Thanks in advance for reading – this is relatively complicated.
I have been working with a company named Loancare as my mortgage servicer for a couple of years. They are legitimately the worst company I’ve ever had to work with and the whole reason I am getting a refi. I won’t go into this too much but I could write a diatribe about how bad this company is.
Anyway, I am getting a refi via a company named Better Mortgage. Experience overall is pretty good, good communication with agent, their user interface is simple to use and easy to provide them docs etc. and the process is pretty smooth overall.
I signed my closing docs on 12/13/21; receive notice that the loan has been funded on 12/17/21; receive notices that the servicing of the loan has been transferred on 12/29/21. Knowing how much of a racquet that Loancare is running, I log in a few time to make sure the balance has been zero’d out – which it has not. I contact my rep on 12/31/21 to ensure the disbursements have been made and there is nothing else that needs to be done on my end, and she assures me that everything is good to go and that I should receive documentation from my new loan servicer within a couple of week prior to my mortgage payment being paid.
Same day, I get a message from Loancare telling me to call them back. So, I do. They tell me that I owe them a monthly payment – which is weird because they never call and it’s usually a huge pain in the ass to even pay your mortgage. I tell them that I have refinanced and that ~”I should not owe them anything, I have written confirmation that the funds have been disbursed and servicing of the loan has been transferred.” This takes me down a whole rabbit hole of getting passed around to different people at the company and after four hours of talking to them this is what I can discern:
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Loancare provided a payoff statement (Request Date of 12/2/21 and goodthrough date of 12/31/21) to pay in full at $Payoff#.
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Final Closing Signatures were completed on 12/13/21.
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On 12/16/21 Loancare paid escrow taxes to Travis county for $Tax#. That raised the amount owed to Loancare to $Payoff#+$Tax#.
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On 12/17/21 the disbursements were made and BSS wired $Payoff#-$Interest# to Loancare.
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Loancare claimed to receive $Payoff#-$Interest# on 12/21/21.
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Due to insufficient funds, Loancare returned the amount of $Payoff#-$Interest# on 12/31/21.
Because Loancare has rejected the funds, they are still my mortgage servicer so I decide to pay my monthly payment ($Monthly#) so I don’t default on the loan. I then contact Better Mortgage and inform them that Loancare has rejected the funds.
After some back and forth I am informed by my Better advisor that if payments have both been processed by the county (which they have) that I will need to wire them $Tax# so they can complete the payoff. However, after speaking with the county tax office, they have informed me that only the payee (Better Mortgage) can request the refund or #Tax# will sit in holding indefinitely. Once the refund request is processed, they refund will be sent to Better (not to me).
Essentially, in addition to the cost of closing, I am now on the hook for $Mothly#+$Tax#. I am being told that it is my responsibility to provide funds for $Tax# even though the responsibility for the double payment should reside with both Better and Loancare in my opinion. I also do not have any assurances that Better will fill out the proper request for reimbursement nor that Better will reimburse me for the taxes once the money is reimbursed to them.
I’ve literally spent over 15+ hours since 12/31/21 and will be left holding the bag on over $10k in addition to closing cost because of a communication issue between Better and Loancare.
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Do I have other options besides wiring the money?
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If I choose not to wire the money, do I lose what I have already spent on closing cost?
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Is there any legal precedence that defines responsibility here?
Thanks in advance for any help/feedback!
TLDR: Refinance Company and Mortgage Company both paid property taxes at the same time. Both payments cleared with the county. Now the Refi company is saying I need to wire them the money for property taxes so they can completed the Refi, but I have no assurances that I will get that money returned to me.