Cenlar
Reviews and Complaints

Is there any Class-action suite in the works against Cenlar? This company has misapplied the paid monthly mortgage payments and now claims my family member is delinquent in their mortgage and is now in foreclosure. Has anyone out there been successful in fighting this company?

i want to registration to pay my loan Account

Dorothy...your monthly payment will fluctuate depending on if your taxes and insurance increase. You can always submit a written request asking your mortgage company to remove your escrow and then you will only pay your principle & interest to the mortgage company .

If they approve your request then you will be liable for paying the taxes and insurance and BE SURE TO SEND PROOF OF INSURANCE EVERY YEAR OTHERWISE THEY WILL PURCHASE A POLICY ON YOUR BEHLAF. As your mortgage company they have a vested interest in the property and if they fail to receive proof of insurance they will purchase it for you. Just be happy that your not with Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, now that company sucks and should be shut down by the government.

I went through the TB&W bankruptcy too. Sent to Cenlar where I can actually say was not a problem for me. The problem I had was that a payment sent to TB&W at transition is tied up in bankruptcy. Cenlar was kind enough to credit my account. 6 months later they sold loan to Ocwen(the devil). They did not honor the lost payment. Fought with them for 6 months to no avail. Even organized conference call with Cenlar and Ocwen. Ocwen said they didn't care and to pay. I continued sending my regular payments until one day they started sending my payments back to me. REALLY. They said that they would not accept any payment unless it brought the loan up to date, including disputed payment. They did this for 5 months and began foreclosing on me. To keep from having to sue them and possibly lose my home I dished out over 3500 bucks.(my payments are only $500/month. I thought that would be the end of it until a month later when my monthly statement had $745 worth of foreclosure fees tacked on to my bill. OMG! Ofcourse I'm right back where I started. I just wish Ocwen would sell my mortgage to another lender before they bleed me dry. If anyone else has a story similar to this please share. Thank you.

The creeps at Cenlar jacked my mortgage payments from $559 to $895 and I can't afford to pay! Reason given when I called? TBW under-estimated my taxes so the difference will go to escrow. Other people got other stories about their insane hikes in mortgage amounts. This all smells like a pretty sweet scam!
What can we do?
- File formal complaint with attorney general, your state.
- Find out if another can be filed with their own state, which is SC as far as I can tell.
- File formal complaint with BBB online -- there's another 80 there waiting to be read.
- File complaint with the FTC, which possibly has a website corner for it, so no need to call them.
- Issue a call to lawyers who'd like to gather all of us in a class action suit against these thieves.
- Check out the site, Pissed Consumer, and lots of complaints, to which you can add your own by pasting your experience from here, to there.

Cenlar placed a forced insurance policy on my
mortgage after my insurance company had sent them 3 request for payment. After they forced the policy and depleted my escrow account, they paid the insurance, but wouldn't refund the forced policy amount of 3500.00. After a few months, I tried to change insurance companies and they again didn't pay that one. I was told that after my current insurance received notice of new insurance, that it would take affect. They failed to pay that insurance and it went into another forced insurance policy. They depleted my escrow again. I fought with them numerous times on the phone. They did not refund the cost of the forced policy. Today, I received notice that my escrow was short funds, and they are going to raise my house payment. Really... that is a no brainer. Cenlar are such crooks... They are as bad as the IRS.

My mortgage was paid in full on Jan.11, 2013, & I have been trying since then to get my refund on the unused portion of my homeowner insurance
in the amount of $3062. Cenlar has used every lie in the world as to why I have not recieved my check.Their representatives are
useless.I really believe Cenlar's intentions are to give me the run around until I give up and go away. I have contacted the Comsumer
Protection Agency & have not heard anything from them.I am considering filing a complaint with the fraud dept.of the FBI .I really believe Cenlar is commiting fraud and should be shut down.

From a fustrated citizen.
I to am a victim of Cenlar, they have been charging me for homeowners insurance, when I have been paying this on my own. When I contacted them that they owed me $1, 804.00, they told me that they had never received the proof that I was making the insurance payments on my own, I faxed them the paperwork seven times and my insurance company sends them a copy also, but they still were charging me. I called and they said they would review my loan and send me a refund check. I told them that it should be for $1, 804.00, but they only sent me a check for $180.91, and told me that I would receive another refund for $450.52. I have not received the other refund check and I called them and they said that they had mailed a check for $335.00, which is a far cry from $450.52. This is still not the $1, 804.00 refund that they owe me. They said that they could not send me the $450.52 refund because that would make my escrow short $75.00. Well if you subtract the $335.00 from $450.52, they kept $115.00. Why not just subtract the $75.00 that they said was short, instead they took $115.00.
I keep calling them and ask to someone who speaks English and all I get is someone that cannot speak English. When I ask to talk to a supervisor I get the same person that I was originally talking too.
This company needs to give everyone back all the money that we are owed. Also every year it seems that my payments go up by $200.00. When I was with TB&W my payments were $378.00 now I am paying $476.66. Never had any problems with TB&W and I have another mortgage company that I deal with and they never say anything about an Escrow account.
It is time that we put this company on an action law suit.

