorney, Mr. Spector, who represents TBW’s creditors in the bankruptcy proceedings. (Aside: he said there are about 75,000 TBW customers with these escrow calamities) There are millions of dollars in TBW accounts that were seized by the FDIC and are frozen.
My escrow rebate check (almost $5K) bounced but noone can tell me why: was it the FDIC freezing the accounts because the bank is insolvent? Was it because the FBI froze the accounts b/c it was investigating TBW? Is it because the bankruptcy?
So far I have no answers but if I get anywhere I will post answers here.
We sold our house 07/31/09 – just before TB&W had all of their accounts frozen by the FEDS. Luckily, nothing affected our home closing, however – we have nearly $1000 in escrow just sitting there! Just called today (a record hold time of only 25 minutes), was gruffly spoken to by an obviously abused (probably by current customers!) customer svc rep that there is no estimation on when the bankruptcy ruling will be issued by the judge. I said, “Bankruptcy judge?”, to which she replied, “Mmmm-Hmmm.” I asked, “Could it be years??”, she said, “Hopefully not – but it could be.” Wow. I’m not even going to count on that money. EVER. I’ll check back with them once a month, but as far as I’m concerned – it’s gone. I’ll just have to dream about that 1080p TV some other time….ahhhh…….
JTaylor and others, join everyone else by writing to your congressmen and senators about the problem even local news media. If people just sit by nothing will happen. It is as easy as going to their website and emailing a passionate letter. It may not get anything done but it will get more people aware.
I already wrote my senators. And, contacted my local news.
I don’t know about the rest of you but TBW owes us over $5K and I work too hard for my money to just sit back and give up. Besides, I’ve got a letter in writing from the Executive VP of Post Closing and Loan Admin. that they owe us this money.
I’ve got lots of questions and some new info.
I just received a letter in the mail today from bmcgroup advising that there is going to be an evidentiary hearing Jan. 22 @ 10am, 4th Floor, Courtroom D, 300 North Hogan St. in Jacksonville. The following matter is to be discussed:
DEBTORS’ MOTION FOR ORDER UNDER FED. R. BANKR. P. 3003(c) (I) ESTABLISHING DEADLINE FOR FILING PROOFS OF CLAIM, (II) APPROVING PROOF OF CLAIM FORM, (III) APPROVING PROOF OF CLAIM FILING NOTICES, (IV) APPROVING MAILING AND PUBLICATION PROCEDURES AND (V) PROVIDING CERTAIN SUPPLEMENTAL RELIEF.
I am curious about the “supplemental relief”. It says anyone opposing the relief sought at this hearing must appear at the hearing or any objections or defenses may be deemed waived.
To Meridell who stated unsecured creditors get only pennies on the dollar:
Since we’re talking about escrow funds which are supposed to be insured by the FDIC, wouldn’t we eventually be reimbursed by the FDIC?
Of interest is an article I found from August ’09 which states that TBW thinks they will be able to pay their unsecured creditors:
http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/weekend/fullnews/?ts=1251216000
Additionally, we have a VA loan and the VA is the one that requires we have an escrow account, otherwise I would not have opted for one. If we lost our funds because of this stupid VA requirement, then does anyone here know if we can go after the VA?
I have no qualms about contacting Bay News 9 and letting them know that TBW not only stole our escrow money, and essentially made us pay twice for homeowners insurance, but this is how they are treating a veteran of both the Gulf War and the war on terrorism. We need more press coverage about how TBW is screwing the homeowners over anyway.
And since taxes are coming up and many of us have not been refunded as promised, is there any sort of tax write-off or deduction that can be taken?
You can try to claim the loss on your Schedule A under casualty and theft losses; you’ll have to fill out an additional form [Form 4648, maybe?], but you will then have to claim any future payments from TB&W into your escrow account as income. I’m going to claim the penalties for late payment of property taxes if it’s not included on the transfer from TB&W to BoA.
Phein,
Thanks for the tax info. I started my taxes this evening using Turbo Tax but the loss doesn’t appear to make a difference to the refund so I’m not going to claim it. Maybe it’ll help someone else.
I have recieved more info in the past 15 minutes, just by reading some of the comments on here, than I have been able to get from Bank of America or TBW. Can anyone figure out why this has been so “hush-hush”? Obviously so many people have been affected by TBW bankruptcy (THEFT!) and Gov’t freezing TBW assets (PROBABLY MORE THEFT) that I’m surprised it hasn’t been all over the news. I would like to think that each of us, who has been robbed, will at least get our escrow re-imbursed. Unfortunately, I can’t think that. After all, we are in America, the land of opportunity (at least it seems that way for big corporations). Sadly, after we all have been robbed by one mortgage company, we turn around and face the guns of the next mortgage company. Where the hell are the laws to protect people from this? I would like to encourage everyone to contact any news outlet available to them and lets get this information out to others who, like myself, have or had no clue about the money, their money, that has been stolen from them.
Paula,
I’m not a lawyer and don’t know a lot about this, but in a Chapter 11 there’s an usecured creditors committee and they should be able to answer your questions. I believe TBW was saying that there should be SOMETHING available to unsecured creditors, I’ll bet two or three cents on the dollar. You have some good ideas, but I don’t want to wait 15 years for the FDIC to reimburse me. I was in the middle of a refi with TBW when they filed bankruptcy and I’ve been told that there’s no way I can refi now, no one will touch me because my loan isn’t saleable on the secondary market, so when I filed my proof of claim I added all the money I would lose over the years because of this (personal injury), as well as 7% interest, which is what TBW was charging me. If you want to get your money back, you’re going to have to be creative.
Meridell,
Thank you for your input. You seem very financially savvy. I’m curious as to what you do for a living?
You said in a Chapter 11 that there’s an unsecured creditors committee. Would I be able to contact them through the BMC group?
And as for creativity, I’m will send a copy of that post from the guy earlier who said Cenlar refunded him to BOA and ask that they do the same for us. The worst they can say is no. I’m also going to contact our congressman, and the media outlets. I may have to play up the fact that my husband is a veteran, but I’ll do what I have to.
phein,
No, the money belongs to US. TBW is who OWES us the money. They filed for bankruptcy and we have no security. We are all unsecured creditors.
I have been reading these threads for a while being that I am another TBW casualty. We are owed 2500 from our escrow after our refinancing out last year. I have done the calling weekly just to have them read there form letter to me. And I am disheartened as a honest tax paying citizen that there is no one to contact to actually get results being that the money they are holding (or the judge has frozen according to TBW) is up front money I paid and I may end up never seeing.
I want to thank the individual who put the BMCgroup info up, as I have went to there site and have tried to educate myself with the legal things that currently going on with our money. And it does appear that on the 22nd TBW is going to try in court to put a “Drop dead” date on claims against them for March 15th. I am putting my claim in the mail this week to BMCgroup with the form. Hopefully the court will require them to send out notices to all effected so they will have an opportunity to file. Anyway thanks again and I will keep reading threads and post anything that I hear or see.
I got a notice of hearing in the mail from TBW. The hearing is in Florida and I am in Texas. If anyone reading this is in driveable distance from this court please attend on behalf of all of us in this struggle. I am going to type out the letter that I recieved so that everyone knows what it said incase you haven’t recieved it.
Chapter 11
Case No. 3:09-bk-07047-JAF
Case No. 3:09-bk-10022-JAF
Case No. 3:09-bk-10023-JAF
“NOTICE IS GIVEN that an evidentiary hearing in this case will be held in 4th floor courtroom D, 300 North Hogan Street, Jacksonville, Florida, on JANUARY 22, 2010 at 10:00 AM, to consider and act upon the following matter”
“DEBTORS’ MOTION FOR ORDER UNDER FED. R. BANKR.P.3003(c)(3) (I) ESTABLISHING DEADLINE FOR FILING PROOFS OF CLAIM, (II) APPROVING PROOF OF CLAIM FORM, (III) APPROVING PROOF OF CLAIM FILING DEADLINE NOTICES, (IV)APPROVING MAILING AND PUBLICATION PROCEDURES AND (V) PROVIDING CERTAIN SUPPLEMENTAL RELIEF
and transact such other business as may properly come before the hearing.
