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Citimortgage sold my mortgage to IBM Lender Bus Process Services in 11/2010; without any good business reason. I had several other Crecit relationships with them mastercar, home depot card, etc.; and my mortgage was not only current; but had never been paid late and I always sent the payment plus at least $50 monthly.
This new so called mortgage servic company, IBM LBPS; is actually in the busness of making it harder for you to pay your mortgage. They are a division of IBM the largest computer company in the world, but do not have the ability to process electronic payments in house. Instead you have to send your payment thru Western Union and pay a $5 fee which is then credited to your account as long as your payment is processed between the 1st and 5th of the month. How much of that $5 fee do they pass on to western union and how long do they hold the $5 to take advantage of the float before they issue the credit to your account?
If you want to make your electronic payment before the due date, 1st of the month; they insist on charging you a $5 processing fee. They want to force you to make the payment either by mail or after the 1st so that they can hopefully charge you a late fee. You can also use your banks bill pay service; but again that is risky because that payment is not electronic, they actually mail a check which can be delayed and cause you to be billed a late fee which will have to be disputed.
The month of Feb 2011 they did not send me a bill for March, when I called to inquire on 2/21/11 they advised me that my bill along with 66, 000 other customers had been lost in a fire at a post office in Texas on 2/5/11. They had not yet mailed out a duplicate bill but told me I should recieve one by the 1st of March. I wanted to pay my bill using their online payment service but they would not waive the $5 fee, and told me I could either wait and pay it on the 1st of the month or mail it without a remittance document. When has anyone ever heard of a company not wanting to get their payment on time or early?
Mailing a payment without a remittance document, (sometimes called white mail), is dangerous because it could delay processing causing a late fee, waiting for the duplicate bill could also cause a late fee to be generated and then augued over. When I asked what government agency regulated them, I was was told that their was none. They advised me they were not a bank but that they were employed by Fannie Mae, the Federal government, to service my account. If they collect $5 from all 66, 000 customers whom they did not send a bill to this month that is an extra $330, 000.00 they will have stolen from hard working people. I have sent a complaint to the FTC; Federal Trade Commision, hopefully they will look into this larcenous behavior.
P.S., This company says they are not a bank, so they are not subject to federal regulation, but one of their parent companies has to be a financial institution, thats what we the people need to find out so that they can be exposed and their bad behavior can be stopped.
I have been "working" with LBPS on a loan modification since February. In the meantime, they already started the foreclosure process. At the end of April I was finally offered a loan modification where I was required to pay $4, 000 first, and then I may get approval on a loan modification program for a set monthly payment. Of course, I didn't have the $4, 000. After a week or so I called them back and asked if I could qualify for the HAFA short sale program, but they said I couldn't because I never accepted their loan modification, and that I would then have to default on it for the HAFA program to be available to me. I ended up calling HAMP who oversees the HAFA program. Come to find out that because my mortgage is a Fannie Mae, I was supposed to have automatically been offered a HAMP modification first. The $4, 000 modification was an in-house modification. So I called LBPS back and after being transferred and put on hold numerous times - and after someone there said oh, I don't know why you weren't offered a HAMP, you should have been - they finally offered me a HAMP modification. However, they said I needed to send the first payment in right away in order to postpone my auction (which is now a week away), and then they would let me know the terms of my HAMP modification in writing. I called HAMP back and they said that that is not a HAMP modification. HAMP modifications don't require a first time payment. And, they always send the documentation first and we need to sign them. So, at this point HAMP escalated my case and it is now with Fannie Mae for review, and hopefully - supposedly - Fannie Mae will contact the lender and get my auction date and get me back on track.
I had no idea others were experiencing the same thing as I am. I have a very good credit score, never late on a payment, automatic pay setup to pull from my account every 2nd of the month and all of a sudden these SON OF A ### LBS mother ###ers have added an escrow accout. Not only that they have began to pull that without my authorization from my account as well. When I questioned them about it there was "Some letter" that was supposidly sent 2 weeks ago which ofcourse I DO NOT HAVE. Also when I asked them where they recieved the autorization to add the escrow account I was put on hold for 4 times in a row because the idiot I was speaking to didnt know how to answer. I repeatedly asked her to please connect me to someone who can answer my questions.. All she kept saying is that some letter existed (in their magical world) that had those details. I m at my witts end with these people. They are the most unprofessional, unethical, liars I've ever dealt with. I myself Have worked in the mortage industry...let me just say this place has FRAUD written all over it. I hope the people that head up this company do some LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG HARD time behind bars. and for the little ### head that keeps posting on behalf of LBS, I know you are thanking your lucky stars that you left a gang and are getting an $8/hr paycheck but when you dont walk in the shoes of the people that have posted on this page, SHUT THE HELL UP!