Mortgage company didn't pay my taxes.

I got a tax statement on Friday - the first notice I've received from the TOS. It had the previous owner's mortgage company listed on it and it looks like the bill hasn't been paid at all.

I just called the TOS and they said my mortgage company was supposed to register with them by December but hasn't. There is already a 2% penalty which will go to 3% if not paid by 3/10.

I asked her if I had any responsibility here whatsoever, and she assured me I did not. I asked if that penalty would be passed on to me, and she said it shouldn't.

When I get home tonight, I'm pulling out the mortgage info and calling them. Even though I know this happened to someone here, I couldn't find the thread through a search.

Has anyone gone through this? Anything I should know or say when I call them? Thanks.

Re: Mortgage company didn't pay my taxes.

Grrr, this happen to us last summer. It turns out they did send a check to our town but then the town creditted it back to HSBC because they didn't have our names on the address (it was still the previous owners). A 2 hour 3 way phone call between the town, HSBC and me solved everything up.

Its so frustrating. HSBC picked up the late fee.

Re: Mortgage company didn't pay my taxes.

this is what I've been worried about from the start of owning our house. Why is that you leave someone else (a mortgage company) responsible for something so important and they can't take care of it for you. It's interesting though when you don't get them their money on time, they pull out all the stops and send you mail saying you didn't pay and charging you a late fee. So they should pay the fee since it was their job to pay your taxes.

I hope it all works out!

Re: Mortgage company didn't pay my taxes.

THIS HAPPENED TO ME!!!!! Same thing, the tax bill even had the old owners name and mortgage company on the bill. I am in Town of Hempstead, what about you?


And it took the town almost a year and a half to pick up on it and than all of a sudden I owed $8,000. When we closed on our house in 2006 I wanted my taxes rolled into my mortgage...was under the assumption that was the case...apparently, they rolled in my school taxes but not my property taxes. I had no idea!!!!! I actually am just going to have my mortgage co. stop rolling in my school taxes as well and pay them on my own. I would rather put the money into an ING account every month and earn a little interest in the meantime!


ETA: do a search and you will find my posts...I was FURIOUS!

Message edited 3/3/2008 10:06:44 AM.

Re: Mortgage company didn't pay my taxes.

We have a friend in our town assessor's office and she said this happens a lot. She also said that even when the information is correct, a lot of times, the banks don't pay on time.

This was another reason why we chose not to escrow.

Re: Mortgage company didn't pay my taxes.

that was the reason why i didn't escrow this happened to a friend of mine

Re: Mortgage company didn't pay my taxes.

I didn't want to escrow and was assured numerous times during the mortgage approval process that I would not have to. Lo and behold, closing was set and what do you know? They're forcing me to escrow.

When I call Flagstar I'm going to ask about the property/school taxes and if there's a difference - thanks for the tip. And I'm going to find out if I can just forego this altogether. I'd rather pay my own taxes too!

Thanks ladies. Any other tales of terror??

Re: Mortgage company didn't pay my taxes.

I called last night and it was pointed out that almost $1k was paid by me at closing for "mortgage taxes" but they don't know where it went. Because the Town of Smithtown never got it.

They're putting in a 'request' for the tax department to review the situation and make the payment.

I reallllly don't want to call my mortgage broker, I was ready to throttle all of them by the time we closed. I'm hoping the title company can shed some light on where that money went!!

When (if) they call me back about the taxes, I want to ask again if I can forego escrowing. I really don't trust anyone anymore.

Re: Mortgage company didn't pay my taxes.

Re: Mortgage company didn't pay my taxes.

was the $1K at closing mortgage tax or property tax? ToS is on;l interested in your property taxes.

The $1K you paid at closing for property taxes (if thats what it was) probably went to the previous owner, who had already paid the taxes in full for the year. You were "paying him/her back" for the portion of the year that you would own the house.

Our first tax payment also did not get paid. The mortgage company took care of it once I called them, and paid the penalty. Its been smooth sailing ever since (but now I always check my mortgage statements to make sure they make the payments when they're supposed too.)

Message edited 3/4/2008 11:34:03 PM.

Re: Mortgage company didn't pay my taxes.

Thank you Dina and Lisa! I have the closing statment and there are actually two lines for mortgage tax - one says total/purchaser $2877.20 and the other just says total $908.44.

I will give the title agency a call and find out what the deal is with that second figure!

Thank you for your help!

Re: Mortgage company didn't pay my taxes.

Posted by greenfreak

Thank you Dina and Lisa! I have the closing statment and there are actually two lines for mortgage tax - one says total/purchaser $2877.20 and the other just says total $908.44.

I will give the title agency a call and find out what the deal is with that second figure!

Thank you for your help!

Re: Mortgage company didn't pay my taxes.

Those two items are what is called mortgage tax. Every person that takes a mortgage in New York has to pay what is called mortgage tax. The lender pays .25 ($908) and the borrower pays .80 ($2877 amount). This must be paid in order to get the mortgage recorded it is completely different then property taxes.

Look at your HUD and is there a section on the second page about escrows for insurance and taxes. It should say a number for months and then a number for how much they collected. If there is then the bank should have paid your taxes unless you closed prior to a tax period then the taxes woudl have been collected by teh title company (this to shoudl be on your hud toward the bottom of the second page).

Message edited 3/6/2008 5:21:07 PM.