1. All exhibits must be pre-marked and listed in accordance with local rule 9070-1
2. The hearing may be continued upon announcement made in open court without further notice
3. Any party opposing the relief sought at this hearing must appear at the hearing or any objections or defenses may be deemed waived.
4. Appropriate Attire: All persons appearing in court should dress in appropriate business attire consistant with their financial abilities.
5. Due to heightened security procedures, persons must present photo ID to enter the courthouse and arrive early.
Dated Jan 13
Lee Ann Bennett, Clerk of Court 300
North Hogan Street Suite 3-350
Jacksonville Fl 32202
Copies furnished to:
debtor, debtors’ attorney, US trustee, creditors’ committee, parties of interest, All creditors
Hope this is of interest to someone willing and able to go.
If you go to the BMC website, you can review docket #907. Wells Fargo has filed a motion of objection to TBW’s requests to put a deadline on claims. I think they make a couple of very good points that the judge should be inclined to agree with. But you never know.
Here’s what I’m wondering: TBW filed an amended Schedule F (unsecured non priority claims) on 1/12/2009. It’s only 18 pages long, shouldn’t ALL our claims be on there? Mine is filed with the court, but it’s not on there.
The notice from the court about the Jan 22nd hearing, tells us what the proper attire must be if we want to appear for the hearing. Thieves like TBW shop at the high end shops, therefore are pleasing to the courts. Those of us wanting the money owed to us, may not be able to afford the clothing the judge requires. I just want the money which TBW stole from me, which was my escrow funds. It was MY money. Thieves walk free, the courts worry about how we should dress to be in the courtroom to request they release our funds.
As a fiirst time homeowner I am new to the world of mortgages and escrows. In August of 2009 I noticed that I had a negative escrow balance. I noticed it when I was checking my account on line. I called TBW and they said a lender placed flood insurance policy was put in place and they sent my escrow analysis’s and I should have noticed the negative activity. Well the letters they sent went to the wrong address. TBW had my property address wrong. They did acknowledge they made an error and that I did have flood insurance in place as required. (They would not let me close on my house without it). Next thing I know my motgage is with BOA and still showing a negative escrow. I fought with BOA for months. I faxed information, called everyday etc. My last call resulted in a rep giving me the 800 # to TBW. I have called and called and still receive the same answer. The funds are frozen. I was told at one point the funds would be released just to be told two days later I should have never been told that as the funds are still frozen. My mortgage has gone up because of this and I could use the money they owe me. I was told by Elena a trial attorney at the Dept of Justice to call Robin Vaughn a paralegal at the Debtors firm. 813-229-0144. Maybe if we bombard her we can get some action. Now I worry that my year end interest pd statement has to come from them since BOA took over my account in August 09 and I purchased the house Dec. 08.
Cyndy,
Your situation sounds eerily similar to ours. See earlier post, only it wasn’t flood insurance; it was homeowners. We are not required to have flood insurance where we are. They were sending statements to my mother’s address for some dumb reason. I agree that this was a scam on TB’s part but I can’t prove it. Do what I did. You didn’t say what state you’re in, but file a complaint with your state’s office of Financial Regulation. It might even have to be with FL b.c. TBW is based in Ocala FL. Send your documentation certified mail with return receipt. TBW is required to answer these complaints. Next file your claim with BMC Group at bmcgroup.com; the url is posted in the earlier comments. I stayed on BOA and they adjusted my escrow and stretched out the negative balance (financed it over 24 months interest free) to keep our mortgage payment the same. I spoke with Tammy at 800-399-1762 x8314. Hope that helps you some!
We are in the same situation, we refinanced and our escrow check bounced, been calling and like everyone else no answers. Minnesota State Attorney General has written two letters, and no response. Thanks for all the great post it is very informative.
I spoke to an attorney yesterday (I get a “free” attorney consultation over the phone through my employer). He told me the only “legal” option is to file a unsecured claim and hope for the best. Not what I wanted to hear (not really happy with the way he was cavalier about it — but that is a topic for a different thread on a dfferent forum.
I am going to try to reach an attorney in Florida to see if that makes a difference. Does anybody know the exact date TBW filed for bankruptcy?
TBW filed for bankruptcy August 24, 2009
Margaret,
I think you are exactly right when you say that these are not TBW funds but ours! They should not be part of a bancruptcy proceeding. I am thinking about filing a claim with the bancruptcy but I don’t have high hopes that it will be fruitful. I read a post online around September that said that our escrow funds were comingled with TBW’s general funds. This of course was illegal. Additionally the bank they had the funds with was shut down by the FDIC. I believe that we will eventually get our money back and I think we will get it before the bancruptcy is done. AHMSI is my new lender and they are terrible. I don’t believe there will be any lick in getting a refund like some did from Cenlar, but maybe it is worth a try. Aaron
Aaron I’m not sure if we have the same situation but I also have my loan through AHMSI (they are horrible!) now and I was able to get my escrow refunded. My situation is that TBW paid my property taxes with a bad check. I then had to pay my property taxes out of pocket and wait to be reimbursed. AHMSI kept telling me they had to wait until they received the funds from TBW. I had other issues with them and ended up filing a complaint with the BBB. Almost immediately I was refunded the entire amount I paid out of pocket for my property taxes, including the penalties! Like I said not sure if we have the same situation but thought I would pass on the info just in case.
Everyone – There is a document on the BMC website (Docket #927) that references the escrow refund situation we are all in. Taylor Bean & Whitaker just filed it with the court yesterday the 21st of January. The next hearing is on February 19th. I’ve skimmed the document and it appears that everyone is on board to get this issue resolved. I would recommend everyon download it and read it.
Hi David,
I was just wondering if you could tell me what BMC is.
Thank you
Todd
BMC Group is a legal servicing company that provides documentation support during bankruptcies and such. They process all the documents and post all public documents online in one place. Their website is http://www.bmcgroup.com. If you click on the tab at the top that says “Restructuring & Bankruptcy”, then on the righthand side of the screen a drop down menu pops up, select the Taylor Bean & Whitaker case, accept the terms, then you have access to all the documents. There is a section called “Court Docket”, if you click on the link in the text you can pull up all the dockets that have been filed with the bankruptcy court. The document that pertains to us is Docket #927. Hope that helps.
thanks david
That is the most promising document yet… I like the fact that 40 states have filed something for their people and some folks have filed criminal complaints against the people who wrote the bad checks… That is awesome!
Ok so our loan got transferred to bofa. Escrow funds as well. Our August payment was never taken out of our checking account. It was scheduled for the 5th. Bofa took over the 6th. Bofa I noticed in the Sept payment it showed that bofa paid out the pmi of august &sept. Also did our property insurance. Now my ? is what will happen to the august payment? Since bofa paid the pmi that amount should be less now. What should we expect? Will they ever take it out?It was transferred first week in Sept. but retro back to Aug 6th. We just checked our credit reports and it shows the TBW account as closed. Can they take $ even if the account is closed?
Sorry forgot to add a bit. I got ahold of BOFA on Wednesday. We had to make a payment back in December to make our escrow account current. We made up the missing amount for the escrow because of the aug amount missing and the pmi for august. When talking to them this week I asked about the August payment. The gal and her supervisor looked over our account and to them they say we a current on the loan.
Thanks, David, for mentioning the docket #927. I am one of the 746 affected borrowers in Issue 4 mentioned in the docket ( ie, I refinanced with tem, and the paper work is not done. My old loan is not paid off, my new loan is still serviced by TBW). Their proposal to resolve this issue is ridiculous. I refinanced with them in July, paid all these fees, and pay the new loan for 5 months now, and they said the new Elected Investor can either cancel the original loan or the new refinanced loan? If they cancel my new refinanced loan, that means all money that I paid for the refinance is down the drain. There must be some regulation about this. They cannot do what they want with our money! I really don’t know who I contact for this.
I am also a victim of non-transferred escrow funds when BofA took over my TBW account. My Dec. statement from BofA was a shock when I found out that our mortgage payment went up 150 a month due to a shortage of escrow funds. I hope it all gets worked out soon. We can’t afford to keep this up!
another member of they TB&W insurance scam brigade. I have been trying to straighten the mess out since last July. I am beginning to smell a rat here, three of us with insurance slapped on the place and the loan revised to suit that. I had the same insurance with the same agency for over 20 years.
