ARIPEKA --
Joe Manzo and Lisa
Stowell paid off their mortgage – in full – late last year.
But their lender
threatened to foreclose anyway.
"There was no doubt
that it was paid off," Manzo said. "I just assumed that the bank was
lagging behind and maybe the system was running every 30 days and it would be
corrected."
But that didn't happen.
Instead, they say, West Palm Beach-based Ocwen Loan Servicing charged them
about $2,000 in penalties because they stopped monthly mortgage payments.
"We stopped because
we had already paid off the loan," Manzo explained. "They say we're
in default, and now I'm worried we're going to lose our home."
All the while, the
couple's money – enough to pay the balance – is sitting in the bank's account.
Mistakes happen, but the
scenario described by Manzo and Stowell shows the challenge homeowners can face
just trying to get through to their lenders. When loans are sold and resold, to
companies farther away, as they are in the current housing market, it becomes
even more difficult.
In the case of Manzo and
Stowell, the money they sent was deposited in an escrow account set up for
flood insurance.
"They applied
$44,493 to a balance of $423, leaving a $44,000 overage," Manzo said.
"I could have flood insurance until the second coming."
Asked what went wrong,
Ocwen executive vice president Paul Koches told the Tribune his employees made
a mistake.
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