Homecomings Financial Excess Escrow Being Collected Waterloo Iowa

We are having some problems with Homecomings collecting escrow amounts far in excess of the actual taxes and insurance. My wife has a small house in another state. Her father, who is retired and on a fixed income, still occupies the house, and makes the payments.

Homecomings recently jacked up the monthly amount going into escrow to cover taxes and insurance. The actual taxes and insurance amount to just under $200 per month, but suddenly they are collecting $325/month, increasing the payment by about $125. While this probably doesn't seem like a lot of money to some, it represents quite a hit for a retiree living on Social Security and a tiny pension.

Numerous calls to their "customer service" line resulted in being placed on hold for up to a half hour at a time by people who don't seem to speak much English, followed by the call being cut off or sent back into their endless "cue" menu. When my wife would finally get one of these little fellows on the line she would ask for a supervisor, and was told "there is no supervisor". Each one she talked to seemed to have been "programmed" to try to get rid of the call without actually addressing the issue or escalating it to a Tier Two level.

Is anyone else out there having this problem?...Is this just some sort of scam being operated by Homecomings/GMAC to collect and use other people's money without having to pay interest on it?

Harry the cat
Clarksville, Tennessee
U.S.A.