Cook County Treasurer's Office - 2/26/2002

Thousands of mortgage company errors are resulting in delinquencies, and even threaten taxpayers with loss of their homes, Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas warned Tuesday. Pappas said the errors have cost Cook County taxpayers at least $2 million in the last two years.

Between March 2000 and December 2001, mortgage companies made 5,129 payments on the wrong property identification numbers (PINs). The payments came from taxpayers' escrow accounts. Mortgage companies are supposed to use escrowed money to pay the correct taxes. One company alone, Transamerica, participated in 1,564 mistakes in the last two years, and each of seven other industry leaders were responsible for more than 100 payments on the wrong PINs.

On average, mortgage companies take 107 days to submit payment on the correct PIN, long after two sets of delinquency notices go to homeowners. In more than 100 cases, the mortgage companies took so long that the taxes on the homes were sold. Meanwhile, homeowners, who paid monthly into escrow for taxes, are alarmed when their escrow funds are mishandled.

Pappas encouraged taxpayers to check the “payment status” section of her office's web site at www.cookcountytreasurer.com to verify that their companies are making full and timely tax payments. Pappas advised doing this approximately five days after the March 1 due date for the first-installment 2001 taxes. Those without computers may use equipment at their local libraries.

Since taking office in 1998, Pappas has convened meetings repeatedly with mortgage industry leaders to address this issue. “When delinquency notices go out, we want taxpayers to be vigilant with the companies. We also want taxpayers to know that when the companies cause late payments, state and federal laws forbid the companies from passing along penalties and other late fees to the borrowers,” Pappas said.