I know if you are having problems like I have been experiencing then there is probably fraud taking place. I am sick of it and the representatives working there. This is a fly by night company who is robbing the consumers of TB&W (Taylor, Bean, and Whitaker). They are trying to increase my fixed mortgage up to 40% higher than I ever agreed to. Please contact your State attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission to report your story because they will investigate.

Federal Trade Commission
600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20580
Phone: 1.877.FTC.HELP (1.877.382.4357) or 1.202.326.2222
TTY: 1.866.653.4261

Cellar has escrow policies around flood insurance that are flat out scams. They require more insurance than the previous mortgage holder, then try to make you buy the additional through them and only through escrow. They are a nightmare to communicate with. We are taking an active role in fighting for our rights. Hope every Cenlar “customer “ pays close attention to their loan. Cenlar needs to be stopped!

Tsta1 I am currently unmasking Cenlar I have proof of how corrupt they are. Contact me to viriloewy@gmail.com I have a plan of action and I'm asking people to join me and fight against them if we all raise up they will have to bow down. This is a form you can use to send to them by law they have to send you all of these forms and that way you can find out if they are screwing you.

QUALIFIED WRITTEN REQUEST UNDER THE REAL ESTATE SETTLEMENT AND PROCEDURES ACT

Date

CERTIFIED/RETURN RECEIPT

Servicers Name Here
Servicers Address Here
City, State Zip Code

RE: Loan #:
Property Address:

Dear Sir or Madam:

We are writing to you to dispute the amount you claim is owed according to the monthly billing statement and because we are uncertain as to who the current holder and owner of the original note and deed of trust is due to the recent issues concerning people signing transfer documents without knowledge or authority to do so, resulting in foreclosure moratoriums in many instances. We request that you send us information about the fees, costs, and escrow accounting on our loan as well as information concerning the holder and owner of this mortgage loan. This is a "qualified written request" pursuant to the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act (section 2605(e) ).

We request the following information:

1. A complete payment history which lists the dates and amounts of all the payments we have made on the loan to date, and shows how each payment was applied or credited (whether to principal, interest, escrow, suspense, or some other treatment);

2. A breakdown of the amount of claimed arrears or delinquencies on the account, including an itemization of all fees and charges you claim are currently due;

3. The payment dates, purpose of payment, and recipient of any and all foreclosure fees and costs, if applicable that have been charged to the account;

4. The payment dates, purpose of payment, and recipient of all escrow items charged to the account;

5. A copy of any annual escrow statements, and notices of a shortage, deficiency, or surplus, sent within the last three years;

6. The current balance in any suspense account and the reason why such funds were deposited in the account;

7. The name and address of the owner of the promissory note secured by the deed of trust in the mortgage loan referenced above;

8. The name and address of the entity that is legally the "holder" of the promissory note secured by the deed of trust in the mortgage loan referenced above. If your answer is the same as your answer to #7 above, you may simply reply "same as #7";

9. The names of all entities to which the promissory note referenced above has been sold or otherwise transferred at any time, and the dates that each sale or transfer of the note occurred;

10. A copy of the note referenced above showing all endorsements that have occurred, together with any allonge that exists to the note;

11. The names of all entities to which this mortgage or deed of trust has been assigned, and the dates that each assignment occurred. If any assignment in blank has occurred, include it in the list of dates with the notation "In Blank" in place of the name of an entity;

12. A copy of each of the assignments reflecting each assignment referenced in #11, above;

13. A description of all loss mitigation and foreclosure avoidance steps taken in regard to this mortgage loan, including all calculations concerning debt-to-income and net-present-value determinations and all documents regarding loss mitigation and foreclosure avoidance steps taken;

14. All initial and final loan documents both signed and unsigned including, but not limited to, the 1003, GFE, TIL, Appraisal, Mortgage Broker Fee Agreement (if applicable), etc.

