ANOTHER Countrywide Horror Story

[Miriam Gaddis]

In 1998 Florida VA foreclosures were great deals. I purchased several with the help of an Investment Buyer's Agent, who had instructions not to send information on anything that was in a flood zone. One was a very nice house on Cove Landing, out near the Beaches area, but far enough inland to not be effected by the Florida storms.

This VA loan was sold to Season's Mortgage, then Season's sold it to Countrywide Home Loans. In May of 2002 my payment jumped by $250 a month, making my monthly payment more than the rent I was collecting. I called the County treasuer to find out that my property taxes had not gone up. I called my homeowner's insurance and it had actually gone down (something about the house now being in a "preferred area").

So then I called Countrywide to find out why my payments had gone up. Seems that 7 months after they purchased my loan, they had purchased "forced placed" flood insurance, to the toon of $1200, using my escrow account for funds. I was not notified or even sent a declaration page showing that it had been purchased. AND they did not raise my payments to cover the costs, but had allowed my escrow account to go into arrears.

Then, in stead of renewing 12 months later, in 10 months they purchased a new policy, and then again 10 months later, putting my escrow account into crisis. Each time, they used a company called Balboa, whom I had never heard of before. I found out later that Countrywide has an interest in Balboa, and was getting a $1000 commission for each new policy they sold.

When I found out what had happened, I insisted they put that money right back into my escrow account. That they could not purchase flood insurance behind my back without my knowledge. That my house wasn't in a flood zone. I then faxed a copy of the VA's "flood determination sheet" showing it in an "X-zone" (meaning NOT in a flood zone), and also the FEMA LOMR saying it was in an x-zone. The woman actually had the nerve to construe that I had "made these up on the computer!"

Neadless to say, I'm still in litigation with them, again, for over 5 years.