Wells Fargo review: escrow account shortage 23

Last year my escrow shortage was only around $200; this year it's $957. This is ridiculous! Plus, I keep reading so many negative reports on Wells Fargo and their shady deals. What can we do about this? Is there any way to fight it?

So I refinanced February 20/20, Thru a broker, wells fargo bought my loan a year later got a letter about a 2100.00 escrow shortage, we paid it... Today 2022 got another statement saying we are short 507.00. I've bought several homes in my life, never had this happen... Does anyone know what they are doing, this isn't right... Fyi just saw on the news they got sued for mortgage fraud

Wells Fargo Bank Mortgage Department is not being honest about escrow accounts. I received a notice that I had a shortage of $1,044.25. After paying that amount. I checked my escrow account and it showed a balance of only $686.14. What happened to the rest of the money $358.11? Upon calling Wells Fargo I am told that because my home owners insurance increased, which they paid, and they also paid my taxes at the same time, caused the shortage. I owed them the balance of $358.11

However, my mortgage statement does not show where the money actually went. Tell me, why do we pay escrow if Wells Fargo is not going to do their job?

Well Wells Fargo is pulling the same stunt with me. I have paid $25.00 more than my mortgage, just because I like rounded figures, for the last 5 years. I Just received a notice of my escrow being short $2, 743. This causes my $1, 074. payment to increase $450. per month! WTF! How are they getting away with this crap? Do the Feds and laws turn their back on this highway robbery?

I too received the mysterious letter notifying me of a shortage in escrow. Mine is only $40 a month, but still I was confused about its origin. Apparently, they have to keep two months of escrow in my account, probably because of all the laws they have broken in the past. I was told once the shortage was accounted for, my payment would go back to the original amount. I did not get my loan from Wells Fargo and now I am kind of pissed that the other company sold it to them. In four prior years this has never been an issue. I think it might be time to jump ship with this company. I still need to get a credit report and make sure they didn't open accounts in my name that I don't know about. There has to be better banks out there. The only way to get your mortgage out of their hands would be to refinance, correct? It sounds like they do this mysterious increase quite a bit and in quite larger amounts which will only get worse I imagine, with their two billion dollar fine, if they don't go out of business completely.

We are dealing with the same issue. We received our letter in the mail last week. It states that our escrow account is $0 but our taxes were paid in January. Our escrow payment is about $389 a month but our shortage hasn't decreased at all. They are requiring we pay the shortage plus over $3, 000 for school taxes that aren't due till September. Our school taxes are only $2, 234. They won't explain where, when, or why there is a shortage. They won't answer any questions at all. We are at a loss of what to do.

I'm going through the same thing with escrow. Every link I find sends me to a WF contact page. Last thing I want to do is talk to the dirty thieves that I want to report. They have pulled this on me twice in 4 years and now I get calls every month saying my payment is late. I pay 2 weeks early every time, have for 4 years. They apply my payment to principal then hit me with late fees, etc. Total BS! I've asked them to look into all this several times and nothing. In fact every time I call them its like they've never spoken to me before, I have to explain everything again! So frustrating. Wells Fargo is stealing money from their customers and it seems as if there is no one to help home owners. Any suggestions?
Humble, TX

In January 2015 I changed my HOI company. I called WF and the guy I talked to was very nice and accommodating. He changed all needed info to apply the new company and said everything was ok, and that I was perfectly within my right to pay for it myself. In April(?) I got a letter from WF saying I owed $800 for escrow. Logging into my account I found the old HOI still listed. I called WF and they had no record of my new HOI, so I gave it to them again. They still didn't update their stuff so I called my HOI and they sent a fax or whatever to WF and WF SENT THEM A CHECK FOR THE AMOUNT DUE causing my escrow to be in the red. I called WF again and they said my HOI sent them a bill and they paid it. I asked why they would pay a company with out my consent and they said that had the right to. This is the 3rd HOI I've had. With the other 2 unless I gave verbal(or in writing) permission they did not pay them, and I received overdue bills in the mail. But this time it was ok, and my HOI did not sent them a bill it was just a statement saying I had insurance with them. WF is now telling me that I have no choice or options they can do whatever they want with my escrow and I have to pay whatever they say. It is now August and I have been talking with them almost every week trying to get them to fix their accounting error. The only thing due from escrow it the other half of my property taxes. My HOI sent me a refund check of what WF sent them and I put the money back in escrow after the check cleared my bank. And every time they say the same thing, there is nothing they can do, it is part of my paperwork and they will charge me what they think I should pay, When I signed for my mortgage escrow was optional and I could changed it anytime I wanted, but they seem to have lost(overlooked) that part. What is even better is non of my payments are being applied to my mortgage and they refuse to apply any of them due to payments being "partial payments". I am paying full payments and my escrow has almost $700 in it now. Even with my HOI current they are not updating their math for the new company, it is still based on the old company that more that doubled my yearly premium. On top of that the old HOI company, Homesite, refuses to give me a refund and does not a record of my canceling my policy even though I have called them over 7 times to cancel and my new HOI has even called and faxed them all sorts of paperwork that they "have to have" in order to cancel the policy. And WF wants that money for escrow and is hounding me for it even after I told them the Homesite won't release the money so if they want it they need to go after them cause they don't want to listen to me. WF was supposed to call me today with a "resolution" to my problem but so far they have not. I will be calling them tomorrow, I am currently not working since I am 5 months pregnant so I have all day to wait on hold for them to get their S**t in gear and fix it. Also, on a side note my august payment was due by the 15th and today it is the 17th and I have received a bill for next month at $1079, more than double what it should be since they won't apply my payments properly.