Please send these requested documents to:

Thank you for acknowledging and answering this request as required by the Real estate Settlement and Procedures Act (section 2605(e) ).

Sincerely,

In Nov of 2015 my Mortgage was sold to Cenlar at the time my India friends at the old company made a mistake and started taking unauthorized tax payments of $116. I paid them back in full plus $80 for the 2014 taxes and then sent letters in telling them to stop. I then paid the 2015 taxes direct to the state. When Cenlar took over in Dec- I waited to pay them for Dec and January as I was trying to change the new requested payment not to include taxes. They made me pay Dec and Jan even though Dec taxes had been paid in full and proof was sent to them of this, telling me that if I paid my February bill would reflect the credit. Well now I cannot get them on the phone and when i do they just tell me I have to send in the same letter they already have. I feel scammed and I was robbed at the very least for the De tax payment, and I am not sure that me taxes will even be paid this year.

I'm in California and although I was never with the other company mentioned in all of the above complaints everything else sounds similar. About two years ago I was told by Cenlar that there wasn't enough money in my escrow account the previous year due to an increase in my property taxes and additional flood insurance required. When I asked why they didn't inform me that I needed to pay more per month during that year I was basically told their system automatically pays the additional monies needed and that there isn't an actual human being checking these things. They said they didn't charge me enough that year so they covered the additional payments and I owed them about $1400. They raised my monthly payments by about $200. When I informed them that I couldn't afford to pay the new monthly amount they stretched the amount "owed" out over two years to reduce it a little. I think next month will be my last payment so my monthly payments should go down. I have been struggling every month for the past two years and now to find out that this may have all been a lie! I will definitely be looking into this further and filing a complaint with the recommended agencies if need be!

I wasn't originally with TBW but with First National Bank of Camdenton, Missouri, local bank with smiling faces and accents that could be understood. The feds ripped the servicing of loans from this bank for something and off to Cenlar it went. What a nightmare. I am an accountant, have seen many escrow analysis statements but never have I seen anything so screwed up as the one they just sent me on my own loan. They showed hazard insurance coming out of my escrow acct in back-to-back months (It is paid once a year) and of course with that error now I'm short on escrow funds. So my monthly payment goes up $65 a month. I can understand errors but I can't tolerate the people who won't listen to you when you try to correct it. JAMES (accent from India) kept repeating the same nonsense in lieu of listening to me when I explained the error. James could have been a robot because his programmed responses had nothing to do with the concern of my call. Finally I asked for a supervisor and 15 minutes later Rachel (Oriental accent) comes on and initially kept talking over me until I was finally able to get it across that hazard insurance should only be paid once a year. They recalculated my payment (It's still too high) and promised to send a new escrow analysis to back up their new figure. I can't wait for another blood pressure rise when I get it. This company should be shut down. Hundreds if not thousands of complaints and I wonder how many more people, who don't understand escrow analysis, are paying way too much in these tough times.

We are having much the same problem and were also with TBW. We were told we'd missed a payment and when we sent proof of that months payment they changed the month - three different times - changing the month every time when we proved payment. They've increased our payments by almost 300.00 a month and will not give an expaination for it. They keep saying were are behind in payments and mention forcloser and want us to refinance with HUD. We do not have a HUD contract and are not behind in payments. They want an immediate payment of over 2, 000.00 to bring our account up to date. The amount increases every month with no explanation. We cannot talk to anyone as they are not able to and when asked to be transfered to someone who can they say we have to write to another address. No response from them. But still 3-4 letters per month requesting past due payments. I am sending one more letter and also sending copies to the above places stated to file complaints. Thanks for this information

