Countrywide Home Loans: A Short Review

I have, thankfully, recently terminated my "relationship", abusive though it may have been, with Countrywide Loans. Countrywide made this termination as difficult as possible, through what appears from the outside to be indistinguishable from concerted policy of answering every question, if they answered at all, with information which was not merely wrong, but designed to be wrong in the fashion which maximized harm and cost to me.

This round of problems began when I asked them how much it would cost to pay off my loan. They said they would send me that information in the mail. They didn't.

I tried Plan B, which was to pay off most of the amount due, leaving a little bit, so that their computer would figure out the correct payoff amount in a month or two. They thwarted this scheme by failing to send me another statement at all. When I called them, they said that I needed to pay them another $700 to close the loan, and that they would pay the property tax payment as scheduled and return any extra.

I received confirmation that the loan had been discharged, and I foolishly thought this meant that events were proceeding according to plan, and I would soon receive my cheque refunding the extra. What I instead received was my own cheque for $700 returned to me, with a letter saying it was unnecessary. Further investigation indicated that they did not pay the property tax, either, and by the time I was able to figure that out, it was overdue.

For all that I have had frustrations with Bank of America, I have not found them to give me absolutely incorrect information in the manner that Countrywide has done, and I have to believe that their acquisition of Countrywide will result in an improvement. Countrywide: A company that did not deserve to exist, and recently got what it deserved.