Banks are double charging people on escrow fees and calling it a "MISTAKE" when they get caught

[kpete]

Unreal. More blatant Wall Street criminality, this time by Wells Fargo and in the form of billions of dollars of "mistakes" that cost the average person $2,000 each but often go unnoticed by the unsuspecting consumer. This is why we need a full funded and fully staffed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, among other things . . .
......................

Despite the general “missing in action” posture of bank regulators, one office has taken a tough stance of abuses, namely, the US Bankruptcy Trustee. A New York Post story by Catherine Curan reports that the Trustee is investigating double dipping in the New York City area by Wells Fargo and GMAC (now Ally). Borrower attorneys contend this practice is common at all servicers:

***Many homeowners opt to pay part of their property taxes and homeowners insurance with their mortgage every month. The funds are then put into an escrow account and used to periodically pay the taxes and insurance.

But after falling behind on a few payments, troubled borrowers in Chapter 13 often find that their bank or mortgage servicer tries to collect twice on the escrow funds — once as part of the overall mortgage payment, and again as a separate “escrow shortage” charge.

The average double charge is about $2,000, said forensic accountant Jay Patterson of Full Disclosure in Arkansas, who sees escrow issues in half the cases he examines.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/01/more-bank-chicanery-double-charging-on-escrow-fees.html
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/sloppy_seconds_hhPMGlBggrkLMwD1BbpY2O#ixzz1iHMtSlVq
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/02/1050773/-OWS:-Banks-are-double-charging-people-on-escrow-fees-and-calling-it-a-mistake-when-they-get-caught?via=siderec

[csziggy]

1. The pattern of behavior is past "mistakes" it is racketeering

These people need to be put in jail.

[suffragette]

2. Sounds like the charges that need to be levied are against the banks for this fraud

K&R

[TheMadMonk]

3. No doubt about it, this sort of thing is wrong.

HOWEVER, when most ordinary people's financial management protocol is the functional equivalent of slinging their wallet over the bar at the start of the night and trusting the person on the other side to do the right thing, they WILL BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF EVERY SINGLE BLOODY TIME.

When most of the population acts this stupidy (maxed out credit cards, unserviced store loans, $5/day ringtones, data charges, etc., et bloody c.) The scope for taking that advantage opens wide and wider.

Snake oil of the back of a dropsided wagon, or 110% of purchase price loans from the 1st National, it's the person agreeing to sign on who is committing the capital crime of stupidity. The other guy is just committing the venal sin of (more often than not) corectly betting that someone is an idiot.