Everyone here needs to go to Google and type in Taylor, Bean and Whitaker and maybe they would be a bit more informed. TBW closed not because of bankruptcy. They closed because the FBI shut them down for FRAUD which is the first thing you will see when you Google. And to add injury to insult they had hundreds of refinanced loans where they never paid off the 1st (which is the rule and the whole point of a refinance) so, when they shut down hundreds of people had 2 mortgages in their name. Cenlar and all other servicers where these loans were transferred are trying to sort the mess that TBW cause. IF you go to taylorbean.com and click on the link for the borrower protocol (the bankruptcy papers from the bk court) you would see all this information that they left up there for borrowers to access (which obviously no one is doing). Here is an excerpt from the BK papers:
ISSUE 2: TAX AND INSURANCE ESCROW REFUNDS
16. In the ordinary course of its business, TBW collected tax and insurance payments
from borrowers, which were typically included as part of borrowers’ monthly mortgage
payments. Any unused escrow amounts were returned to borrowers at the time the mortgages were paid off or when required escrow amounts were re-calculated (and an excess deposit was on hand).
17. After the implementation of the Colonial administrative hold on August 5, 2005,
TBW was unable to make escrow refunds to borrowers who had paid off their mortgages or who subsequently did so. As of the filing of this Motion, approximately 3, 000 borrowers are owed escrow refunds.
There is also a place for you to enter your or information to see if you are part the 3, 000 borrowers that are owed escrow refunds.
Now I do not agree with the customer service being outsourced to India because I am sure every American is tired of this. They can’t answer your questions because they do not know them. They are not mortgage professionals they have no clue as what they processes are. (If you do not want companies outsourcing you need to call and complain) Servicers are required to do an escrow analysis maybe a couple of time of year. Once they do the analysis anything that is over the amount that is needed in the account should be refunded to you. However, if you are not making monthly mortgage payments your escrow account will go negative and the servicer has to pay the escrow funds for you if a disbursement is due which means you will have to pay the servicer back. Since many of the TBW customers could not make payments due to the BK and the loans moving to different servicers. You would have to bring your account current (paying the escrow that had to pay back) then you can get your overage. TBW was also collecting payments when they should have not and did not record some payments as paid that is why your servicer said you didn’t pay because that is what the transfer records state from the prior servicer (TBW). All of this has come from TBW not any of the servicers that have had to take on this gigantic mess. People need to read there disclosures when they apply for a mortgage and they need to do their research so they are more informed stop leaving it up to others to give you information. If everyone was more informed companies likeTBW could get away with doing the things that they did. This is the problem with America we are just letting all of these corporations do as they please but we keep entering contracts with them and suffering in the end. BTW they knew about this fraud about 10 years ago. If servicers or investor would pay for qualified professionals everyone who had a complaint on this page would have been told this but, they only want people from India who will work for $1 an hour or under qualified cheap American laborers who know nothing about the business.

File complaints with:
Office of Thrift Supervision
1700 G St NW
Washington DC 20552

referred to me by:
New Jersey Office of the Attorney General

also complain to:
New Jersey Dept. of Law & Public Safety
Dept of Consumer Affairs
PO Box 45027 Newark NJ 07101

referred by:
State of New Jersey
Dept. of Banking and Insurance
Division of Banking

These are interested parties in all the shenanigans of Cenlar.

Please let your voice be heard and files complaints.

i am in the same boat. I have overpaid 2 payments through the transition of Taylor Bean Whitaker and CENLAR take over which CENLAR has records of and they still tellme I owe them for a month of non payment. Who do we contact to correct this mess. I have talked to 4 US people and numerous INDIA people to no avail. I explain to each, they say they see the error and non correct the mistale month after month.

Payoff for refinancing
This has gotten to be the biggest joke and worst company I have ever dealt with in mortgage management. I too was a former TB &W customer and was given to this group called Cenlar. Whenever I had questions and would call customer service, a babbling customer service person would get on the line and out of the first couple of sentences, I might understand one or two words they would speak. They all sound as if they are from India. Now I want to refinance my current home mortgage and all I need from them is a payoff. Simple right? No way. They say I can not have the payoff until I send them proof of mortgage insurance. Its to be noted that I faxed to Cenlars mortgage insurance department proof of insurance weeks before it was due. (I pay way in advance). Everytime I call or my attorney calls to get a payoff so we can close on the refinance, they refuse stating there is no mortage insurance on file. We have now faxed to them 8 times proof of insurance and even sent them copies of the canceled checks and THE POLICY. Because of their failure to add the renewal to their files, our closing has been put off two times already.
Now they want to charge me $19.95 to tell me what my payoff will be.
It is my goal in life now to tell everone I know and meet about this company and to aviod them at all cost.

It will be best for everyone who has had issues to really look at RESPA (Real Estate Protection Act). It will take time to resolve disputes with a stubborn company. But if the persistence is there and your facts are correct. Getting that big check from cenlar will be well worth it.

please do not take this as if I am telling everyone they don't know how to manage escrow. However it is important to realize that one should never depend on the bank to manage Escrow accounts. I am sure most would agree that proper handling of a checking account requires to reconcile and put items in your register that have been paid or quickens or whatever one uses.