Our home is financed through Wells Fargo and we received the same letter regarding our escrow account. Our payment is 650.00, original escrow was 287.00. After 2 years we received a letter that the escrow would increase by 1, 000.00 dollars a month. The reasoning was an anticipated deficit related to property tax increases. We spoke with the tax office, clarified the amount and sent this to Wells Fargo, as well as clarifying the amount for our insurance. The rep told us that the payment could not be lowered until the deficit was paid, however it was a projected deficit not a true deficit on a faulty calculation of taxes. This has been a nightmare. Our payment had increased to nearly 2, 000.00 a month from the original 937.00. The escrow is now in overage but they continue to keep the money based on last years faulty tax calculations, and projected deficits. We are attempting to remove the escrow, but it is a very long process. They do not except partial payments and I have often thought we are going to lose our home. The payment has been at 2, 000.00 for almost a year and is supposed to decrease to the original amount next month, however the fact that they can increase my mortgage payment that much, with only one months notice, based on a calculation that someone in corporate headquarters made is terrifying. We have depleted our savings and retirement just to maintain these payments. I would strongly encourage people to refuse to escrow there mortgage. Just pay it yourself. You can make a payment plan with the tax office, no such luck with Wells Fargo.

I am about to let the house go and tell Wells Fargo to stick it. I just refinanced mind you it has not been one year and I received a letter stating that my escrow is short by almost $1000.00, how can that be. It seems that every year I go through the same ### with them. Another thing that I would like to know is every month for the past 12 years that I have owned this house really ( Wells Fargo House ) I have never ever been late on a mortgage payment and when I can have applied a little extra towards escrow and still I fall short. I smell a big FAT DIRTY RAT (s) lining there pockets. I am so mad this is what America has become yep the American dream you mean the American night mare!

Wells Fargo holds a small loan on my house (less than 15% of value) yet they opened an escrow account and paid my property taxes! I did not know this until I went to pay them myself, they were not late, btw. I went to local branch and was told to reimburse money and account would be closed. I did this imediately with branch employees as witnesses only to be informed by mail days later that the escrow account would remain open and my mortgage pymt will DOUBLE to build escrow for Next Year's property taxes! This has to be illegal trade practice, I am disabled and habe always paidmy mortgage, insurance and property taxes myself ontime and cannot afford a 100% increase in my mortgage pymnt! Can anyone advise me as to what I do next?

my wife purchased 24 acres of land in 1996 we decided in 2004 to build our dream home
puittig aside 1 acre for the builder to build a two story house, at closing we made a mistake
today we regret, unknownly we signed the house worth $136.000 and the 23 acres at
$161.000 over to wells fargo. that is not the only problem the house and land is under
forclouser sale date july 1st 2013 IS THERE ANY BODY OUT WHO CAN HELP
THANKFULLY YOURS ABR

I am dealing with an escrow increase by Wellsfargo. My principle and interest is $652.00 and Wellsfargo want me to pay an additional $685.00 more in escrow. This is total of more than $1300.00. One representative from Wellsfargo told me that I could pay my escrow myself and that she would send me the papers to sign. This morning after talking with another representative, she said that I could not pay my own insurance or property taxes. At first she said I could not do it because my home was a VA home. Then later during our conversation she stated that was an agreement between me and the lender. I explained to her that the lender have a responsibility to maintain the escrow account in a manner that would not cause harm to the comsumer especially when they cause the escrow account to be short. The lady was very supportive in her ability to listen, however, there was nothing she could do. What Wellsfargo has been doing with our mortgages is clearly an effort to cause harm and more foreclosures. Everyone is encouraged to write your representative in Washington and share this concern. It is hard for a crook to go straight.

