Has anyone mortgaged their house through BOA?

[Breezy]

We did and OH MY GOD, I have never seen a bank that keeps demanding money. Our payment has gone up every year PLUS we had to pay them money to keep it from going up even more. We are now paying over $500 a month more than we were when we bought the house. We were told it would go up "a little" for Taxes but that was it. We don't have a variable rate. But the big kicker is we got an escrow refund the first year, I told them to apply it to the mortgage they wouldn't, then our payment went up like 100 bucks or so "for taxes" or so we were told. Then we got a bill saying our escrow was behind over $4000, (Feb 2007) that we had to pay that and our payment went up another 150 bucks. We jut got another today saying that we owe another $750 PLUS our payment is going up another $150 if we pay it or over $200 if we don't pay it.
I can't believe this crap. We have never had issues like this before. Oh and all of this is ON TOP of the fact that the Payment was about 85 bucks more when we actually closed than it was when we made the agreement with the back. This is not our first house and I understand that the taxes here are CRAZY but come on.
Needless to say I called today and an hour later dh took the phone (he never deals with bills) and went totally off on them. And the lender doesn't "get it" either but the 800 # keeps saying that it is cause of Taxes but we haven't even seen the new Tax assessment I am in a VERY bad mood.
So does anyone else have anything to vent about or can help me understand this issue?
We are literally ready to let the bank have it as we can not make the payments

[JamesB]

Im not with BOA, but our mortgage did go up this year because of taxes and home owners insurance.

I have my home owners insurance paid through my mortgage and the explanation was that the labor rates have increase in "my area" so they need to account for that in case there is an event in which my home needs repair it was about $250 a month increase just on the insurance alone.

needless to say we are trying to pay our house off as fast as we can.

James

[Breezy]

The funny thing with us James is our insurance dropped by right at half.
We had to claims on our house in Va. Noone told us that you couldn't own a house in TX with more than one claim. So we had to go through some sort of State insurance and pay out of our butts for it. This house apparently was a mistake from the start.
And the bad thing is we only have 9 months left here but I don't think we will be able to make the payments once Nov. rolls around.

I think it is absurd that they are adding all of this money on and then they are bitching about the forclosure rate WELL DUHHHH!!!
DH and I have agreed we will not buy another house until he is retired and we "know" where we will be living the rest of our lives.

[JamesB]

you said you did not have a variable rate mortgage, but what type of mortgage did you get? Lots of people chose some type of "creative" mortgages that are catching up with them and thats why there is a big rise in foreclosures.

we got a 30 year fixed rate @ 6.37%. we actually had 2 mortgages, 1 primary or "big" mortgage and one small mortgage or "down payment" mortgage. but we paid the small one off when we sold the condo about 6 months after we got this house.

when you get an escrow refund at the end of the year you need to hold on to that money then put it back into escrow when the new year starts. I got bit by that once and it about killed us.

James

[Breezy]

let me get off the phone with my sister and I will get back with you

[bondarnes]

If your increase is due to a tax increase you should be "going off" on the taxing district and not the mortgage co. If you look at your monthly mortgage statement it will tell you how much is principal (that should go up a little each month), how much is interest (that should go down a little each month), how much is escrowed for insurance, and how much is escrowed for taxes. The mortgage company collects 1/12th of these each month in order to pay those items when they come due. By law they can only collect from you and pay the amount the taxing district bills them for. I go in every year and file a protest on my property values. I usually get them lowered though not as much as I would like. Have you ever protested you property valuation? I think you are complaining to the wrong people.

[David_3]

Escrow accounts bite the big one. They always seem to be screwed up. I got the mortgage company to drop mine, and I just pay the taxes (and insurance) myself when they come due. I manage to do that, by having a separate personal savings account, into which I deposit the proper amount of money each month. I don't use that money for anything except my annual property taxes and insurance.

[Breezy]

OK James we too did the 80 20 loan. the 80% loan is at 5.75% and the 20% is at the 8.25%
Don no we did not protest last year as everyone we talked to said that they weren't budging in this particular area because of it being "new" and everyone is moving to the south side.
You can bet your bottom dollar when this one comes in this year I will be going off on someone, if it is more than 4000 as last years was 3955.
My beef with BOA is the fact that they wait until we are in our 3rd year as I would say, and they didn't adjust for the taxes the first time. The ones who we dealt with here locally said that it would go up but they barely raised the payment until all of a sudden they were demanding 4000 dollars AND a payment increase. I understand the payment increase for tax purposes but the fact that someone didn't do their job just pisses me off. And WHY am I being evaluated 2 times in 1 year. Our first one this year was in Feb and they just did another one last month.

