Complaint Review: Fairbanks Capital Corporation - Austin Texas

We recently refinanced our home. We went through a reputable lender and title company. We closed escrow on February 20th.

That same day payoff funds were wired from the title company to Fairbanks Capitol. We have a letter, dated February 21, 2003 from Fairbanks Capitol congratulating us for paying off our loan in full. On April 1, 2003 we received a letter from Fairbanks Capitol that our loan payoff was short this was after the deed of trust had been transferred to the new lender. The letter also stated that the payoff funds would be returned to the title company if Fairbanks didn't recieve our payoff shortage by April 4.

When we inquired with Fairbanks about the shortage no one could tell us why the payoff was short. We checked with our title company and they couldn't find a problem based on the payoff information sent to them by Fairbanks. Finally, we talked to John Nguyen (pronounced Winn) at Fairbanks. He said the shortage was due to a stop payment we made on our December house payment. We explained that in fact we had cancelled the check because Fairbanks said they had not received it when we inquired about it. That same day we made an over the telephone payment to avoid a late charge. The payment went directly towards our December house payment. Our January statement from Fairbanks shows that on January 9, Fairbanks received our cancelled check and gave us credit for it. The credit was applied and reversed the same day.

However, John at Fairbanks claimed that in spite of the fact that we have a payoff letter and a statement showing the credit reversal ocurred well before escrow closed the credit reversal wasn't entered by their payment processing center until the day after escrow closed. He admitted that it was an internal problem, however we still owe the payoff shortage. We immediately contacted our title company. They couldn't figure out why Fairbanks was claiming a payoff shortage because they sent the payoff amount Fairbanks provided.

On April 16th the lawyer at the title company requested a reconveyance from John at Fairbanks. On April 18th John told the title company that our account with Fairbanks was clear and that he would send us a letter from Fairbanks stating as such by April 23, 2003. Meanwhile, all this week we continue to recieve calls from Fairbank's collectors at all hours. The collectors are claiming that our credit is affected. Friday, April 25th, at 6:00 am, a Fairbanks employee called our house literally screaming and demanding we send a check immediately.

My husband called the title company and John as soon as he got into work. The title company has not received a reconveyance from Fairbanks and the payoff funds have not been returned. In fact, when they, as well as my husband, called John's office, there was a message on his voice mail stating that he was out all week on vacation. Neither my husband or the title company is able to get a return phone call from John at Fairbanks. He seems to have slipped out of sight.

We inherited Fairbanks when our loan was bought out. With so many complaints why hasn't this company been investigated for consumer fraud. Fairbanks does not honor its statements or correspondence. They won't provide anything in writing to us that shows where the shortage occurred. Fairbank's business practices are no better than those of a loan shark. What can we do to resolve this nightmare? We don't want our credit adversely affected because of this unethical company.

Raymond

Redondo Beach, California
U.S.A.