Taylor Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Company Update – September 1, 2009

It’s been a hectic day trying to stay on top of the new updates in the Taylor Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Company meltdown. Here’s what I learned:

Taylor Bean & Whitaker and Bank of America
I just got off the phone with a spokesperson for Bank of America who has been the point person for the media. He said that Bank of America Home Loan Servicing acquired 180,000 under its “master sub-servicer agreement with Ginnie Mae.” Loans that were transferred to Bank of America include FHA, VA, USDA, Rural Development loans, and Indian housing loans. Bank of America did not receive any loans from Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae. Letters containing new account numbers and other information have gone out to all Taylor Bean & Whitaker former borrowers. These letters should be received by the end of the week (before Labor Day).

If you have a U.S.-backed loan and don’t receive a letter regarding your Taylor Bean & Whitaker loan by Friday, call the Bank of America Home Loan Servicing number: 800-669-6607.

Credit Reports and Late Fees

According to the Bank of America spokesperson, the two big questions on Taylor Bean & Whitaker borrowers’ minds have been what will be reported to the credit bureaus if payments aren’t transferred correctly and will late fees be assessed.

“Borrowers need to know that there is a 60-day grace period during which no negative information will be reported to the credit reporting bureaus and no late fees will be assessed. The 60-day grace period starts today, September 1, 2009. To make it easier to understand, no late fees and no negative information will be reported to the credit reporting bureaus through the October payment period,” said the Bank of America spokesperson.

“As long as you attempted to make a payment or had auto-debit set up, no late fees will be charged and no negative credit reporting will be done on those loans from the time the loans have actually transferred, which is today, September 1,” he added.

If you were told by a Bank of America debt collection department employee that your Taylor Bean & Whitaker loan is in default, this information is incorrect, said the spokesperson. Call the toll-free number 800-669-6607 and speak to a supervisor.

Loan Modification Plans in Progress

If you were in discussions for a loan modification with Taylor Bean & Whitaker, my Bank of America source says that information should have transferred with the loan information. Bank of America Home Loan Servicing should be in touch shortly to follow up. “You should not have to resubmit your information and start all over. But you can call customer service and make sure they’re aware that you had a loan in modification process,” he added.

Property Tax Payments and Insurance Escrow Questions

I hope to have some additional information on these topics tomorrow. According to the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, no insurance payments have been made on Taylor Bean & Whitaker loans since July. Property taxes are due today in Georgia. It’s unclear whether the FDIC will release funds held in escrow accounts at Colonial BancGroup to pay those tax bills. Check back tomorrow for an update.

Did You Apply For a Taylor Bean Whitaker Conventional Loan That Hadn’t Yet Closed?

Some not-so-good news for home buyers and homeowners who were in the process of financing a loan with Taylor Bean & Whitaker when it was shut down. Fannie Mae is requiring that loans in the pipeline, but not yet delivered to Fannie Mae be re-underwritten. In other words, you’ll have to go through the process of getting your loan approved all over again. Here’s what Fannie Mae put out on its website – thanks to San Francisco-based mortgage lender Dick Lepre for the update:

“Conventional and government loans for which TBW was involved in any part of the origination process – including borrower application, processing, obtaining documentation, and/or underwriting – are ineligible for delivery to Fannie Mae unless re-underwritten by the lender selling the loan to us.” And if anyone wants to send Fannie one of the TBW loans, they must obtain all new documentation, with a HVCC-compliant appraisal, “including a new borrower loan application, and underwrite the TBW-originated loan to your own standards and Fannie Mae requirements. If the loan was previously underwritten through DU, a new DU loan case file must be created and submitted, or the loan must be fully underwritten manually.” And any seller had better be prepared to rep and warrant their underwriting, plus Fannie “will perform extra quality control on loans known to be sourced by TBW.”

Lepre wrote: “This was incredibly brutal for some people. We had a heads up and stopped using [Taylor Bean & Whitaker] as a source about 6 weeks before the ship hit the sand. Some mortgage banks are having trouble because they have to rework these files originally destined for Taylor Bean & Whitaker to make them salable to FNMA. It is not just more work and expense but it drains their ability to originate new loans before they sell the stuff destined for Taylor Bean & Whitaker.

Today’s Taylor Bean & Whitaker Comments from the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance

Sandra Sheley, director of mortgage supervision at the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, discussed with us how the different Taylor Bean & Whitaker loans were parceled out to other lenders. Bank of America got the government-backed loans (FHA, VA, Ginnie Mae, USDA, etc.) and the other performing loans were going to be divided between Cenlar and RoundPoint. But it hasn’t gone all that well, and there has been some confusion. Some borrowers have received letters from both Cenlar and RoundPoint, causing confusion.

Read an edited version of our conversation with Sandra Sheley here

Resources for Georgia Residents

If you live in Georgia and want to know what’s going on with your loan, contact the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, Phone: (770) 986-1633. Toll Free: (888) 986-1633
If you don’t live in Georgia, but want to know what’s going on with your loan, contact your state’s regulator of mortgage servicing companies. According to Sheley, each state is negotiating on its own with Taylor Bean & Whitaker.

Read More About Taylor Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Company

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