How to Get Mortgage Servicer to Correct Tax Escrow Account

[Lynn McGeein]

I have a mortgage on a property recently purchased in VA. When mortgage was sold, the new servicer strangely paid out of my escrow account both my VA real estate tax on that property and paid MD real estate tax on a property I had sold 6 months previously, before the loan on the new property was ever even applied for. They would not refund or acknowledge their error, and then they transferred loan to another servicer. The MD state assessor researched for me and did refund my money directly to me. But new servicer still has incorrect MD tax escrow and payments scheduled along with the correct VA tax payments, and multiple contacts by phone and writing, including asking for review of escrow, have not changed it at all. They keep telling me they are "elevating" it (3 times now), but it has been 4 months with no resolution. Any ideas on how to get them to stop taking money from me to pay for taxes for a property I no longer own in another state? You would think this would be illegal.

[Chris Mason]

Originally posted by @Lynn McGeein:

Wow, I was not aware I could pick the mortgage servicer.  Chase bought my loan and told me Shellpoint is the new servicer and to direct all questions and payments to them.  I wasn't aware I could change it myself.  

 Hi Lynn,

You can't pick the servicer in general.

Here is a vehicle I might suggest looking into: The Qualified Written Request (Link to CFPB). 

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, but that is the framework in place that might be appropriate for scenarios like yours where waiting on hold with a call center isn't producing helpful results. Write "Qualified Written Request" at the top of the letter in size 20 font centered and perhaps send it via certified mail.

National Legal Research Group, on QWR,

Bankrate.com article that cites a bunch of layers, on QWR.

Sometimes, it's as simple as knowing the right google search string, which I believe Qualified Written Request is.

I'd advise against using one of the 'fill in the blank' ones from the internet that demands a zillion things unrelated to your actual issue, as I believe loan servicers are allowed to throw those out as "frivolous" (no different than when someone disputes 50 things on their credit report, instead of the 1 or 2 things they might legitimately have cause to dispute). Make the QWR a zeroed in well aimed marksman's shot, not a spray-and-pray. Keep it chronological and factual, not speculative and emotional. "On this date I requested X, and was told Y. This was my third attempt to resolve the issue. On this date, I once again spoke to a representative about X, was told Y yet again, and thus my fourth attempt to resolve this did not work." Don't threaten litigation or anything like that, until/unless it's through an actual lawyer.

I've never had a client have to go this route, so I cannot speak from experience to it's efficacy. It's just something I'm aware exists that "they" say works better than dealing with call center cubicle dwellers at a 1-800 number. Ah, that brings up another point. Reach out to the MLO that did the loan for you. The reason I've not had a client need to go this route is because in general we have a "[email protected]" type fast-track help-desk that we can go to even when/if servicing has been transferred, that isn't consumer-facing. So give that a shot first, maybe, and if that doesn't work in a week, then consider the QWR route.

But, yeah, two things I'd suggest in a nutshell:

• Reach out to the loan originator that did it, see if they can fastrack the solution.
• Qualified Written Request. 
• Or, both.

Personally I would probably do the QWR thing without a lawyer, but I'm not you and can't tell you if it is or isn't a good idea to hire a lawyer to do it. It certainly wouldn't be a bad idea, but I can't speak to if it is necessary or not.