Comments on: Mortgage Madness

By: Bast Hotep

Bast Hotep — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 02:49:06 +0000

Actually, putting the money towards your principal does more to reduce your long-term debt than anything else would. I can’t say anything else nice about them, but it’s a heck of a lot better than what my bank used to do with fund allocation on the few times we forgot to fill it out in detail on the deposit slip.

Drop an extra $50 or $100 a month on your principal and you’ll be amazed at how fast your mortgage can be paid off.

By: Matthew Carberry

Matthew Carberry — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:36:43 +0000

Actually the servicer is the one who matters when it comes to payment, they are the ones who take the payment and mark it paid.

Call the servicer, if it is different than the mortgage company (the number should have been provided to you with your first bill), and complain to a supervisor. Your mortgage contract, which you got a copy of the day you signed and which they are bound to honor, should explicitly say that your payment is $x including principle, interest, mortgage insurance if appropriate, as well as your escrow (if part of your payment) of taxes and homeowner’s insurance. They cannot apply it all to principle without your permission, typically it requires you signing extra documents to be responsible for your own escrow and then they are only late if not paid when due from the actual provider.

If your contract says that you should have paid the amount you did, by the time you paid it,and it was to include your escrow, then they need to refund any late fee and, if it was reported to the credit bureaus, correct that as well. It’s a contract, hold them to it.

Don’t settle for some phone monkey talking about policy, never take a “no” from someone not authorized to tell you “yes”.

By: Comrade E.B. Misfit

Comrade E.B. Misfit — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:12:23 +0000

Justin, even if you get a mortgage locally, the bank/credit union will just sell it down the line. They’ll remain as the “servicer” and you’ll write checks to them. But if you have a problem and you go into talk to them, that’s when you’ll find out that they can’t (or won’t) be able to help you.

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:20:23 +0000

Pretty much why I don’t have auto-payments on anything. Just your one example is enough for me to keep spending a few minutes paying them. I do pay them on-line though. My bank offers free online bill-pay – but I get to control when and how much is paid.

By: dan

dan — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:26:30 +0000

rich people rule! (literally.) isn’t it great when banks go out of their way to help the little guy? living in a kleptocracy is something special.