It’s not uncommon for borrowers to roll their property taxes into their mortgage payment, leaving their lender to oversee the annual bill.
That’s what Carla Rubeo had set up with SWBC, the mortgage lender for her condo in Antioch, Tennessee. Although now, it’s likely she wished she hadn’t.
The problem started earlier this year when she got a letter from her county’s trustee office informing her that her 2016 property taxes were never paid.
Rubeo said this was odd, because she had been making her monthly mortgage payments, and part of those payments included a line item for property taxes.
"I thought it was a hoax," she told NewsChannel 5 Investigates, which broke the story.
So, Rubeo called SWBC for clarification and the lender assured her it had made the payments.
But when she went back to the trustee’s office, thinking it was a simple error on their part, she was told there was no record of payment for her 2016 property taxes, and none for her 2017 bill either.
But then things went from bad to worse.
Rubeo got a call from a Realtor who said she had a client who wanted to buy her house. And that’s how she learned that her home was up for auction at the Metro Courthouse to repay her tax debt.
Days later, it was sold.
A Metro trustee told NewsChannel 5 that SWBC sent Rubio’s tax payment in 2016 with the wrong account information, and then it did it again the following year.
The trustee said it returned the payment and suggested the account number could be inaccurate, but never heard back from the lender.
According to Rubeo, SWBC told her they had no idea the wrong account information was sent or that her house was put up for auction.
But NewsChannel 5 said it obtained documents proving that it was repeatedly notified and that it received a letter from the Metro Legal Department about the unpaid taxes and resulting lien on the property.
After NewsChannel 5 got involved, SWBC stepped in and paid the back taxes, plus thousands of dollars in fees, saving the house before the sale was finalized.
HousingWire reached out to SWBC for comment, but as of press time it did not respond. We will update the story if we hear back.
