Prior to my current mortgage, I had a five-year balloon note at 6.5% which I got through a mortgage broker. After a few months, Countrywide bought the note and held it until it became due early in 1998.

During that time, our relationship with Countrywide was completely positive. The transition from the originating lender to Country wide was flawless: they sent a letter explaining that they had purchased the note, that we would be making future payments to them, and that we would receive a statement in plenty of time to make the next month's payment, and that's exactly what happened.

Countrywide provided very clear and informative monthly that showed the amount due, amount overdue, late charges, principal balance, year to date interest paid, escrow balances and taxes paid as well as the amounts of the previous payment applied to principal, interest, escrow and late charges. In addition, it gave contact information for the customer service, tax, insurance and payoff departments and addresses for both regular and overnight mail payments (in case things get down to the wire!). It also provided very timely year-end summaries and IRS Form 1098s.

Because our "downpayment" was more than 20%, we avoided all escrow payments for taxes, PMI, etc. I feel strongly that, when you get a mortgage, you should try to pay at least 20% down or try to build up your equity to 20% as quickly as possible so that you can get out from under escrow payments. If you have the financial discipline to do it, you should save up through the year to pay your taxes yourself. That way, you can earn a little interest instead of giving a "free loan" to your mortgage holder. And PMI is expensive, so you should dump it as quickly as possible. Find out when you are allowed to drop PMI, and monitor your statements so that you can call and cancel it as early as possible. Your lender may not bother to tell you until months or even years after you could have done so.

I do have some quibbles with Countrywide. Although I informed them that I did not want to receive solicitations of any kind, they sent me an average of six letters and emails per year. On the other hand, they made absolutely no attempt to get my business when it came time to refinance the balloon note. Strange!



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