Imagine buying your first home. You've finally saved up enough money to purchase the house of your dreams. It has cathedral ceilings, crown molding, a deck, and a white picket fence - it's everything you ever wanted.

Then you get into the process and find out how much effort it takes to fund your dream house. You work with a top-notch escrow company. You fill in all the blanks, dot your i's and cross your t's, and happily think to yourself, I finally did it! After the long, drawn-out process, you hope nothing will go wrong and trust that the escrow company is on your side.

We hate to say it - but think again.

An escrow company is supposed to be a neutral third party. The company's job is to assist a potential homebuyer in completing the transaction between the mortgage company and the buyer.

However, today there is talk that some major escrow companies are not neutral and don't have your best interests at hand - instead, they are looking out for themselves. Not a huge surprise there. We're taking these claims seriously and are investigating what goes on behind the scenes at these escrow companies.

We suspect that Old Republic and other escrow giants are abusing their customers by nefariously engaging in what's called a retained interest scheme. Basically, the company charges fees for assisting the loan process and then deposits earnest money into a third-party account. The escrow company then earns interest on that money. That's fine.

What's not fine is that too often escrow companies will pool together multiple transactions. This pool sits for a few days to several weeks and gains substantial interest, which correlates to profits and benefits for the escrow company. The third-party bank is happy to hold these funds, as the deposits are a source of revenue. To say 'thank-you,' the banks pass along a number of credits and benefits to the escrow companies.

The money adds up quickly for these companies if you consider how many people go through this process. We think that many escrow companies pocket both interest and the funds they save from discounted banking services. However, the escrow companies do not pass those savings along to their customers in the form of reduced loan fees.

While we don't know specifically how much money the companies have made, we suspect it to be in the hundreds of millions.

We are in the midst of filing the first case of it's kind on behalf of disgruntled homeowners against escrow companies like Old Republic. If the court agrees with us, it could mean that Old Republic will have to reimburse customers for the excessive fees they charged.

If you have purchased a home in the last few years, we want to hear from you. Please contact us and tell us your story.