wells fargo we have escrow account. my property taxes are paid .i am a disabled vet. each year at tax time they say we tried to pay your taxes they know the taxes are paid. so the only thing in the escrow account is for hud insurance and our home insdurance. insurance is paid in april for the year. in jan. 2012hey had the amount for that. so from jan. to april 2012 where is the money going. that is about 95.00 a month for our insurance. 4 months at 95.00 is 380.00 where is it it does not come back to us that is have of next years insuranc so the other months is 760.00 plus the 380.00 that is 1140.00 and the insurance is only about 650.00 a year. so where does the extra money go 490.00. then the usally jack up our payment every year. the feds. need to do something about these crapp banks thank you. rkimble

Wells Fargo did THE EXACT thing with our Mortgage in PA. They said our Flood Insurance was "INADEUATE" although the Insurance Provider has continually shown letters that it IS ! WF paid out Flood Insurance to "ANOTHER COMPANY" in addition to the regular insurance that depleted the cushion in ESCROW. That money was eventually sent as a check for $500.00 to our home, not re-deposited in Escrow, causing my Wife to put it into our regular Checking Account to use for Bills.It was identified in the letter as a OVERPAYMENT and she just thought it a Honest mistake and was our money.
Now the monthly Mortgage payment has grown to $200.00 more each month for 2 years. I dont understand how this can continue as the Principal has not reflected the additional payment, only the interest.
How convenient for Wells Fargo.They just gave themselves a Raise.
Were just l;earning how crooked they are!

Stan Sokolov got it right. You make your payment every month, and the annual escrow rebalance statement may count only 11 of the 12 escrow payments. I thought it was strange that I had a $300+ shortage on top of a $200 increase when property taxes and insurance hardly changed. I've been back and forth with Wells Fargo 5-6 times and they simply restate the obvious about payments that are not in question but they don't "understand" or discuss the one in question, typically the month where you made a payment including escrow, but the escrow statement shows $0 for just that month. Some financial institutions are regulated at the state level others at the federal level. In Washington, you can file your claim with the state, and the state will either process it it or forward it to the appropriate federal agency. You can also try
Comptroller of the Currency
Customer Assistance Group
1301 McKinney Street, Suite 3450
Houston, Texas [protected]
Telephone Number: [protected]
Website address: www.helpwithmybank.gov

I have exactly the same issue. Essence of the problem is that WELLS FARGO IS CROOKING ESCROW NUMBERS BY IGNORING ONE LAST PAYMENT. It works this way: Wells Fargo eliminates payment for the current month from the list of actual and projected payments, what makes balance to look low. If you add this payment to the schedule it will be not shortage off-course. Wells Fargo representative (in my case it was a lady named Jessica) was claiming that this last payment was counted somewhere else. I checked with Excel and found that it was not. It just was one payment missing. The basic trick is that Wells Fargo ignore one valid payment to make escrow balance look less. If you got a shortage notice from Wells Fargo pay attention to the list of payments they counted for your escrow, you will notice one (only one) payment that is missing on page 3 of 4 of the notice. This payment is marked by small number (1). This is where Wells Fargo has cheated you. Do not even bother calling them. Their representatives are trained to openly lie to you about that this payment is counted elsewhere. They will tell you but will not be able to say where.

I am having this same problem. This bank is a rip off. I ask them to help me catch up a payment I had missed and they put me on a payment plan and stated they would help me with a loan modification. I am now $8, 000 behind. I thought I was getting help not getting further behind. I have had two increases added to my payments. I am in the process of trying another company to get a modification.

I am doing my home payment with IndyMac bank, but two days ago I got a letter from Escrow telling me that I have to pay a shortage of $1, 825 and my home payment increase more. This Escrow company are making fraud to us.

Get a certified copy of your county and school distrct taxes.Get a copy of your yearly insurance billing directly from your insurance co, xerox these and send to your mortgage branch w/ a letter stating that you are going to withold your mortgage payments for two months. Look for your closing papers, there will be one in that stack called RESPA, Real estate settlement procedures act, it states that you can withhold your mortgage payment up to 60 days w/out penalty or negative report to credit agencies. Send everything certified mail! These ### will stop at nothing to cheat you out of money. If nothing else, sue them for fraud I am!

Three days prior to closing on a foreclosure property in Atlanta, the Loan officer said the appraisal value indicated they would have to charge me an additional 5% downpayment and that my loan would not close on time (as promised in their guarantee on their web site). The amount of the deposit was $5, 000 more than the not so Good Faith Estimate. Can they do this?
It seems like "bait and switch". The appraiser used homes in foreclosure more than 1.8 and 2.2 miles away from this property. I think market value should be used. They had the appraisal as of 4/17/08, but did not show it to me until 4/30--3 days away from closing?

Anybody know the law? kaybtt@aol.com