Did any of you actually get an Insurance policy or the name of an insuring company? Wondering, cuz i never did. Just amoney demand and a huge escrow. I also tried everything but a trip to FLA to solve the problem, but you can only sit on hold so long before the worn out muzactape drives you quite mad.
TB&W told me it was all ok. opps they lied. i sent them all the faxes they asked for. In truth, as nice as she was she did nothing, nothing changed. AHM whatever in the heck, is ridicuulous, i have never seen a company where you can not call the same operson back. I have asked about this over and over,since you have to finally get someone stateside, tell them the whole story all over again, have them research or start a task or whatever they decide to do, have them promise to call you back
ONLY never to hear a word and start all over again. The only good thing is i think i have all the people stateside in customer service’s names now.
not funny, i am so tired of fighting these people. I have never had anyproblem like this in my entire life
what is BMC . I would like to take a look at this document.
Go to http://www.bmc.com – it’s a bankruptcy site. You can scroll down alphabetically, click on ‘Taylor Bean & Whitaker’, and then on the next page click on the ‘Court Docket’ tab. Scroll down to docket #927. Use Internet Explorer since it doesn’t seem to let you download the pdf file using Firefox.
Oops – I typed the URL incorrectly – it’s http://www.bmcgroup.com – BMC Group provides data services for many clients, including the following (Copied from their website):
Bankruptcy Claims and Noticing Services
BMC Group’s bankruptcy services and technology have been developed and refined by a core team that has worked together for over 20 years. Our experienced team works closely with each client to ensure compliance and to reduce the administrative costs associated with a restructuring. BMC Group has reinvented bankruptcy case administration and has consistently been the leader in technology and services.
thanks Patty
Anyone knows when’s the deadline to file a claim? Is it set to be March 15th?
Does anyone know if I need to file a claim even if they only owe me an escrow refund?? Or should I file a claim anyways. Also where can I find the list of states that have filed suit against them?
Thanks
Jason
Jason: Yes you have to file a claim if you want your escrow funds! Do it now!
From what I was reading, it says TBW’s bank accounts were all frozen, including the clearing house accounts that our escrow funds were held in. Since that money is not TBW’s, but ours, and the new docket (#927) that was filed says that they are going to work towards finding a resolution for all the cases where escrow funds were frozen, why do I still need to file a claim? My funds were never transferred to BofA, causing an escrow shortage, and they keep telling me they will be released to BofA…. eventually. Question #2 – if I DO need to file a claim, can it be done online at the bmcgroup website, and what would the best way to approach it be? I can’t say they owe me a refund. They owe me a transfer of my own money to my new lender. (confused) *sigh*
I waffled for a little while before I filed my claim in Nov.
It appears that there are rumblings in the court as to whether there will be a deadline & when that deadline be. And yes, doc 927 “sounds” like everyone is working to take care of us borrowers, but I’m not sure a bankruptcy court has ever had to classify people in our circumstances. We’re in pretty uncharted financial territory.
I found absolutely NO downside (apart from the time it takes to fill out the form & the cost of the stamp) in filing a claim. It took me less than 5 min. to fill out the form & a $0.42 stamp.
My claim was for $3,653.59. I’d hate to think that I missed out on compensation because I decided that 5 mins & 50 cents was too much effort to recoup $3,600+.
My advice: File a claim. Do it TODAY!
So my new mortgage company AHMSI credited my escrow the amount I paid out of pocket for my property taxes. And my funds from the escrow acct with TB, W were forwarded to my new company. Do I need to file a claim if I have received my funds. I don’t trust my new mortgage co. and worry they may pull the funds if they don’t receive anything from TB & W. I don’t know if that is even legal but I’m not sure if I fall into this group that should file a claim?
You should only file a claim if you’re due money from TBW.
AHMSI should be able to give you your escrow balance, either online or by phone. If you didn’t receive a bounced check & your AHMSI balance is correct, it would appear that TBW did what they were supposed to do & you may not have a valid claim against TBW.
If your escrow w/ AHMSI is correct & you haven’t been reimbursed for what you paid out of pocket, ask AHMSI for an escrow analysis. Make sure your receipt for the taxes you paid out of pocket gets included in the analysis.
I did receive a bounced check ($1300)from Taylor, bean and AHMSI has credited my escrow account the amount of that bounced check. In my opinion Taylor, Bean now owes AHMSI the $1300 as AHMSI has credited my account those funds. But, what happens if AHMSI doesn’t received the $1300 from Taylor Bean and decide to debit my escrow? I don’t know if they can do that. My concern is then at that point it will be to late for me to file a claim and I’ll lose my money.
File the claim. It only takes a minute and there is no harm in doing it. If the issue gets resolved you can retract your claim. Better safe than sorry.
Hi Paula,
I’m not savvy, just angry enough to become savvy. I’m also lucky to have once had a good friend who was a bankruptcy attorney, may he rest in peace. I’ve never heard of an unsecured creditor getting more than pennies on the dollar, but I’ve also never heard of any case like ours. I’ve not been as harmed as most of you, my check that bounced wasn’t for much. I’m much angrier about my failed refinance with TBW.
I want to clarify that: I’ve not been as harmed with the bounced check, my failed refi and not being able to refi any other way will cost me over 100,000,000 dollars over the life of the loan. I’m spitting angry.
Finally someone else who is going through this same thing.
We had a mortgage with TB&W paid every month on time. We just got done paying our Mortgage for Aug (TB&W got it on the 4th cashed it on the 6th of Aug) a week later we get a statement from BOA saying how they are taking over our home mortgage loan. Okay don’t really like BOA but whatever. 1st of next month we are waiting for a statement to pay our mortgage, My husband went into a branch to pay the mortgage on the 2nd. He called the 1800number and asked why we we’re not getting a statement (payment coupon) They said oh it will be there next month “don’t worry”. Next month no statement at all, again we go to the branch to pay our mortgage. Then the fun begins we start getting letters saying how we are behind on our mortgage. Uh no we are not. We get proof by way of our bank statements and canceled checks from Aug to present.
They again say “don’t worry” you all fixed up. Then later that week we get a called from their “foreclose” dept. Oh hell no!! We called and talk until we’re blue in the face and NOTHING get’s done. Finally we decided to refi to get away from BOA and this whole mess. We find out that BOA did not get our payment for Aug from TB&W also our Escrow is still being held hostage. So when we refi we had to pay $3380.00 in interest for our “missing payment” plus $480.00 to cover the “missing” escrow!
Now I tell you why did we get screwed? Why are we all getting screwed?? This is not right. The government is holding our money for no reason. That is MY money that was suppose to go to our mortgage payment. I want to know when I’m getting my money back!!
Yeah, that’s the million dollar question. When… Nobody knows. The bankruptcy proceedings continue, but that could take years & years.. There are documents filed to cover those of us who were shorted funds, etc.. but nobody knows when we’ll get our money, how much of it we’ll get, etc. I’m about to look at refinancing also because of the escrow shortage causing my mortgage pmt to go up over 150 bucks a month!
So, I refied away from TBW on 8/09 and the $4500 escrow check they gave me bounced in September of 2009. I have filed a claim and gotten various court info.
Just today (2/2/10) I go a memo from TBW thanking me for my business and a DISCHRGE OF MORTGAGE letter signed by some notory public in FL.
What’s up with this ???
Are they trying to close the chapter on me without ever paying the Escrow?
Be glad you got that letter. That means that your old mortgage was paid off by TBW and is not sitting in limbo like other borrowers who now have 2 mortgages because TBW did not pay theirs off. Escrow monies will hopefully be returned after the court meets on the 19th, but who knows, they’ve been saying that since september.
Are we going to get a 1098 from TB&W for the 2009 year?? I went on their site and printed the form they had and it was for 2008 ugh! So what are we suppose to do? I know I had over 8,000 in interest and $600 PMI payments that go on my taxes.
This is so messed up!
I got my 1098 on Saturday from TBW. You still with TBW, or was your loan transferred?
