I am a very patient person and I understand that "things happen," but Catalyst Escrow far exceeded my patience, to say the least. The sale of the first house I put an offer on was contingent on the Seller finding a new home, which they didn't. The contract very clearly stated that I would receive a full refund of the earnest money if the Seller didn't find a home, but Catalyst Escrow only sent a partial refund. When I contacted them, they told me they had not made any error. Even after my real estate agent got involved and finally got them to admit they owed me the money, it was not sent. Over a period of MONTHS, I had to repeatedly contact Catalyst Escrow, as will as get my agent involved in requesting the remainder of my refund. Each time we contacted them, it was a new excuse: it had been sent, so maybe they had the wrong address or it had just been lost; they had to wait until the "month end" finances were complete; "it would be sent shortly," and so on. After several months, I was finally told it had never been sent. Obviously, not all of these statements can be true. I had been lied to, more than once. At this point, we were told very clearly (in writing AND over the phone) that yes, the seller was responsible for this money (not me), but "there is no money in the escrow file to cover that [amount]" that the seller owed, so that is why they had been keeping my money. Ohhh... so you didn't send it all the times you said you did! And, how did I become financially responsible for someone else's debts to a company? Keeping money that isn't yours is not justifiable, it is stealing. The fact that I was actually told that my money wasn’t being returned to me because the Seller hadn’t paid what they owed is what made me realize that Catalyst Escrow was not only highly unprofessional and less than honest with me, but that 1) the company deliberately made a choice to keep money that wasn’t theirs to cover their expenses, which were not my responsibility in any way, and 2) the company feels entirely justified in doing so. I say “company” because nobody seems to be responsible for the decisions – I was consistently told that each person is just a “messenger” or “go-between.” Someone must be in charge and making decisions! Someone is responsible and should be held accountable. As if all of this weren't bad enough, more than one email implied that it was my fault it hadn't been resolved yet, or that even my real estate agent was unreasonable with her expectations. The last email we received was condescending, and no apology of any sort was ever made. I can honestly say that I have never dealt with such an unprofessional business in my life. After all of this, I read reviews online about them. It seems that IF your escrow goes perfectly and IF you deal with the right people, everything is fine, BUT everyone who needed Catalyst Escrow to take care of something had similar experiences of being ignored, getting the run-around, and being lied to. I have never left a negative review in any situation, but in something as important as buying a home, I want to help others avoid what is potentially a very bad situation. (Yes, I finally did receive the remainder of my refund.)