Why is the bank even involved? I've always filed directly with the insurance company and the bank never even knew about it.

I have 2 small children...

What does that have to do with anything?

Stuff an owl in it.

@Canino: The actual line was:

I have 2 small children and it gets rather cold when there is a hole in the roof!

There's your answer. Needs to keep the house warm because there are two small children living there.

Duh!

@Canino: I have to sort of agree. There hasn't been any temporary fix like a tarp and some rocks or something? Why doesn't he call the ins co back and tell them what's going on and have them cancel the previous check.

This does sound odd with the bank involved. I just had an inspector out today for hail damage to my siding. He said, "I'll mail you the check and you can endorse it over to the contractor". Who's the ins co in this situation?

Obviously that one check is the only thing that is keeping his bank from going belly up due to all of their bad loans and foreclosed homes.

@mamalicious: So...he wouldn't need to keep the house warm if he was single with no kids?

Lines like that in complaint letters are just pandering. It's irrelevant to the issue of poor service.

@startertan: Yeah, I had roof damage last year. The insurance adjuster came out and said they would pay for a temp repair regardless, then determine the rest of the claim.

So I called a roofing company and they sent out a crew that day to do a patch and said they would just add it to the final bill at the end. They were supposed to put on a tarp, but they were out of them so they reshingled over it. It was $100 on the bill for the temp repair and the insurance company covered it but even if they hadn't it wasn't like it was expensive.

@Canino: Sort of like all those lying idiots who held up the "DIABETIC NEED INSULIN" signs after katrina, right? :D

I say if you have truthful info that might light a fire under some peon, then go for it.

@The Name's Ash78, Housewares: If your building claim is over a certain dollar amount or percentage of your mortgage the insurance company will pay the mortgage company instead of you. The magic number I have heard is $10,000 but ymmv. Ike left us needing a new roof and drywall to the tune of $25,000. It took over a month to get the check from the insurance company and another month to get the first third paid out by the mortgage company. The claim for our building contents - attic stuff mostly - was paid separately and directly to us.

@The Name's Ash78, Housewares: My guess is that the bank might be the mortgage holder? Which is why the check was made out to both the homeowner and the bank, and so the bank had to endorse it too.

The same thing was happening to me with Wells Fargo. We had a tornado rip through here and had damage to our house. State Farm was prompt with the check, but Wells Fargo was extremely incompetent. My only assumption is that this is not their normal line of business hence they are tripping over themselves.
We called in excess of 20 times in a two to three month period and did a lot of hand holding. I figured out that they had very bad internal communication. They would place the required information in certain physical folders and then lose it. We would then have to fax all the contracts and such over again..
We had all of our repairs done in the summer and we are just NOW getting our second check.

My advice is to make certain that every step of the process is being completed as said. Do not assume they are sending you a check in 1-2 weeks. It is in their best interest to hold on to that money (it earns them interest) as long as possible.

@Canino: It's irrelevant to the issue of poor service.
But it's often effective in igniting human empathy and getting the problem solved.

@InfiniTrent: Missed closing the tag there...should have looked like:

It's irrelevant to the issue of poor service.

But it's often effective in igniting human empathy and getting the problem solved.

@InsertBullets: You've gotta make "retention payments" to your key executives somehow!

@The Name's Ash78, Housewares: Why is the bank even involved?

For the same reason they escrow insurance and property tax money derived from mortgage payments. If they didn't, some homeowners, (though I'm sure not this one) will take the insurance check and abandon the house.

In that case, the bank/mortgage holder gets an abandoned home in default with serious damage. Most mortgage holders are named as additional insured on homeowners policies in many states.

@Sid Murthy: It seems mind-boggling to me that these banks can't handle a simple matter like this when their entire business is supposedly to handle money. I think it's an intentional thing, and it should be against the law for them to not release an insurance check within a few weeks.

I'm an insurance agent, and this is what I have to do sometimes.

My suggestion to the homeowners: Find a reputable, insured contractor who is willing to do the work. Look in the phonebook, talk to your friends, whatever, just make sure he is legitimate and legal. Don't worry about cost.

Talk to your insurance agent. Explain to them that the insurance company sent payment to you and the bank, but the bank is holding onto your check. Now explain you have a hole in your roof and your are facing future losses because of it. This is the key: you need this done NOW so the insurance company doesn't have to pay more later. You are saving them money.

