I hate mortgage companies. Especially the big ones. They've taken the expression "nickel and dime you to death" and put it on steroids. Take my mortgage company, Countrywide, for example. I didn't ask for my refinanced loan to be sold to them for "servicing" (what a misnomer). In fact, this is a company I didn't like when they had our previous loan. This company charges you $6 for the privilege of paying your mortgage on their website. They charge you $9 to make a payment over the phone, in addition to a late fee if you owe one. When I chose to set up a bi-weekly payment plan with them so I wouldn't incur any more late fees (our first payday of the month happens one day before their late day, but with how all of the electronic stuff happens our payment never got there the next day) I found out they charge $4 PER draft on my account for the benefit of making an electronic transfer. That's $8 a month now that I'm paying in "servicing" fees for a company that doesn't have to mail a statement, make a phone call, or do anything now except wait for their stupid computer to perform a transaction. Of course, they don't tell you up front about that little detail either. And if you try to just perform the bi-weekly drafts without making arrangements with them, then they get all confused and misapply one of the payments (which they've done at least once now with us). Inflexible. Bloated. Just try getting through to a live human being when you call their automated teller system. ARGH.This is one of the things that's wrong with the whole mortgage system. It's not enough that my mortgage is the single largest expense every month in my budget. Consumers have to pay extra for everything. You would think that a mortgage company would LOVE to have a set date(s) every month where they know for sure they are getting their money. It saves them time and money from having to make all of those harassing phone calls once a mortgage is a day late. Instead, they charge customers extra money for something that costs them nothing. And it certainly isn't like I chose Countrywide in the first place, either. We consumers have no say over who "services" our loans.
Countrywide is the corporate embodiment of Mr Henry F. Potter from It's a Wonderful Life.
3 comments:
We got Countrywide Mortgage the same way you guys did. They bought our mortgage from another company. I haven't had as much trouble as you guys but I when I've had to deal with them I think they are idiots. I would never pick them if I had a choice. They bought our mortage the first month we moved into the house so you'd think they would know where to send the bill. For two months they sent our mortage bill to our old house. When asked they had no explanation.
They just make me want to scream!
I am so sorry. I HATE not being able to get to a real person. I hate stupid fees that make no sense and uncooperative behavior that makes it more likely that you will incur extra fees due to their orneriness. I especially hate that you get no choice over who services your loan. That is so frustrating. ARGHHHH! I thought Countrywide went under with the big bad loan scandles. I guess not?
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