When I bought my house last November, I went to a small, local bank for my mortgage. I got great personal, fast service. The loan officer, my Realtor and the appraiser all worked together to get everything done in a timely manner.
That was all great, but my mortgage was really not with my local bank, it was with a financial company in Florida, Taylor, Bean, and Whittaker. I have paid my mortgage online through the Taylor, Bean website since January. No problems until yesterday. I logged on their website to find this disturbing message:
Unfortunately, at this time we are unable to offer an online payment option.
Please mail your payment to the following address:
Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp.
Attn: Cashiering
1417 N. Magnolia Ave.
Ocala, FL 34475
Also, please be sure your loan number is written on your check and include any special
payment instructions such as additional payments to principal or escrow.
If you have recently received notification your loan was transferred to a new servicer,
please disregard these payment instructions and follow the instructions outlined in the transfer notice.
Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. has officially ceased a majority of its operations on
August 5, 2009; however, we will continue functioning in a reduced capacity until all
loans have been transitioned to new servicers.
. I immediately started trying to find out what had happened. It seems that Taylor, Bean has a large share of HUD financed mortgages. The company did not file the correct reports with HUD, so HUD suspended Taylor, Bean from writing HUD loans on August 4. Taylor, Bean is being made an example:
"Today, we suspend one company but there is a very clear message that should be heard throughout the FHA lending world - operate within our standards or we won't do business with you," said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.
The fallout from this decision seems immense to me. Taylor, Bean shut down operations the next day. Over 1000 people immediately lost their jobs. 30,000 (estimated) people whose loans would have closed this month, have to start completely over with another company. The hurt and frustration of those people is very evident on the message boards.
I'm not sure what this all means for my loan. It was probably transferred to Bank of America. My payment isn't due until Sept. 1, so I'll wait to see if I get an official notice before trying to make a payment.
It seems to me that this power play between HUD and Taylor, Bean could have been handled much better. Thousands of people were caught in the crossfire with no recourse.
Dave Ramsey's 100% down idea is looking better and better.
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Redroyalbet
8 months ago
6 comments:
RYN: I love listening to & watching Dave Ramsey, but I don't follow his advice. I'm too much of a numbers girl, and I'm already motivated to pay off debt and build up savings. I don't need to see the "little debts" get paid off to keep that momentum going, and I generally feel better knowing that the higher interest rate debts are gone. I also don't feel comfortable with just a $1000 emergency fund, so I aim to keep about $5k set aside. My reason for wanting to pay off that loan is that it's due quarterly (not monthly!), and auto-pay isn't available, so it's more difficult to remember & to budget for. Thanks for the note!
That's kinda crazy, hopefully it all gets worked out. My concern would be, are my payments being credited properly? Who knows how smooth the transition will be. I'd keep a record of any payments you make during the transition in case the money gets "lost" somewhere.
That's kind of scary...not really knowing who is going to end up with your loan. Just keep really good records of all of your payments, and hope they don't lose any of your information!
wow! i hadn't heard about that, perhaps because taylor bean doesn't have a major presence in my area. how sad and unfortunately for the employees and the people who thought they were closing on a mortgage soon. hmm, i wonder if it's a power play or if taylor bean were grossly negligent in their compliance with the rules.
WOW! That is crazy! My 2nd mortgage company was taken over by Bank of America and they seamlessly rerouted the old website to the new one. Same login info and everything, so it was very smooth. Hopefully your loan gets transitioned soon!
I am concerned that my payments get credited properly, so I will keep careful records. Thanks for the info, JvW. That helps! I hope my transition is as smooth.
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