Ugh. I've gone round and round today with my former mortgage company and my former county treasurer. Between the two of them, I'm not sure who's worse.

I sold my former home in May. Closing was just days before the May installment of property taxes were due--taxes that I was liable for per my contract with the buyer. My lender repeatedly assured the title company that they had not already paid the taxes out of my escrow account, so I paid them at closing. Come to find out, the lender had paid them. A month before closing! They assured me they'd take the steps necessary to get a refund but admitted that it might take six months.

So I patiently wait. And wait. And wait some more. Having not received the refund by November, I called the lender again today. Apparently, the county treasurer told them way back when that they merely applied the double payment to the November installment and that no refund would be forthcoming.

I then called the treasurer and was told much the same thing. Now, I wasn't liable for the November installment per the sales contract with my buyer. Of course, the treasurer didn't care about that. They also indicated that if I had contacted them immediately after closing, they likely could have given me a refund. Argh! Why did I rely on my lender for this!!!!?????

So, my only recourse is against my buyer. Now what are the chances that he'll just cough the money up, especially since his own lender probably escrowed the funds in anticipation of receiving a bill? The lawyer in me says slim to none. It's not a huge sum of money, but it's enough to bother me, at least for a bit.

Argh. The only thing I hate more than dealing with my mortgage lender is dealing with the county auditor/treasurer/assessor. It's not just that I didn't like what I was being told. They were so rude in explaining it to me. I know they must take a lot of abuse, but I work in government, too. As irritating as the public can be, they're the ones paying my salary.