The same is true with escrow. Estimate what your YEARLY expenditures will be (Hazard Insurance (Flood if required) Home Insurance, taxes, etc) Take the total divide by 12. It is important to understand a few things with escrows: As per the RESPA section 10 the servicer (Cenlar, or other institution) is prohibited from charging excessive amount for the escrow account. The lender CAN NOT charge any more then 1/12 of the total of ALL disbursements per month payable during the year..They CAN add any amount that was short from the year before. They CAN at their desecration add a cushion NOT to EXCEED 1/6 of the total disbursements for the year. Knowing this and knowing that as part of the RESPA the lender must perfom an escrow account analysis once during the year and notify borrowers of any shortage.. any EXCESS of $50 of more MUST be RETURNED to the borrower. (They can not hold it) Picture it like a BIG savings account----At the end of the year you will get BIG check from them if they are indeed charging outrageous amounts...

If they do not do this, then you will need to write a complaint letter to them FIRST, (Certify mailing) and they must ack the letter withing 20 business days. After which another 60 days from them to resolve or provide a valid reason for their position. If still they are violating any laws of the act then you may file a complaint with HUD (Housing and Urban Development. After which HUD, a state Attorney General or State Insurance commissioner may bring an injunctive action to enforce violations of Sections 6, 8 or 9 ( I have provided short info on section 6 which is relevant to most all complaints on this board)...

Keep in mind that Under section 10 which is Limits on Escrow accounts (1/6 and 1/12 talk)HUD as the authority to impose a civil penalty on loan servicers who do not submit inial or annual escrow account statements to borrowers.

Read up on RESPA and know where to file complaints... They will get addressed much faster then if you just phone or write a general office such as State Attorney General office. Go smaller before bigger.

Also, keep track ALWAYS (even if company is good) of what you are putting into escrow... Get copies of checks, and file them for your records. Checks are proof of payments...

But how do we deal with it? The same thing happened to me and I NEVER missed or was late with a mortgage payment.

the same thing happened to me.. I also am trying to deal with it.

Cenlar is a big bad dream threatening to take our home over escrow account ...no communication...bullies

12-31-09
I was turned over to Cenlar after TB&W took a nose dive. I have been trying since Sept. to straighten things out with my mortgage. I was on the Equity Accelerator program with TB&W, but Cenlar informed me that I could not continue with that until TB&W únfroze'' my money. So, I sent payments in to Cenlar. Just last week, Cenlar sent my payments back to me saying that they could not accept them because I was late. I have NEVER been late on my mortgage. I don't know what to do now. They wanted to do a check by phone, which I said no to, simply because they sent my payments back to me. If anyone gets any straight answers, please post them. Thanks.

I too am having the problems you describe, and, in addition, Cenlar is increasing my mortgage payment by $86 per month - my city taxes have only increased $34 this year.
I encourage everyone to file a complaint with the Attorney General of their state and get this company to either fly right or go away. I refuse to be the victim to these theives.

go to this website...
http://www.njleague.com/DirectoryFiles/Members/Cenlar.pdf
It has all the VP's, CEO's, etc phone numbers with extensions and e-mail addresses. I sent a e-mail venting my frustration (former TB&W customer also). They called me back in less that 2 hours. Bigwigs don't like hearing complaints. One of the contacts is an internal auditor/quality control. If you work for a large company you know they don't want him hearing that they have problems!
Good Luck!

This company needs the feds to investigate. My Taylor Bean loan also transfered to Cenlar. I am unable to establish contact, actually rang the operator and the operator disconnected me. Sent in my Sept. loan payment certified mail with return receipt and have yet to receive the receipt. This company seems like a scammer, I will submit my problems to Senator Cardin (Maryland). Advise all to do the same in their home state.

My mom's loan was recently switched to Cenlar, and she too cannot get anyone on a phone. This is ridiculous! The mortgage company will blame the homeowner's, wait and see. I would send a letter certified and express all of the above information, the way the mortgage companies send their notices certified.
Phone calls don't count, as far as documentation really, although I would keep a record of how many times you called, when, and which employee(get their id #) you spoke with(if you get a hold of a person). You shouldn't have to pay any late fees do to them being unorganized!
When people try to negotiate while mortgage companies are changing hands, they get screwed because the money clock for the bank never stops ticking, regardless if they answer phones or not. What an American Dream. Can you imagine owning a business, never answering a phone, just collecting checks with no accountability?

You have to stay proactive! Call and get help! For $35 prepaid legal can help you! They will write the letters and make the phone calls!

Call or email me...I can help you!

Jeremy Herget
[protected]
jeremyherget@gmail.com