Consumer complaint received 2017-05-15
Company: STATE EMPLOYEES CREDIT UNION
State: NC
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
NCSECU is trying to rob me. Forcing me to pay for their mistake.
We purchased and closed on a property located at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX NC on XX/XX/XXXX. The NCSECU had received all of our papers, and forms including a binder from our insurance agent with 3 separate policies. These policies where not put on our closing and where not paid. Now, the NCSECU is forcing us to pay for their mistake. They have taken out a "loan" and are telling me that I have to pay it back over 3 years WITHOUT me SIGNING anything. They have now raised our house payment over $300 per month in order to accomplish this.

XX/XX/XXXX a XXXX XXXX called me from the XXXX XXXX  of NCSECU. She basically tried to make it out to me mine or my Realtors fault for their mistake. At this time I told her that I was talking with another insurance company that had lower rates. I let her know that I could not pay this money as I had already paid out thousands in home repairs and upgrades. I told her that it was NOT OK to do anything that would make the payment go up from what was listed on the closing disclosure. XXXX XXXX told me that she would call me back on Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX.   She never called me back. I returned back to work on Wednesday XX/XX/XXXX to find this e-mail:

XXXX XXXX,

I have verified that the XX/XX/XXXX envelope containing the premium due on your insurance was delivered yesterday morning.  We have completed the processing of your mortgage loan and have determined the payment amount will be $XX/XX/XXXX. This amount includes the principal and interest, escrow for insurance and taxes and the amount needed to make up the shortage for the insurance premiums.  The shortage amount has been spread out over a three year period.

You should receive your escrow analysis statement in the mail within the next few days.  If you decide to change the flood insurance company that offered you the lower annual premium amount, please let us know and we will adjust your payment based on the new amount.  Once the new policy has been paid, I would think that you will receive a refund from the current company.

I certainly understand your frustration that the premium was not collected at closing.  The information on the Closing Disclosure was reviewed and accepted by you and your realtor.  If questioned, we certainly would have revised the Closing Disclosure to include the premiums which would have increased the amount needed for you to bring to closing.


XXXX XXXX
Vice President - Loan Closing Services
State Employees Credit Union
Phone:  XXXX

I e-mailed her back:

XXXX XXXX,

You failed to call me yesterday as you said that you would.  This e-mail is very disturbing. You in no way had my permission to charge me for something that was XXXX XXXX mistake, and then to spread it out over 3 years is absurd. 

I am in the process of writing letters to both the BBB and the attorney general. I will let them know just how your company has failed and is trying to charge me over $200 a month for that failure. I will not stand for this.

I am asking now that you correct this matter, if no action is taken on your part I will continue and I will make sure that this matter gets taken to court. It appears to me that this is highway robbery, perhaps this is a way for the bank to obtain a house at a low price to try and foreclose on it to sell it for a higher price?

To make myself clear by no means did you have any right to take out a loan in my name without me signing anything. That is illegal.

Sincerely,
  XXXX 
I did not receive an e-mail back instead I got a phone call from a XXXX XXXX, on XX/XX/XXXX in the morning.   Again XXXX XXXX wanted to force the blame back on me or my Realtor, stating that it was our fault. I told her on the phone that what she was trying to do was make it to where I couldn't pay the payment so that they would have to foreclose on our home. We argued for about 20 minutes and I told her that I was at work and I had to get off of the phone.

That day I went and I found an insurance company that was reasonable, I bought and paid for a premium, and I sent NCSECU the insurance Declaration. I expected our payment to drop back to close of that of which it was stated on the closing disclosure. Instead of Dropping, it went up to over $600 a month.  (It was supposed to be around $XXXX as stated on the closing disclosure.)  Now, not only does the bank want me to pay for their mistake, they have added my new insurance coverage in as well. 

It is currently XX/XX/XXXX. The bank for whatever reason is now harassing me about the insurance agent not returning their calls. I told them again this morning that all of this would have been avoided if they would have simply listened to me in the first place and not sent any checks without my knowledge and permission.

This is the e-mails from today alone:


From: XXXX XXXX [mailto:XXXX] Sent: Monday, XX/XX/XXXX  XXXX XXXX
To: XXXX, XXXX
Cc: XXXX, XXXX XXXX
Subject: RE: Flood Insurance Declarations: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, 

I never once communicated with XXXX XXXX that it was OK for anyone to pay ANYTHING on my behalf from Escrow. That is a downright lie. I told her Exactly as I told you. Had XXXX XXXX not have made the mistake I would have had the funds to have paid it at CLOSING.  However, since that I time I had made repairs and upgrades to the home and could not afford to pay it in a lump sum. 

