New mortgage company = crappy. Any thoughts? UPDATE!

[crashgizmo]

So most of you know that DH and I bought a house a few months ago. We went through a lender that our realtor recommended, and they were great. We were a little apprehensive about a small company (we have had the big dogs in the past, BofA, Wells, etc) but we had such a good experience that it assuaged my fears.

Well, you guessed it. As soon as we closed, they sold the mortgage to another smallish company. They have been horrible to deal with and the reviews are even worse. Many people talk of making months worth of payments that are not credited, paying towards the principal and not getting credited, and having to pay a huge tax bill even though they had an escrow account. There are so many bad reviews and reports to the BBB that I lost count. 

Thus far, we have made 2 payments to this company (through our bank, so it is tracked) and we still haven't gotten any receipt or notification, let alone a statement. They have an online system that I can't register for because they can't find our loan. When I call, customer service keeps telling me that it takes awhile to process and be patient, etc. Meanwhile, I have this intense fear that they are going to report to our credit that we haven't paid. 

I know this happens, mortgages get sold. But damn, I wish there was something I could do. There isn't, right? I mean, refinancing is crazy since we just bought and would have to bring a bunch of money to the table. I've never been in this situation and I hate that I feel like I have no options. 

Thoughts are welcome. Or commiserations, whatever you got. 

UPDATE: We just got ANOTHER letter, this time from Penn.ymac saying it had been sold to them. Is it even possible that it can re-sell that quickly? steph96, I am sending you a PM. All my googling tells me this isn't a scam. Honestly, if it is I will be happy. Even though penn.ymac doesn't have the greatest reviews, it's night and day better than the one before! At least they are accredited by the BBB for christ sake. 

[Pom]

God that sounds miserable. We've been with only big companies so no help. Pray it gets bundled and sold again?

[Mushe]

Crap, I'm so sorry! I don't think there's anything you can do; if you refinanced, you'd still have no control over where it got sold. Our refi through a huge bank was sold to some dinky lender, and it's been annoying, but luckily not that awful. MH deals with it, but I think he said they don't have a way to pay online, and so we get paper statements, and have been wholly unresponsive to our requests to remove PMI even though we meet the requirements.

So, small commiseration there, and a wish of good luck for you! It sounds like you're keeping good records of your payments, and I'd just be super diligent to make sure you're not reported, and contest immediately if you are.

[tripleshot]

That sucks. I would keep as much documentation as possible (printing online bill pay info each month, documenting each call and who you talked to, etc). Call them and ask for a current statement to be emailed to you. Checks your credit report ever few months. I may even consider paying by check and certified mail until you're sure they have their shit together.

[Redpoppy]

This is my commiseration:

When ours was sold, they removed the "East" from our town name. So the bills were sent to a non-existent house in the neighboring town. That made the zip code change. Sometimes they made it to us. We paid electronically but wanted to get other notifications from them, because that is how it is supposed to work.

It took 6 f-ing months to get it sorted out. I'm not on the mortgage so I had to fax something saying I had permission to converse yet every month I was calling them back and they'd insist on talking to my husband. Then I'd tell him to give me the damn phone back because they were lying lies that lie and he believed them. We had to prove our address was our real address even when it was the damn address ON THE MORTGAGE.

I was really rude the last call and I feel bad about it but when the person told us to do something we'd done multiple times already I said they clearly couldn't help me and to get a supervisor (again, we talked to many). That person had magic powers and had us email her a note saying our address was our address and finally fixed it. I wrote it in crayon on the back of old mail and sent a cell phone photo. That was apparently more valid than the other forms and legit faxes I sent.

[steph96]

Our mortgage got sold to PennyMac. For being such a huge company, you'd think they would have their shit together. In my banking classes, they said that there was a way that you could try to get it in the contract that the serving rights stayed with who you bought the mortgage from, but I don't think that people have much luck getting that in the contract. lickily my local credit union seems to always keep the serving rights on my other loans, so you could always try that route?

[megstoo]

I could have written the exact same post. DH and I are in the same suitation except we bought our house 5 years ago. Our mtg was with BoA and just recently got sold to Nationstar. In the 2 months since it got sold none of our payments have gone though because they can't find the loan so the money has been sitting in our account. I called them yesterday and was told that nothing is being reported to the credit bureau's as late because they have 90 days to get everything in place.

Keep all records of your payments, who you've talked too and when. Hopefully they get their stuff together soon.

[madisen]

Servicers have to follow the rules and guidance of the CFPB. I recommend filing a formal complaint on the CFPB website and letting your servicer know you've done this.

Another way to try to make sure your problem gets escalated and/or resolved sooner rather than later is to post complaints on social media, email the president if you can get their contact info, and discuss speaking to the media about your issue.

[crashgizmo]

May 6, 2015 15:05:25 GMT -5 madisen said:

Servicers have to follow the rules and guidance of the CFPB. I recommend filing a formal complaint on the CFPB website and letting your servicer know you've done this.

Another way to try to make sure your problem gets escalated and/or resolved sooner rather than later is to post complaints on social media, email the president if you can get their contact info, and discuss speaking to the media about your issue.

I like both of these ideas. I looked at the BBB and this company has 88 complaints this year. Oy. 

[hamster]

Ugh. We just had ours sold. I really hope it's not them that any of you are complaining about, but google reviews don't seem positive.

[thejen626]

May 6, 2015 11:46:11 GMT -5 steph96 said:

Our mortgage got sold to PennyMac. For being such a huge company, you'd think they would have their shit together. In my banking classes, they said that there was a way that you could try to get it in the contract that the serving rights stayed with who you bought the mortgage from, but I don't think that people have much luck getting that in the contract. lickily my local credit union seems to always keep the serving rights on my other loans, so you could always try that route?

Oh no, ours just got sold to PennyMac also

[crashgizmo]

update in OP and steph96 YGPM!

[madisen]

As I said upthread, mortgage servicing is regulated by the CFPB. Thank Elizabeth Warren for her hard work and use it to your advantage.