It was transferred from TB&W to BOA. I was with TB&W until Aug 09′.
If it was transferred to BofA, then you will only get 1 1098 from BofA – you can actually go to Bank of America’s website, log into your account, go to ‘account details’ and print your 1098 online. TB&W’s interest will be included in the one 1098 at Bank of America. At least they got THAT transferred!
Then you should receive a 1098 from BoA.
I’m one of the few who’s re-fi’d right before this mess. TBW transferred the old loan — which should have been paid off — to Cenlar.
Technically, I have two mortgages, but I pay the new one, which has remained with TBW. Cenlar is working with TBW on getting it paid off, assuring us it’s not our issue. Except, of course, for the headache of knowing we have two mortgages on record!
That was a round-about way of saying this: I got a 1098 from Cenlar — which totals all of my 2009 payments up until the refi. Cenlar inherits all off that since they technically took the loan over.
I also got a 1098 from TBW — only for the payments made on the new loan.
So I’d imagine you should only receive a 1098 from BoA.
But I’m not sure of other tax information that might pertain to you, so don’t take my word. I’m not a expert by any means.
I got a 1098 from both TBW & my new lender, since I refied midway through the year.
I got an interest statement from TBW for the money my escrow account accrued when they werent paying out from it. Argh another thing I know have to pay taxes on!
If you go to http://www.taylorbean.com, log into your account, and click on “Payment History”, you can see how much your mortgage was bought for. Look for “TRF SERV”, I’m assuming it stands for “Transfer Service”.
I called BOA and yep the 1098 from them included the interest from TB&W. Thankfully.
This whole thing is a mess. It’s crazy how much everyone is affected by this. It stinks that they did not give us any warning as to what they we’re going to do.
I was, thankfully, one of the lucky ones that just got their loan through TB&W. I went to make my payment online and it said my account was frozen. I called to find out why, and all I got was a busy signal. I then called my mortgage broker, whom was on the phone with them, and he was aware about the FED raid. He told me that Bank of America was going to be the new owner of my mortgage and to mail my payment to TB&W and send it certified so I have a record of them receiving it, until the transfer is official. I did that and I got a letter from Cenlar claiming they were the owner of my mortgage. I called Bank of America to find out if they had any further information and they told me they are mailing out letters to customers as soon as they have the final OK. I got my letter, logged into my account, and everything transferred OK. The only thing I miss about TB&W is the fee less grace period for making online payments at the last minute.
I am in the same situation as many of you. I refinanced just prior to TBW going bankrupt, but my escrow fund check of $780 bounced.
I already submitted a claim to the bankruptcy court. Can this be claimed as a loss on my taxes?
Anyone know??
I’m not a CPA, but my advice is don’t deduct anything for 2009. Think of it as a loan to a dead-beat friend who hasn’t paid you back. My instincts are telling me we’re going to end up whole, but it may take a little while.
First, I’m thinking it would fall into the same category as theft, & in that category, I believe you have to eat the first 2% of your AGI.
Second, even if you can deduct it this year, that would mean you have to count any future remibursements as income. When/if that happens, I’m thinking that the cost of sorting out the mess would cost more than you’d save in offset taxes.
That said, if this time next year we’re still waiting on a check, talk to a CPA to see what you can do for 2010.
Jonathan, I asked the Turbo Tax “Ask a Tax Professional” that question. He said that the amount can be claimed as a loss the year you decide you’ll never see the money again. Since the hearing to determine what happens to the escrow refunds is on February 19, I’m not going to decide until after that date what to do.
If you do claim the loss, and then you end up getting the money from TBW anyway, you’ll have to claim the money you receive this year as income. I posted the complete, but short answer form Turbo Tax here: http://beingfrugal.net/2010/01/22/friday-financially-savvy-links-ask-the-tax-expert-edition/
If what you were told is correct, (Sch D loss now & “income” later), then my advice is still to wait until 2010.
IIRC, Sch D losses cannot be deducted from income, they can only be used to offset capital gains, with a distinction between short (=1 yr). That means unless you happen to have sold something in 2009 that resulted in a gain (of the same short/long type), you can only carry the loss forward to future years until you do have a gain, at which time you’ll net the two together.
Then, if a refund has to be counted as “income” (as opposed to a cap gain), you would have to pay income taxes on the refund, while still holding the Sch D loss as a carry-forward.
If you aren’t already going to have a Sch D for 2009, I don’t recommend adding it, just to get this. It’s probably more complexity than you want to deal with.
If we haven’t gotten reimbursed this time next year, consider capturing this in your 2010 return.
Hmmm, I somehow zapped some text from my 2nd paragraph. Maybe it didn’t like the characters I typed.
short term is less than 1 year
long term is 1 year & longer
Who will let us know what the turn out will be on feburary 19 about our esrow account with TBW
My TBW loan was taken over by Cenlar. I too was missing $800 from my escrow, resulting in my mortgage increasing by $200 a month.. I was advised by TBW to file a claim in bankruptcy court. I decided to first demand my escrow account to be properly credited by Cenlar. I wrote a letter to them detailing all transactions since Aug. 09 that showed what my escrow should be. I included copies of all receipts and statements from both TBW, Cenlar, homeowner’s ins, and tax records. I mailed these documents to both the escrow dept and research department at
Cenlar. On Monday, my account was credited the $800 missing from escrow. Thank God!
Wow! What a mess. I am glad that I refinanced my loan and don’t have to worry about mortgage payments, mortgage payoffs, lost escrow money, etc. I was really mad about the NSF on the $765.15 escrow payment. Luckily my bank removed the $40 fee. I now see that so many people are in the “same boat” or sadly, much worse off.
Hopefully something will be resolved after 2/19/10 hearing (which I gathered from other comments). How do we find out what rulings are made and find out more information about the hearing?
I am really disgusted that we know more about celebrity issues (Jon & Kate) than affecting thousands of homeowners. Freezing our funds is “theft” in my eyes.
This is truly a mess. I opened my mail this week to find my Annual Escrow Account Disclosure report. As I read the statement my eyes just about popped out of my head when I was informed that I had a shortage of $5,658.60 and I had two choices…Pay the 5+grand or add an additional $577.23 to my mortgage each month. I quickly called the 800 number to discover that it was answered by a call center in India. They could not help me only was able to read a script. I went as far as getting my county tax commissioner on a three way with them and they informed them that my taxes should in no way be in shortage. I was informed later that TBW did go into bankruptcy (not by the call center in India, but by a business associate.) Our escrow is being held hostage and I refuse to pay more. When will the working Americans get a bailout…I’m very tired of Corporate Grand Theft. Will this make National Headlines?
I was transferred to AHMSI and whenever I called usually got someone in India who had no clue what I was talking about. They kept getting my home owners insurance and property taxes mixed up. Apparently they didn’t know the difference. Anyway I was able to speak with someone in the United States once. I complained about the service/incompetence of the customer service in India and was told to ask to speak to someone in America and they will transfer me. I haven’t had to do so yet but wanted to pass that on.
jen,
any chance you were transferred to AHMSI? The India call center is a nightmare to deal with
No, I wasn’t transferred to AHMSI…I did ask to speak to someone in America and was told that the office was closed due to the snow storm last week. I will also post on the site Megan shared. I believe this is the second wave of the financial disaster (We are the people who are able to pay our mortgages but have been robbed)
I wanted to post this on all of the being frugal TBW blogs so that everyone sees it. Hopefully it will do some good.
Author: lucy
Comment: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?
Gosh, I hope so. I commented there also. This is ridiculous, and I also can’t believe the media hasn’t gotten wind of this and exposed this theft of our funds! The bankruptcy courts have no right to freeze OUR assets along with TBW’s – these monies belong to us!
Does anyone know if their is a class action against TBW that I can get in on. I was one of those who lost our home (foreclosure) unfairly. They were very slick.
to reiterate something i have posted to this website at least three times, in regard to AHMSI:
DO NOT SPEAK TO ANYONE FROM INDIA. DEMAND A STATE-SIDE REPRESENTATIVE!
As strange as it sounds they do not have extension numbers, best you can do is get an employee ID #. Every time you call you are reinventing the wheel and have to start from the beginning with your problem.
WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN:
keep a spiral notebook and pen with you when you cal them, note the name of the person you talk to and the time and make notes on what they are saying. It will make you crazy to repeat yourself over and over, but thati s the only way to get anywhere.
DON’T GIVE UP!!!
As sith every other buklly tyoe company, they will drive you to the point of doubting your sanity, but hang in there. I smoke like a chimney every time i call them, and i call them every Wednesday.
Yes, TB&W slapped lender insurance on the property but AHMSI refuses to credit the policy even thoug my adjuster and i have sent four faxxes apiece verifying the binder. So tomorrow i start again. I have gotten it down to $1300.00 from $1899, so iguess it is worth it. Had the sam eproblem with another piece of property,rather than putting me through all this she asked for the policy number, deductible and date of coverage and that was it. Why cant AHMSI make things that easy? I just don’t know.
PLEASE BE PATIENT:
dealing with these peoplevis deceptive, i have been told it was all ok, at least 5 times, but every time i get a paper statement it is still there.
dott
Do you know if you have to file a claim if TBW sent you a check and it bounced? If so, how/where do you file a claim?
Was anyone else noticed of Freddie Mac’s objections? This came from Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed, whoever they are. Freddie Mac is objecting to stuff. It’s hard for me, I’m not a lawyer, but it’s interesting to me that the objection states that THERE ARE NO PROMISSORY NOTES for over 100 loans for the people who now have 2 mortgages, and they don’t know who owns many other loans. Perhaps we should all just stop paying our mortgages at the same time and let them try to figure it out.
Could some answer me this question. was the pmi insurance paid when the loan defaulted or forclosed on. and if you had a VA loan was the 33% paid for the forclosed loan. I am trying to find out if tbw was paid this money, but transfered the loan to the new holder for the pricinipal amount?
Has anyone heard what the result of today’s hearing was? 2/19/10?
Does anyone know what is going on from the Feb. 19th court date? I am not a lawyer, but it looks like there were thousands of $$’s approved for lawyer fees. What about all of us who payed our mortgages on time and did what is right and entrusted TB&W in good faith to hold OUR escrow money.
Feb. 19 hearing: Motion was granted with objection overruled. That’s all the BMC group Web site says. No further info yet, hopefully soon.
I got the following email from lawyer representing TBW in the bankruptcy case.
On February 19, 2010, a hearing was held on our Motion for Approval of Protocol to Resolve Borrower Issues. The Motion was granted. We expect to submit an order to the Judge for signature by the end of the week or the beginning of next week. In the meantime, you can go to http://www.bmcgroup.com/tbwmortgage – click on Court Docket. This will give you a list of all the documents filed in the bankruptcy proceeding to date. Go to docket no. 927 – this is the motion. The Motion will give you information about the relief that was granted by the Judge with regard to the frozen bank accounts containing the escrow monies.
looks like they loaded the protocol order on the web. The link for docket 1071 doesn’t work yet…
1071 2/23/2010 Proposed Order – Order Establishing Protocol to Resolve Borrower Issues Filed by Jeffrey W Kelley on behalf of Debtor Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. (related document(s) 1043 , 1042 , 1039 , 1055 , 927 ). (Kelley, Jeffrey) (Entered: 02/23/2010)
Check docket #1079. It has order.
I’ve been on hold for an hour at TBW… any new news out in the wild?
Talked to them this morning and they are saying as long as the other investors don’t object to the feb 24th ruling the money will be disbursed to them and they (freddie mac, wells fargo etc) are to disburse the money to us. The guy I talked to also mentioned that the TBW call center maybe shutdown as early as friday! I am hoping this is all good news for all of us.
Well, I am not exactly sure what that means to those of us who had escrow funds that were paid by the bounced check. I don’t know where those funds were transferred to, or who will be distributing my money. Is this clear to anyone? Also, will they disburse funds before June 15th, which seems to be the date that was established for people to file a claim. It makes me uncomfortable to see all of the attorneys fees that are being awarded. Will there be anything left for us?
For those of us with the bounced escrow checks, this is what I understand from my conversation with one of the restructuring officers. The monies for our escrow refunds will be transfered to the “investor” at the time all this bankruptcy started. The monies will then be distributed from Freddie Mac to the individual borrowers (i.e. You and I). In my case, TBW will transfer my escrow money to Freddie Mac, and Freddie Mac will cut me a check, since they were the original “investor” for my loan. This is all based on the assumption that Freddie Mac elects to participate in the borrower protocol.
David,
I dont know much about these things. I had refinanced with another company, so my escrow account with them is fully funded. My bounced check was a refund from my TB&W escrow. Am I understanding correctly that my money will go to someone else before I get it?
Thanks for your help!
Jeff
That is my understanding as well. I dont think we have to file for anything as TBW has records of who is owed money.
Nish,
Taylor Bean was investigated for the way they handled people’s money. I wouldn’t trust them or their records. It only takes a few minutes to file a claim with a court, and it can’t hurt anything. Better safe than sorry.
I recieved a packet from TB&W yesterday. It was a claim form and a copy of the court paper signed by the judge. I have already filed a claim. I guess there is a ten day window for someone to object to this protocol?? I sure would like some interest tacked on to my money for having to wait. Especially if I have to wait until June. That will make it almost a year that they have been sitting on my money. If it was the other way around, and we all owed money to them, we would all already be swinging from an oak tree by now!
Jeff,
I received the same packet yesterday. Are we supposed to fill it out and send it in again? Are you going to?
Marni,
I am going to fill it out again. I dont want those clowns coming back and having the excuse that because I didnt send the new one in, I lost my rights to my money. Based on the circus I have seen so far, I would be suprised by anything.
Good luck!
Jeff
Actually I meant to say that I would not be suprised by anything.
Thanks,
Jef
Jeff,
What else was in your packet? Anyone else receive a packet?
I believe those were the only two things besides a return envelope.
Good Luck,
Jeff
I received a packet to. I didn’t have much time to look at it but it did contain a claim form and I have already filled one out. I am going to fill it out again though. Did anyone else have time to read it?
Megan,
There was a signed order (not sure of legal name of the document) from the judge.
If you have already filed a claim with the bankruptcy court, there’s no need to fill it out again. You can look on the bmc groups website under filed claims, mine is there but it was hard to find. You can file an amended claim if you want to add interest. Use the form they sent you and just check amended.
I too rec’d my packet yesterday. It says in the 4th paragraph that you do need to fill out a claim if you are one of the groups described in paragraph 5. Section a of para. 5 says you do not need to fill out a claim if you have already filed a proof of claim against the debtor utilizing Official Form. No. 10 (which is provided on the bmcgroup site).
I have a bounced refund check from TBW. Does anyone know what we are supposed to fill out in part 4 and 5 of the claim form?
Freddie Mac Chose to Opt-In this morning on the Borrower Protocol for Issues 1,2 & 3. This is good news.
David,
Where did you hear that?
I’m an affected borrrower for one of the three issues — and the net-fund situation (issue 4) as well.
One of the restructuring officers at TBW told me. I’ve been in contact with him throughout this process. He did not mention anything about Issue #4, but I’m not affected by it, so I didn’t ask.
Can you send me his contact info, please.
aabrami@saintmikesalum.com. Or post it here if you’d rather.
Freddie Mac has not answered about Issue 4 yet. Other investors has opted in. That was what I heard from TBW.
If I haven’t received the packet, then what should one do??
Can someone email scanned version of the packet? Can’t believe consumers have to go through like this, but hey, if we don’t watch our backs, then who will? Thanks for your help
Is this the claim form we need to fill out?
http://www.bmccorp.net/TBW_POC.pdf
Thanks for your help.
Everyone please go to the TBW website to see where your money is. You’ll enter your loan number and it will tell you who to contact. For those of us with BOUNCED PLATINUM CHECKS, I spoke with the person at the FDIC who is handling this case. He thinks that within 30 days they will have all the information entered into their loan system and the refund process will begin. Looks like we are getting close! Everyone keep their fingers crossed the Freddie Mac does not also go bankrupt.
I entered my loan number and nothing happens. Does this mean I am not included in this and have to continue waiting?