Like I said our payment went up like 25-50 bucks in Va and our tax assessed value went up over 45% in the 3 years we were there. and the reasale value more than doubled.

But here the property taxes are insane and nothing is selling. so it is stupid to up the tax value when there are no jobs and the roads suck etc.... If they used the money wisely it would be a little different. Oh wait I guess putting fish of all sorts on the pilars of the crosstown and SPID and Palm trees along the side is well worth those taxes.... There are far better things they city could be spending it on, like the freaking city water that they can't get potable and they just upped that rate. mine just went from 51 a month to over $72 and still haven't seen that slap in the face refund of $2 freaking dollars.
Sorry to get off on a rant and Don that wasn't directed at you by any means I really want to beat someone. I wish we had a punching bag, maybe I should go another 50 bucks in debt and buy one so that I don't get locked up.

[Breezy]

They didn't give us that option.
But I won't be doing it again until we are retired lol and then I can own a little shack in the middle of no where with no electricity, an outhouse etc.... No wait I am too citified now to live like that lol.

But we would be better off if we could just pay it all our self.
Our last loan was a VA maybe that is why we didn't have these issues.

Originally Posted by David_3

Escrow accounts bite the big one. They always seem to be screwed up. I got the mortgage company to drop mine, and I just pay the taxes (and insurance) myself when they come due. I manage to do that, by having a separate personal savings account, into which I deposit the proper amount of money each month. I don't use that money for anything except my annual property taxes and insurance.

[AndrewCCM]

Yeah.. Escrow accounts pretty much suck.

I know that when we built our first house, the mortgage broker warned us that our 1 year of taxes (Escrow collected) would be significantly short due to the appraisal done on the undeveloped land. We saved an extra couple of hundred and was prepared for it.

My current house, the school taxes (Mansfield), City Taxes (Arlington), among other things have contributed to a minor increase each year.. but nothing out of control like you mentioned. We have a 30yr Fixed at 5.5% with Chase. Insurance through USAA.

The "creative loans" and variable rate mortgages/ARMs are what is causing a record number of foreclosures this year. We were lucky and sold our last house at about a 50% profit (lived there 7 yrs).. and got into this house when rates were near their record low. I dread the next time I have to go through a move.

Hopefully, you'll get things worked out.

Good luck!

[Breezy]

thanks Andrew if we can make it through the next nine months and make the payments and the house sells I will kiss the ground literally. We have NEVER had this kind of trouble as I am a big budgeter and I am always the one that people come to for money, and money advise. Now I have neither.
If we can make it until Taxes and the house sells which I am doubting we will be ok.

[David_3]

Originally Posted by Breezy

They didn't give us that option.....

....But we would be better off if we could just pay it all our self.

Shop around for another mortgage company who will let you do that. Then explain to BOA that you may have to refinance your home with someone else if they won't match the offer.

In the future, whenever you take out a home loan, ask to manage your escrow account yourself. If they say no, just say "Thanks anyway" and walk out. Unless you are a bad risk, they will usually come around before you can get out of their office.

[Breezy]

thanks for the heads up David I will remember it next time. We only have 9 months though and it would cost us more to refinance than to just stick this out KWIM?
But I will definately keep that in mind

[Buddha]

Breezy,
All of the things that have happened to you have confused me, but I think I can help, as some others have.
If you go to the link below, you can search for your house by name, address or whatever and see what your house is appraised at, and the tax rates. That will tell you what you taxes should be. If the answer you get confuses you, call the folks at the appraisal board and ask them to help you understand what is going on. Be polite, they will be, and they aren't the cause of your problem.
http://www.nuecescad.net/Appraisal/PublicAccess/

When you buy a new house, it is listed in the county appraisal district as unimproved property. That means the valuation is low and the tax bill will be low. On the first January 1st that occurs after you buy it, your property is changed to land with improvements, and the valuation goes up. So does the amount of taxes you are due to pay in October. Because the escrow cycle is slow, it will be June before you are notified, and at that point you are 6 months behind. You are then hit with with the increase plus having to catch up. It's a big hit and you did get a warning of sorts, but not a complete one. By June of next year, you are caught up with your arrears, but still have the higher tax bill, plus any increased valuation, and taxes, that you have to deal with. That may be where you are. I can't be sure, but what I have described is called the escrow trap.
Someone made a point that you can't be charged anything but actual costs, such as insurance premiums. That's true. If someone was told to pay more into escrow in anticipation of something, that is a regulatory offense and possibly a felony. An actual premium increase is a different story.
For those who think that they are better off not paying into an escrow fund to avoid problems, you pay a higher interest rate for doing so, 1/4 - 1/2 point, and the underwriters take a harder look at your assets when you try to qualify for a loan. Food for thought.

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