Now, since the company has paid you money and you sent the check to the bank, request that a stop-payment be made on the check and request that the insurance company pay the contractor directly. It's called "Direct Authorization to Pay" and is common with auto body shops. Once the contractor has signed the direct authorization, and the insurance compnay gets it in hand, the work can proceed ASAP.

In summary: Talk to you agent, explain that the bank is holding payment, and request that the insurance company pay the contractor directly.

@Canino: C'mon, is that necessary?

If the bank says they overnighted the check, he should have gotten the tracking #. He got the reference number for the waived fee...

If Mike can go to a local Flagstar branch he might be able to have the check endorsed there. Of course this would require him to ask his agent/insurer to cancel the first check and issue a new check sent only to him (why that didn't happen in the first place is a bit odd). Usually a branch operations/office manager can endorse a check on behalf of the company so long as he or she has approval from their insurance claims dept. As a manager for a large mortgage company I did this countless for clients who walked into our branch office with a claim check under 10k.

@johnva: That might be because you've never dealt with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. In our experience, they don't respond to anything, even from an attorney, without siccing the OCC on them.

We too had hail/tornado damage this summer. The check(s) had my wife's name, my name, and the mortgage companies name. Fortunately a friend of mine is a catastrophe adjuster for an insurance company and had great advice. NEVER endorse the check prior to sending it to the mortgage company. He said that he's gotten enough complaints from people saying they sent their eindorsed check to the mortgage company only to find out that they'll hold on to it and dole out the money at their leisure.

Not that there isn't enough stuff to keep track of when buying a house, but checking in to how your potential mortgage company handles home owner's claims might not be a bad idea. At least check in to before you have to file a claim.

I had this exact same problem with M and T mortgage. We had an October 13th 2006 mega storm here in New York that caused about $50K damage to my house.

The Insurance promptly paid the claim, but made the mortgage holder (M and T) a co-endorser on the check.

We also had a huge hole in the house that needed to be repaired ASAP. We also have 4 small children.

M and T's requirements turned out to be rather onerous indeed. We first had to send off the check to some office in Ohio. Then we would had been required to submit all estimates etc.

M and T then would have had to send out inspectors (at our expense) at each stage of the repair, and then send us SOME of OUR money.

What I ended up doing was completely circumventing the entire ordeal by simply depositing the check WITHOUT the banks endorsement.

I then withdrew the funds after they cleared, in cash and paid for the repairs in cash after completed.

I was very surprised at how much money I saved by paying for everything in cash.

Fuck you, M and T.

When a "microburst" (not a tornado - there were no sirens) put a tree through the roof of our house, getting the check was a NIGHTMARE. The tree fell at the end of august. We finally got our check in November.

The first guy the insurance company sent out to evaluate the damage estimated about 1/3 of the actual cost to fix the damage. It took about a month to get another guy out. Then, they issued the check, but we have two mortgages, so the check was issued to us, Bank #1 & Bank #2. It seems like getting a check endorsed is about the hardest thing to do at a bank.

That being said, I called a local roofer and a tree-remover as soon as I found out the tree had fallen. Thankfully, the tree guy was there the next morning at 6am, and the roofers got there not long after the tree guy finished. The temporary patch lasted through the first snow.

We started working with a contractor right away, who was a big help dealing with the second insurance adjustor. We paid him the minimum to get the work started with a credit card and paid that off when the banks finally got us the check. It wasn't too bad, because the check came before we had to pay off the balance to the contractor.

@Canino: It's absolutely relevant: Very old and very young people are far more prone to major health-related consequences of extended exposure to unusually high or low temperatures. As such, a household with children (or elderly people) has more need to have a roof in good repair than a household full of 25-year-olds.

@BuddyGuyMontag: You think an incompetent bank would have that information lying around? Citibank can't give me shipping information when I order currency. UPS rarely gives daily tracking information when I order a package. I'm sure tracking numbers are nonexistent at Flagstar.

OK, I really don't like Chase, and was worried when our hurricane Ike insurance check was made out to them as well as us, but we walked into a Chase bank and they endorsed it within 3 minutes. They said if our total insurance claim goes over $20K we'll need to do additional paperwork, but under $20K and they endorse right on the spot. I think Mike needs to start threatening Flagstar Bank in a big way, including mentioning a lawsuit if further damage is sustained because they held up repairs.