I would keep trying. My guess is that your loan information has not been updated yet, unless your “investor” has no opted into the borrower protocol. Who was the investor on your loan?
Thanks for the update. From the TBW site I linked to the proposed order. The copy I saw was not signed by the judge– maybe there is another out there.
In any event, it does appear bounced platinum check holders, assuming the order is entered and no relevant party opts out, are making progress.
Thanks again for the update.
I called BOA who is the servicer for my loan…
They had some old loan info from 2008… nothing about my escrow money. They had in the instructions to direct us to taylorbean.com when we call.
you have to drive them nuts or they will just put us in this loop forever and we will never get our money!!!
We need help!
We refinanced to another Mortgage Company a few weeks before everything was frozen, but we still have money tied up in Escrow that should have been paid out to us last year. Went to the Taylor Bean website today to find that my loan has been taken over by Bank of America. I call Bank of America, and they have no information on my account and told me to call a Taylor Bean number – which is now useless.
Anything any of us can do??
This is incredibly frustrating . . .
Who is the subsequent servicer?
Bank of America
I would keep trying BofA until they get their system updated. My guess is that it will take a few days.
Thanks David for all your helpful responses. I wish more Taylor Bean people could read these comments!
Zach-
I sent an email to TBW because I also had BoA listed even though I had refinanced with somebody else prior to everything. Anyway, it shows BoA, but it really isn’t BoA. Don’t trust what is there. Send an email. They won’t give the info via email but they should send you one to tell you to go into your account to get their message to you. Strange things going on…
I am still trying to make contact with the correct company but it seems like everyone is averaging one week or more to return emails.
I had a mortgage with TBW which was paid off in Sept 2009. However, I have escrow monies frozen. Pursuant to the Borrower Protocol Order, I entered my loan number at the TBW site. Wells Fargo is the “investor” for my loan and American Home Mtge is the Subsequent Servicer. Of course, when I try to contact them, I’m unable to get through.
Am I missing something? Any thoughts are welcome.
Thanks-
You are not missing anything, keep trying. My investor is Freddie Mac and it still does not list who the subsequent servicer is.
For those of us with Bounced Platinum Escrow Checks. Here is the process as I understand it. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Our loans were all paid off and no longer on their servicing records, meaning that nothing was passed to subsequent servicers. Now that the protocol has been put in place, the court determined that the distribution of funds take place with the original investor (even though we were off of their books so to speak). They now have to re-enter our information and assign us a servicer, who will then cut us a check. I’m sure this will take a few days/weeks to get all the correct information put in their system.
David-
That sounds like what is supposed to be happening but with the lack of clear communication there is too much chance for speculation. Why is it that we are all having to share info for any of us to better understand? I just feel that this should be their responsibility to help calm our fears. Is this asking too much?
I’ve based my comments on the conversations I’ve had with resturcturing officers at TBW and the FDIC…not sure who else to turn to at this point. You are right…it should be their responsibility, but I’m not going to wait for them to do something.
Absolutely. I am not waiting on them. I’ve spoken with BMC, BoA, TBW and I’m still trying to get through to the council and Ginnie Mae.
David-
Have you heard anything else? One person received a new check but it wasn’t from BoA. They said they were with issue #3 and filed their claim in March.
I have not heard anything yet. I put a call and an email into the Freddie Mac to see where they stand and I have not heard back from them yet. Doubtful you’ll get the check from BofA, they will likely pawn it off to one of their servicers.
David,
Who did you call/email at Freddie Mac? A direct line? Freddie Mac’s decision on opting into Issue 4 of the protocol directly affects me.
When TBW put up that thing to enter your loan number, I think that was just to get things rolling.
Sounds like it will take time, like people are saying, to accounts up to speed or something.
Who out there is stuck with the Issue 4 (net-funded one)? That may take even longer.
I am also stuck in the whole Issue 4 net funding fiasco. I would like to know if anyone has heard anything about a resolution. I was told by TBW that Ginnie Mae would be the investor and would be given orders according to the bankruptcy protocol – whatever that means. When I called Ginnie Mae and asked whether BOA would even acknowledge my refinanced loan versus the original loan that they took she did not give me any information at all.
How much interest have I lost because TBW has tied up MY ESCROW FUNDS? Hmmm $3000 of my money that someone has their hands on, and it is not me. My money was owed to me as of July 22, 2009 and I am still WAITING… WAITING… WAITING..
Better yet. How about losing interest and then having to reflect interest income on your tax return that they have supposedly paid you on insurance proceeds they have tied up and haven’t paid the contractor? But I am with you. Still waiting.
I just got a check for my bounced escrow check originally from 8/2009. I deposited today. Let’s see if that bounces now!
Who issued it? And did you file a claim with BMC Group? I called BMC Group today to see if they could give me any information, since no one else seems to know anything. Your news gives me hope for my and everyone else’s escrow money. BMC told me it could take years if we get it back at all….THANK YOU FOR THE HOPE.
Just an FYI. BMC Group is only a paperwork processor for the bankruptcy proceedings…they are a document processor, so no decisions are made by them. I would not call them for updates on anything. The fact that any of us filed a Claim has no affect on whether or not we receive a refund of our escrow payment. The escrow dollars being held “outside” of the bankruptcy funds. We filed the claims “in case” we didn’t get the money back otherwise. If it was through the “claims” process that we did get a refund it could indeed take years, but luckily we are not. Hopefully that makes sense.
Debra,
Yes, I had orginally filled a claim thru BMC group.
Just got my $2500 check for escrow that has been frozen since last August. I did file the claim with BMC months ago but haven’t call on it in months (Got tired of the same speech). I will put in bank in morning and see what happens. Good luck to all!!
Who did you guys receive your check from? I am still awaiting since August 2009 for $1805.92. Just on the phone today w/BOA. No help even from a supervisor. Just told to contact TBW (only email) since BOA doesnt have “any” info. Go Figure…. I filed a claim today but have sent paper work up the ying yang to both TBW and BOA since August 2009. I am soooo fed up!!!
Got a response back from TBW and they didnt tell me anything new. Only that they are still working on it w/BOA and there isnt an ETA for a check. GO FIGURE….. HOW ARE OTHERS RECEIVING A CHECK AND FROM WHOM?
I have been waiting since August also for our $2700.00 bounce escrow. I can’t get any answers from anyone I call. Do you know who is issuing the checks others are receiving? I have been running to the mailbox for the last few days, since others have posted they got theirs, no such luck for me.
How did you get in touch with TB&W? They took money out of my ecrow in August 2008 and never sent me a check. I have tried to get some type of response from BOA on what to do, of course I have a better chance of winning the lottery. I have been trying for months to find out what i need to do.
TBW has commissioned American Home Mortgage Services Inc. to assist in processing the refund of my loan. In short, that is what the letter says.
What letter are you referring too?
I recieved a form letter with the disbursement check voucher (my escrow money check) from AHMSI (see above) saying they were commisioned by TBW to assist in processing refunds. There Customer care number is 1-877-304-3100 if you want to see if they are processing yours. Mine was a escrow overage when I paid off loan last year during refi. It took 8 months but unless the check bounces hopefully this mess is over for me. Good luck to you all. And to who ever wrote the “Makes me wonder how truthful they are being” comment, I have no reason to lie I was in the same boat as the rest of you for the last 8 months. Again best wishes.
Thank you Mark. At least it’s new hope. I appreciate the info.
Well, I have been waiting since July, 2009 for my escrow funds. The check bounced in August. I have married since then, changed my name and bought a new house so I have a new address. I am concerned that if I try to notify TBW of a name change and address change, it will confuse and further delay me getting my money. I pray everyday that my check will finally show up and then I will deal with getting it into the bank under my former name. Isn’t life with TBW fun? Who is issuing these checks that some of you say that you are receiving now???????? My “loan” which means escrow funds went to Fannie Mae, but no servicer shows up.
I do find it ODD that the few who are claiming to have received checks now, are NOT telling those of us still waiting, who is issuing these checks. Makes me wonder how truthful they are being.
I received a replacement check a few months ago from Cenlar, my new servicer.
I had to send them a copy of the bounced check from TBW.
