Paying off mortgage yields aggravation

[Buddy]

not buying it wrote:

<quoted text>
No, you said, "Ms. Garner did contribute significantly to this problem. Mr. Yates and GMAC were being courteous in not casting blame on the customer,". That implies that the customer WAS at blame, and Mr. Yates was just being courteous when he didn't point that out.
The fact is, the customer did what she thought was right, and GMAC blew it. Many people do know that final payments need a call to the lender - but many borrowers are not sophisticated, and lenders should be prepared to deal with it.

Yes, I did say twice and do think that she contributed to the problem, but GMAC should have handled it better. Most of these consumer disputes have two sides, you know. You and others here want to make this one 100% GMAC's fault, we'll have to agree to disagree. But you can be in the right in terms of just sending a check and still make a lot of work and aggravation for yourself if you act as she did here.

Did you call your lender yet and ask, if you do what she did, is that the right way to payoff your loan?

[Cheep Fly]

Boy I'll tell ya! We are about to pay off our mortgage this next month. We contacted out lender they would only speak to us via E-Mail we received the payoff amount with instructions of the total amount due. This has to be deducted by your checking account only. They will be contacting us via E-Mail when the payment sector of paid in full is received. I am sure we will be staying on top of this because I will be wanting the Mortgage documents with the pay off letter along with ownership document that are recorded with the state.
This sounds like drag-your-ass protocol!

[Mop-erina]

Sure GMAC and other mortgage companies have specific actions required to pay off loans. Great, follow them in order to avoid what happened to this woman. That STILL doesn't make it right. Companies need to make it as EASY as possible to get money coming in. Just because, "That's how it's always been", doesn't mean that's how it should be.

[Anonymous Liberal]

Good thing that this whole dilemma wasn't being handled by some customer service rep in India. GMAC would either be still charging these people for their mortgage, or denying the receipt of any payment whatsoever and referring them to a collection agency.

[Joy]

Eventhough she was able to pay off the house, GMAC still managed to find something other kind of way to get money out of her. What a shame!

[wow]

There should be checks and balances in GMACs process - amount credited matches amount debited. Had this be done they would have seen the $87,000 discrepancy. A little scary in this day and age of people making off with companies' money. Shame on GMAC.

[The Truth]

Buddy wrote:

<quoted text>
Since she's paid off her loan, she's not likely to get any more statements from GMAC that would help her sort out if the proper amount was credited. The interest GMAC is forgiving would be interest that would have been racked up since her last payment. The insurance they said she owed would be escrow money that no longer needs to be corrected, and if GMAC collected it and used it to pay homeowners insurance, the insurance company would have to refund it to the homeowner anyway, so it's a wash on both counts. GMAC isn't losing money by forgiving these "debts" which never really piled up anyway, and she isn't gaining anything, either.

<snip further needless verbosity>

Perhaps you read a different article. The one I read said, "After everything was sorted out, Garner owed an additional $808 for insurance and $513 in unpaid interest in order to close her account, Bruin said. GMAC erased both of those amounts to make up for Garner's "negative experience," she said."

[Thin The Herd]

Sounds like the initials GM are as much a problem in finance as they are in automobiles.

[juvi]

Buddy wrote:

<quoted text>
Nope. I don't work in customer service or have any ties to financial companies. But I paid off two mortgage loans in the last six months, one at the end of the loan, one early, neither with GMAC. One was with Fifth Third Bank, and the other with Countrywide Financial. Both companies had very specific procedures for mortgage payoff involving wire transfers or overnight express payments with certified checks, due on a specific date, to a different address. Mailing a check for my calculation of the balance due on the loan to the regular payment address would have caused serious problems like she had.
If you think your lender is any different, I bet you're wrong. ASK THEM: can I just send you a check next month for the balance due to pay off my loan? They will tell you it won't work the way you think, because the balance due changes each day and they have to get it right, to the cent, to balance their books.
In my posts in this thread, I've clearly said, GMAC was at fault here, and they admitted it to Mr. Yates. But this customer also contributed to the problem by not going through channels to pay off her loan the right way. You call it jumping through hoops, and I don't disagree, but this is how home mortgage lenders handle payoffs. So now that you know better, I hope you won't make her mistake.

Buddy, you ARE right, but I am surprised that the customer service person didn't point that out. Of course, most customer service people nowadays, just follow a flow chart when answering questions. They get confused when something comes up that is not Outlined "in the path"

[Montys python]

Couldn't help but notice that the woman had a house in Dubois,Wyoming.This is the hometown of PFC Chance Phelps,USMC.His final voyage home to DuBois,after being killed in Iraq,is the subject of an award winning movie on HBO called TAKING CHANCE.A very moving tribute to the young man,and from what was shown in the movie a very close-knit and caring community.

[Chris]

What surprises me about the story and something to which nobody seems to be incredulous is who has $100K laying around that when they get PO'd at their mortgage company, they can suddenly decide to pay it off?

And now this person is deciding after forking over the $100K to sell it? Why not keep the mortgage, leverage the debt and THEN sell it. Far as I know, houses in Wyoming aren't in huge demand right now...

I guess you have the luxury of acting strange when you got the bread.....

[MinisterR]

test

[DEMojica]

For early payoff of a car is also very similar. My statements had a phone number to call for the latest updated amount. Called them and they told where to Fed-Ex the check and by what date. Did that and within two weeks had the title in my hand.

[Susan in Buffalo Grove]

You, sir, are a jack a.$.$.

Banks, mortgage companies, insurance agents: They're all just in it for the greed.

The more they can s.crew the customer, the happier they are.

And I should know, I work for one of them.

Buddy wrote:

Ms. Garner did contribute significantly to this problem. Mr. Yates and GMAC were being courteous in not casting blame on the customer, but one key lesson here that should be pointed out in the article is, if you want to pay off a mortgage loan, you don't just send the lender a cashier's or personal check for the balance you believe is due. That often creates problems like this. You're supposed to call the lender and ask for "the payoff amount". You'll be quoted a total that will be due by a specific date in the near future, and then you preferably electronically wire that amount on that date from your bank or broker, or if you don't want to do that, you Express Mail or FedEx Overnight a check to arrive by that date. And yes, it goes to a specific and different payoff address, NOT to the regular address you send loan payments. If Ms. Garner had done those things, this mess wouldn't have happened.

[Susan in Buffalo Grove]

Aisle Sitter wrote:

my student loan website has a link for the payoff amount. even my car loan said to call/visit the bank for payoff amount. not only that, but only the person on the loan could call in to get the payoff amount.
we decided to rearrange our debt, and i had a day off, so i went to the bank to get the payoff amount. the car loan was in my husband's name, and they wouldn't even tell me.(you'd think that they would tell someone trying TO GIVE THEM money how much was left....)

Actually, the bank where the car loan was held was 100% correct in not speaking with you. You were not their account holder. Speaking with you would be a SERIOUS violation of their client's privacy.

Look at it this way: I'm your next-door neighbor, and I discover where you have your checking account. So, I decide to call the bank and say, "Hi, I'm Aisle Sitter's next-door neighbor, and he/she said it's OK to give me their checking account balance". How would you like the bank in that case?

It's the same privacy regulations, whether it's a loan OR a deposit account: the financial institution can ONLY speak with someone who is an owner of the account. Otherwise, they'd be in deep doo-doo.