"The Official Portrait of Miss InDiana"

"The Official Portrait of Miss InDiana"
aka "Miss Victory"

Friday, October 10, 2008

Melyssa receives relief on property tax bill from Countrywide Mortgage

I reported one month ago that I was facing a $400 per month increase in my mortgage payment to my escrow escrow account to cover the shortage of funds to pay the 2007 makeup bill and the higher property tax.

Countrywide was purchased by Bank of America and I knew that they were going to implement programs starting December 1st to help homeowners in danger of foreclosure due to subprime mortgages.

Although I knew programs were developed for high risk sub-prime borrowers, and I am not one of those mortgages, I called anyway. I honestly told them that I would possibly be in trouble with my mortgage because of the higher payments (due to predatory taxation, not lenders) and asked if there was help. I was treated so kindly and immediately transferred (with a short hold time) to one of their escrow specialists.

I cannot say enough good things about the empathetic listening skills of the Countrywide agents I spoke to today. And while they cannot erase this big property tax bill that landed in my lap, they did spread the increased escrow over 60 months interest free. It lowered my payment enough to allow me to continue to make my normal accelerated principle payment and keep me in my home without worry. WHEW! It probably helped that I have never been a minute late on my mortgage payment and am proactive.

If you have a Countrywide Mortgage, and think you might be in risk of eventual foreclosure due to property tax or a sub-prime mortgage contract, contact Countrywide immediately to negotiate your options to keep you in your home. Please call before you are late or get behind.

4 comments:

Downtown Indy said...

Truly a sign of the apocalypse - a lender with a heart.

Congrats. I should contact WaMu, er, Chase, about mine, too.

Scary, isn't it, that the 'too big to fail' problem is being dealt with by other huge banks becoming more humongous? Are they trying to become to big to fail, too?

It's scary. Evidently no lesson was learned.

Sean Shepard said...

Melyssa! I am so glad that worked out, I knew they'd probably be willing to help out.

Despite all of the bad press, as a customer I've had no problems with Countrywide. I've also always been pleased with Capital One also.

Anonymous said...

Downtown...Countrywide has always had great customer service. I know its hard to believe, but it is true.

What I can't believe is that they floated that property tax payment over five years interest free.

Please forward this blog post widely so people know how easy it is to get help...before they get behind and sucked into a downward spiral.

Anonymous said...

Let's not forget that the root of Melyssa's problem is the insidious property tax. If we did not have to slave tax to the state, she would not have been in this predicament!

Kurt