Just got off the phone with Jennifer… I’m in the Ginne Mae, TB&W, BOA group.
She stated that the account information for us didn’t transfer and they are actively trying to get the account info. At least she returned my call…
Well now … isn’t Mark the lucky one? Out of hundreds of us with bounced checks, only he is fortunate enough to get his replaced…..
Ummm… If you read the thread, several people, not just Mark, have begun getting their checks. It’s great news for the rest of us who are waiting.
Well FAT UN-INFORMED PATTI W… I HAVE READ ALL THE THREADS .. UNLIKE YOUR IGNORANT SELF… MARK AND SAM ARE THE ONLY 2 PEOPLE OUT OF HUNDREDS… THAT CLAIM A NEW CHECK RECENTLY…. GO SUCK EGGS.. LEARN SOMETHING
Is there anyway to block someone from making inane comments?
I wish there was a way to block ignorance, lol. Someone that has to be so ignorant as to revert to a 2nd grader’s level of comments doesn’t seem to understand that we are all in the same boat here. You are only making yourself look ignorant when we’re all here trying to get informed and help ourselves. I appreciate Mark’s candor and everyone else’s information that has been presented here on this thread. Grow up Jean B. Or should I communicate in a way that you’ll understand by saying “nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah…”?
Folks,
Like Mark my check was from AHMSI as well. Before getting the check I had called them since they were listed on TBW web site as the company handling my account. However, they had no record of this. Then suddenly the check appeared early this week.
I will report if it clears. I am surprised why only 2 people so far have gotten check. Good luck all…
Just a little more info from my situation. When I put my loan number in the TBW “Borrower protocol order” area it said Investor Well Fargo and Subsquent server is American Home Mortgage so I called them 5-6 weeks ago. They acted like I was speaking french at first then I said are you not the ones doing TBW escrow refunds and she said yes but my loan/name was not in there computers yet. Fast forward 6 weeks and Monday I get the check. I did the whole BMC file claim issue and can pull up the doc on there site. And tried the phone calls over and over. It is going to sound odd but me and the wife had got to the point where it was just going to be a bad learning expierience and move on. So not to give false hope but they may have there “poop in a group” now and will start paying everyone what has been owed for months.
Just read Sams entry sound just like my situation. I will also report if check bounces and then cry myself to sleep…..
I also got the same answer from BofA – no ETA on a check, most likely because it will be cleared through a different clearing account. They only said that if they receive the check for my escrow funds they will refund me any overage and re-do the escrow analysis. They also said that most likely I would receive the check instead of them. I’ll let everyone know also!
Did you file a claim with BMC? I just learned that was what I was supposed to do but I’ve missed the deadline now. I’m afraid this is going to be the end of my battle and not in my favor.
Laine,
The deadline is June 15 for TBW.
Also Laine: Filing a claim, I believe, is a last-ditch effort to recoup money lost from this TBW bankruptcy.
Filing a claim is not related to the courts’ protocol resolution and the repayment of any funds that you fall under in the four issues outlined.
Filing a claim will have no effect on whether or not you get your escrow money back.
Maybe AHMSI has their stuff together and BoA doesn’t. At least that is what is sounds like. I am certainly happy for those receiving their checks…I just wish I was one of them…Anyway for those of us unfortunate enough to have BoA as the subsequent servicer, please read the following post from a fellow victim. It gives a phone number to call at BoA…
“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 also been calling Judge Funk’s office daily to advise that BOA is not administering the Borrower Protocol. Thanks”
When I input my loan number, Freddie Mac appears as investor but nothing for servicer and contact. I called Freddie Mac at 8003733343 and they told they are aware of this and but they don’t know how to release the money at this time. They suggest to call again in a couple of weeks for updated status.
When I input my loan number, Freddie Mac appears as investor but nothing for servicer and contact. I called Freddie Mac at 8003733343 and they said they are aware of this and but they don’t know how to release the money at this time. They suggest to call again in a couple of weeks for updated status.
Well, I spoke with BofA earlier today and the woman I spoke with told me they DID receive my escrow funds from my prev. mortgage with TB&W! I had received a letter in Dec. stating my escrow was thousands short & my mortgage pmt. was up $175 a month! When I first called, the first rep. told me that BofA never received my escrow funds. Now, this time (after I have called them 30 or times) this person told me they DID receive my escrow funds, and she did an escrow re-analysis and just like that – my payment went back down. She also stated that I would be getting a refund check (from BofA) for the overage. So, I would recommend (if your loan was transferred to Bank of America) to call them AGAIN (if the problem is your escrow being transferred) and ask AGAIN for another analysis of your escrow! Yippee! Good luck to all of you!
Any update from anyone with Freddie Mac as the investor….I refinanced just before BK and am waiting on escrow balance. Is FREDDIE MAC also the new servicer? TBW Website only says FREDDIE as investor…..
Sounds like you and I are in the same boat. We re-financed just before the bk and received a bounced check for almost 5K. Our new investor is also Freddie Mac but no other news.
I’m also out about $6K. Last time I heard from Freddie Mac (my investor) i was told 2-3 weeks and they would be cutting checks to us. That was on April 14, 2010. So if that person was correct, we should be getting our refunds in a couple weeks. It sounds like they are not going to use a subsequent servicer, they are doing it themselves.
Forgot to say, Freddie may be earning interest on the amounts held in the reimbursement account. I hope they are required to return any interest to us or the government so earning the interest is not an incentive to delay disbursing the funds (i.e. delay=additional interest $$).
I have been waiting for an escrow repayment of $3,300 since I paid my loan off in July of 2009. My investor in the Borrowers Protocol is Freddie Mac. According to the FDIC Freddie Mac has had the money (over $16,000,000) since the end of March to pay the borrowers who have been affected. I spoke with a phone answerer at Freddie Mac today who stated that Freddie Mac is working on a procedure to pay affected borrowers. I suggest that everyone that has Freddie Mac as an investor in this Protocol call them at 1-800-373-3343 and ask when will this money be returned to the rightful owners. Flood their phone lines and perhaps they will finally start to move on this. If not call the Bankruptcy referee at Judge Funk’s court in Florida 1-904-301-6522 and ask why Freddie Mac opted into the Courts Protocol and is not sending out funds in a timely manner.
I took Jim’s advice and I called the Freddie Mac number and spoke to a female by the name of Aracia. She tells me that Freddie Mac does indeed have our money, but that they have NO IDEA when it will be disbursed because they are not set up to disburse escrow funds, therefore they have no idea how to go about it. She did not make it sound as if it is a priority for them to get it figured out either, because according to her, it will be WEEKS before a decision is made. COME on all of you out there. FLOOD THEIR LINES.. or we will never get our money. 1-800-373-3343… I pressed option #4. We have to take action if we ever want our money!
This is a copy of an e-mail I sent to my congressman last Friday. My Congressman’s office has been aware of my situation since August 2008. People we need to make some noise so that Freddie Mac does what is required of them by law!
Anything new. Called Freddie Mac again Monday. They said they are aware of the TBW issue but don’t know when the process of returning my escrow money will start, how it will proceed, or who will handle it. They won’t or can’t give me a name of someone to contact who is dealing with this issue, they just answer the phones and are not privy to that information. This is extremely frustrating for me. I paid my loan off in July of 2009 I have been owed over $3300 in excess escrow payments since then. This is my money. I have followed this thru TBW to the Bankruptcy Court to the FDIC and now to Freddie Mac. The Bankruptcy Court in Florida issued a court order for payment of these funds to affected borrowers. The FDIC & TBW have released the funds needed to repay affected borrowers. Freddie Mac opted in to the Florida Courts Protocol to make whole affected borrowers. Freddie Mac is sitting on $14,080,319 in funds to be used in the resolution of borrower issues ( Table 2 page 13 of the Borrower Resolution Protocol ).On page 14 of the court order it states. Each electing investor ( in my case Freddie Mac ) shall, based on information provided by TBW, and to the extent it has not already advanced funds to the affected borrower C. pay each affected borrower the face amount of the bounced Platinum check that relates to such affected borrowers. When will I and so many others receive what is rightfully owed us?