@YasashikuAstypalaea: You said what I was going to - also I don't know about the US but there are regulations in the UK about not cutting off heat/electric supply when there are young children in a household and I'm fairly sure there would be regulations covering something like this when there are children/elderly people involved.

@Sid Murthy:

I used to work for WFHM in this exact process. I couldn't stand working there and hate defending them, but you're wrong about the interest. They don't make a dime of interest off held money. If any interest accumulates, it is sent in the final check to the homeowner. It's actually illegal to make interest off homeowner's money in the restricted escrow.

Flagstar bollixed up one of my checks this way once. In my case, they posted it to my account, changed their mind and pulled the funds out, changed their minds again and reposted it, then decided the check was no good and pulled the funds again, then finally figured out they screwed up (when I had the issuing bank contact them.)

All the backs and forths played havoc with my bill-paying. I'll never go back to Flagstar after that nonsense.

who read this before posting? Ben, i believe you ate missing a few words. try this:
Hurricane Ike left Mike's house with a hole in its roof. Flagstar Bank is holding onto his insurance company check like [insert witty comment here]

it's OK Ben, we all know what it's like at 3pm on a friday...

@Canino: May you eventually have to look after two small children for hours and hours in a situation where they're physically uncomfortable. It's about the worst punishment there is, after all. WAY worse than just being cold yourself. And of course, they're way more likely to get sick, possibly seriously so.

This is one of those things where, you know, *knowing* something about the topic you're about to spout off on can actually help you not look like an idiot. Isn't that amazing?

@Boberto: You talking about the floods? Those were pretty gruesome here in NY in 2006. (I lived in Cooperstown at the time) Our mortgage is thru M & T. We got one of those SONYMA loans at 5.125% locked in, our whole mortgage for a $100K house is $700 a month, escrow included.

I'd just call the insurance company. That's a bit ridiculous, to hold onto a check for that long.

@EzraBluebird: Well if you don't endorse the check how does it ever get cashed? Do they endorse it and send it back?

Hi Ben, I live in Michigan and I have an account with Flagstar as well. I understand your fustration. That bank can be trying. I stay only because of their rates. No other bank here can beat them and some not even close. I have the number to the headquarters in Troy Michigan. That is where Flagstar started so hope this number will help you get things straightened out if you don't have it done already. 1-800-945-7700 Best of luck and have a Happy New Year.

i have a mortgage with flagstar,i never had a problem with them until now,i had water loss damage,i have sent them every check that my insurance company has sent me,i still have damages and property that has to be fixed or replaced,the last check i sent was for 7000.00 3 weeks ago,they are refusing to send it to me,because i am under loss mitigation,i dont plan to loose my house or give up my house.what does one thing have to do with the other,i even got a letter from my insurance rep,telling them to release the check immediately.they still wont.what else can i fucking do,someone please help me

i too have a mortgage with flagstar. my home was a victim of hurricane ike. to date it has been one month since i began requesting something other than their "pat" procedure. i am now three tiers up in the supervisory systems with no real luck yet. if they have your money and it has cleared and it is over 10 days since your request for money you can contact the Attorney General of Texas and file a complaint. there are civil penalties he can impose if they do not respond. after 5 months fighting with my insurance company to get them to agree to pay. finally they have. now i continue to fight the mortgage company. one big hint - do everything in writing!

some additional things have come to mind as an adjunct to contacting the attorney general. there are several agencies that regulate banks. i would and will by this friday make formal complaints to the texas banking commission, the comptroller of the currency, the federal trade commission. and the texas department of license regulation.all these entities regulate this bank in one way or another. i will use language as " unfair business practices" and "cause a financial hardship" and "delaying the repairs i need". i'm sure you can think of some more. do not put your emotions or personality into what you write. remember never write anything you don't want a judge to read. good luck!

Flagstar ran a radio ad here in Indy two weeks ago offering a 15" HD TV to new accts of $35k. The bill directed customers to their website. I went there and found nothing so I called the local branch for more info. The locals told me that the website wasn't up to date so they would mail me more info. To date I have rec'd nothing and have never heard the ad again. I think it was a sham from the beginning. I will never have an acct there.