Weird call from Countrywide Home Loans
August 14th, 2008 by KenricYesterday I got a call from Countrywide Home Loans. When I answered the phone I got a quick recorded message that said that it was countrywide home loans and it said portions of collection calls can be recorded. Then it connected to a live person.
Obviously, my first thought was that my mortgage payment didn’t make it and they were calling to ask about it. But then I was thinking that it’s only the 13th, it’s not even late yet.
The guy said that they were calling me to tell me that they have received my mortgage payment and that if they got it 3 days later I would have a late payment penalty. Then the guy said that I haven’t had any late payments yet and they just wanted to remind me of that.
This was so weird I had to confirm what he said. “So, you are calling me to tell me that you got my payment and that it was on time, but the problem is that it was only on time by 3 days?” He said, “Yes, you have a 15 day grace period and we just wanted to remind you that it’s a grace period and if you miss it you’ll have a late fee.”
I got the impression that they want their payments on the 1st, not the 15th. They are probably hurting for money and want cash right away. Why else would they call to tell me my payment was not late, but it was almost late? Oh well, I’m gonna keep paying them on the 14th of the month. Anyone else get a call like this?
Posted in Real Estate | 7 Comments »
Stumble it!
I did, and it scared the be-jabbers out of me. I was wondering what I had missed! It was not from Countrywide, though, but from another lender.
By Asset Gatherer on Aug 14, 2008
I know someone who regularly pays their mortgage (I’m not sure who it is with) late in the grace period and has done so for the life of their loan. About 2 years ago they started getting calls like you describe *every month*.
By Anon on Aug 14, 2008
Wow, that’s so interesting. I wonder if these loan companies are wishing they never gave people until the 15th of every month to pay. Maybe this will change in the future.
By Kenric on Aug 14, 2008
See:
http://www.countrywide.com/why_cw/so_epayment.asp
Countrywide would love to charge you to have the payment automatically debited during the grace period as you can see on their payment options page. They want $2.00-$4.00 a month, depending on the debit date.
However, if this is an option-ARM loan, you probably have been reclassified as sub-prime and are getting the phone call from the sub-prime collectors worried about default. Countrywide is “reaching out” to borrowers perceived as potential defaults.
I expect the grace periods to disappear in the future. Banks might even try to move to simple interest loans, where the interest is calculated daily. Who knows, maybe they will adopt universal default rates for mortgages!
By Another Investor on Aug 14, 2008
Yeah, I think banks are very scared of more loan defaults and are trying hard to identify potential defaulters before they actually start missing payments. Still, nothing like scaring your paying customers to death..
By Shaun on Aug 14, 2008
That is really weird. I would have probably passed out if I had heard “collections call”.
By Jennifer Zetter on Sep 3, 2008
SHUT UP….YOU ALL ARE IDIOTS
I HEART COUNTRYWIDE
By john on Jun 18, 2009