Jim,
I’ve talked to a Freddie Mac lawyer who is directly involved.
George Kielman: 703-903-2600 (that’s their corporate lawyer number, you have say his name to get his direct line).
Previous post should state August 2009 in second sentence.
THANK you Jim for all of your great information. I am in the process of contacting my state senators and representatives. I am just one individual, but if enough of us are heard, maybe we can start to get results.
If we all just sit around and do nothing, they may hold our money for years, until it is all eroded away by LEGAL expenses. Somebody has to be paying for all of the legal services.
Is everybody entering their TBW loan number on the Taylor, Bean, and Whitaker website and they are being told who their new servicer is? When I enter my loan number there, I get the message “Sorry but we cannot find a match for your loan account number. Please contact your prior servicer.” Am I the only one getting this? Any suggestions with what I should do? I paid off my loan, because we sold the house, and my escrow refund check for over $4,400 bounced in August. Help!!
I think you need to enter your loan number further down the page where it asks you to do so to see if your account is subject to the bankruptcy protocol. After you do that, you’ll have to scroll back down. My guess is Freddie will be the subsequent servicer and that you escrow account is covered under the protocol– can’t promise you. If so, that sends you back to what an earlier poster recommended; contact Freddie than contact the bankruptcy referee to complain that Freddie hasn’t complied to date.
Courage and patience to all…
Well, Marni, most of us are in the same boat. My loan was paid off July 22, 2009 and TBW told me to wait 30 days for my escrow funds. Then they issued me a bounced check on Aug 17 for the $3000 that was my money, escrowed for taxes. I am still waiting and Freddie Mac talks like they are in no hurry to get me my funds. Another government agency that does not care whether they do their jobs. They get paid the same whether we get our money or not! I would double check the loan number or call the courts in Florida to make sure you have filed and on the list to be paid.
I am submitting statements to my State Senators and Congressmen today. I don’t expect them to do much, but I have to do something. This is frustrating to have them keep MY money for so long and I don’t expect they will pay interest or pay for the charges imposed by the banks for the bounced check.
Thanks so much, Margaret! Yep, that was my problem. I was entering it into the first field, not the field further down the page. Freddie Mac is the lucky winner!!
For Bank of america people…I just spoke to Mary Cooper out of Dallas (972)526-3230. She said that they originally only recieved loans that still had a balance and they are working with TBW to get the information on escrow account in order to begin issuing checks. There is no timeline in place but she took my information and told me I could check back with her weekly.
So I just hung up on BOA once again. To reiterate. TBW put a lender placed flood insurance in my escrow in error and were going to adjust before they went into Chapter 11. My escrow is in a negative balance and has gone up. I have faxed numerous and I mean numerous documents to BOA. I have been told at least 8 times that requests were put in for them to review my situation yet when I ask them what the resolution was they all say it was sent to the wrong department and it will take another 15 days for any type of information. I am definitely getting the run around. I have talked to corporate, I have talked to some girl named Dawn in Dallas yet no resolution. I have called all the numbers and contacted all the people this website suggests I contact yet nothing is happening. I put my loan number in the TBW web site and it says to contact BOA as they are the bank providing the services to my account. Does this mean that I do not have Freddie Mac or Ginnie Mae? I am confused who my actual investor is. When I went to the Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae websites they say they are not holding my loan. I am a first time homeowner so this is very confusing for me. BOA has all documentation showing that when the lender placed flood insurance was attached to my escrow it was done in error. Why are they giving me the runaround? Are they not supposed to be following the protocol as well?
I Refinanced my house through BOA in July, 2009. I am still waiting for my $2,200 in Escrow funds from by Taylor Bean. Do I have to file something in order to get it? or should I just be persistant in calling BOA until I get it
Kraig – I had the EXACT same thing happen to me – but I re-fi’d in Aug 2009 right before their bankruptcy. Call BofA and have them do an escrow re-analysis. My escrow funds ‘mysteriously’ showed up after I called them a bunch of times, received two letters notifying me that I had an escrow shortage, etc.. Only to find that they did receive my funds. Keep calling BofA – ask them if they think you need to speak to an attorney to get this settled. Make them do an escrow analysis and see what you end up with.
You should do both. If you refinanced directly through BOA, it doesn’t make sense that TBW would transfer your escrow funds. Rather, they should rebate them to you and you fund separately through BOA, if that is part of your loan.
Conversely, if your account was transferred, it seems logical that the escrow funds too should have been transferred thus fall into a blackhole many above have experienced–i.e. loan transferred pursuant to TBW BK, escrow did not but should have followed. In any event, seems best to work both ends (though I know what a time and patience drain this thing has been…)
OK. I am completely lost. I call BOA, they say the same thing everytime…August 2009 payment from TBW is still not posted. I am now recieving calls from debt collectors representing BOA asking for that August payment. The payment was made, the doc’s have been mailed/faxed to BOA showing proof the payment was taken from my account…but still no luck. Each and everytime, the response from BOA is..”We received your correspondence regarding your payment, however the documentation you have provided is insufficient.” Can someone please give me a phone number or name…or any advice at all that will help me resolve this situation!? For those of you dealing with BOA that HAVE received your payment…what did you do? Did you file with BMC…did you threaten legal action…? If anyone know’s anything that would be beneficial….please shoot me a response! Thank you in advance… and good luck to all.
Contact your state regulatory division, whoever handles the consumer protection regarding mortgages. They helped me to deal with Roundpoint Mortgage. Good luck.
Ar,
Below is number to the contact lawyer for the uncredited committee. She may be able to help, can’t promise.
Debi Evans Galler
(305) 714-4397
dgaller@bergersingerman.com
UPDATE: My contact at Freddie Mac just informed me that he believes the checks will be mailed out this Friday (May 7, 2010). Hopefully this is the case.
David,
Who’s your Freddie Mac contact? My situation involves issue 4. I’ve spoken with one of the freddie mac lawyers who has advised me a resolution is nearing in two weeks.
Many thanks for the hope and update. I hope your contact is right!!
ST, my guess is David is referring to folks that fall into issues 1-3.
Margaret, yeah I figured that. I was just hoping for another Freddie Mac contact to call and find out more information.
For those who are stuck with Issue 4 and Freddie is your investor, it does sound like something will happen in the next two weeks. They are reviewing Issue 4 mortgages on an individual basis (well, an independent company is).
There is a May 24 deadline for Freddie Mac to opt into the final issue.
I rec’d a phone call back from Paul at Ginnie Mae and he said that my escrow refund should be recieved by me by the end of May. And it’ll be on a BOA check. If I don’t receive it I am supposed to call him directly. Let’s hope we’ll finally get our money!
To all just received my escrow funds check from Freddie Mac this morning ( May 10th check dated May 6th ). I was in part 3 of the borrowers protocol – Bounced Platinum Bank escrow checks. I hope that this check does not bounce upon deposit. I also hope that all others affected by TBW will have their specific issues resolved soon.
Stacy, do you have a phone number for Paul? thanks
To all, I just received my check as well from freddie mac. Looks like David’s contact was right, thanks for the info David and hopefully everyone else will start receiving their checks soon. Thanks to all who have been posting updates, this site became my best source of info for me during this whole mess!
Me too! Me too! Me too!!! I can’t believe this might finally be over! I have my check in hand from Freddie Mac!!
congrats to you all that just rec’d your checks…I hope I get mine soon. To avoid problems in the future, if my refund is written on a BOA check, I am going to a BOA branch and cashing it that way they can never come back for it!!! Hopefully this is great news for all of us!
Not to rub it in, but I also received my check yesterday from Freddie Mac. I refinanced just before the BK, so I was part of Group #2 waiting on the refund of my escrow balance, as my loan was paid in full. I pray for a quick resolution for the rest of you still waiting.
Congratulations to you all. Hope my Freddie Mac check comes in soon…maybe PA mail is slow…
I am in the escrow rebate after refinance crew…
Congrats to all the lucky ones who have received their checks from Freddie Mac. When I input my loan number is comes up Ginnie Mae. has anyone heard from them?
Talked to the Ginne Mae rep this AM… We should have checks at the end of May or first of June…
Keep your fingers crossed!