I told her that anything that would make the payment go up from what it was stated on the closing disclosure was NOT OK. 

Also, I told you that I had ASKED them to cancel it last week. I never said anything about them doing it. 

Sincerely,
  XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX / Damage Restoration / Inspections Supervisor
(XXXX) XXXX Ext. XXXX
XXXX  



From: XXXX, XXXX [mailto:XXXX] 
Sent: Monday, XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX
To: 'XXXX XXXX' 
Cc: XXXX, XXXX XXXX 
Subject: RE: Flood Insurance Declarations: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX:

We are working very hard to try and find a workable solution for your escrow.  The original flood insurance you applied for, accepted and were set to pay at closing is the policy that we paid for.  It is my understanding that you when you spoke with XXXX XXXX, she made you aware that we were going to pay the policy and you stated that was fine but you were going to now shop around for another policy.  All we need is verification that the policy has been cancelled by your agent.  Because they are not returning calls or emails to us, we ask that you have then send the notification to you directly for us for verification.  You indicated that they had cancelled it last week so sending notification to you should only take a few minutes of their time.  

XXXX XXXX (MLO# XXXX)
Senior Vice President  Loan Origination Services
State Employees Credit Union
Ph:  XXXX or XXXX UC Extension:  XXXX

From: XXXX XXXX  [mailto:XXXX] 
Sent: Monday, XX/XX/XXXX  XXXX XXXX
To: XXXX, XXXX
Cc: XXXX, XXXX XXXX
Subject: RE: Flood Insurance Declarations: XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX,

I also wanted to point out that when I first spoke with XXXX XXXX I communicated with her that I was looking into a different flood insurance company. She told me that she would make a note of that.

This was BEFORE you had ever decided to make my escrow go into a negative balance without my permission. 

Sincerely,
  XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX / Damage Restoration / Inspections Supervisor (XXXX) XXXX Ext. XXXX
XXXX 



From: XXXX XXXX  [mailto:XXXX] 
Sent: Monday, XX/XX/XXXX  XXXX XXXX
To: 'XXXX, XXXX' 
Cc: 'XXXX, XXXX XXXX' 
Subject: RE: Flood Insurance Declarations: XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX,

Had you never have sent a check without my knowledge or approval we wouldnt be dealing with this right now. The only thing my insurance agent has told me is that it is still in a pending status. Underwriting must release it and then it can be cancelled. 

I fully expect you to do what is right in this situation. Your agent in the XXXX NC office first messed things up. After that you all decided it would be a perfect opportunity to try to sink me and my family financially by throwing a so called loan onto us. Now when I am trying to fix things we looked at our house payment and it says it is over $600 a month. This is outrageous. 

Sincerely,
  XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX / Damage Restoration / Inspections Supervisor
(XXXX) XXXX Ext. XXXX XXXX 



From: XXXX, XXXX [mailto:XXXX] 
Sent: Monday, XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX
To: 'XXXX' 
Cc: XXXX, XXXX XXXX 
Subject: RE: Flood Insurance Declarations: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX:

Hope you had a wonderful weekend.  I wanted to reach out again to see if you were able to speak with your insurance agent about the cancelled flood policy.  We have emailed and called your agent with no response and until we receive documentation that the prior FEMA flood policy has been cancelled, we cannot proceed with any changes.  Ive included XXXX  XXXX XXXX on this email as she is the Manager for our Escrow Department.  She has explained to me that there are issues with cancelling FEMA policies so that is the reason we need your agent to send us documentation that they have cancelled the policy as they have told you.  Im traveling for work and out of the office most of tomorrow and Wednesday so if you have any updates or questions, please reach out to both XXXX and me and one of us will respond.

Thank you!

XXXX  XXXX (MLO# XXXX)
Senior Vice President  Loan Origination Services
State Employees Credit Union
Ph:  XXXX or XXXX
XXXX Extension:  XXXX


I have done everything I could to try and correct the banks mistake. I went and found insurance, paid for it, expecting the bank to take actions on their mistake and instead they just try to charge me more. 

XXXX XXXX from the XXXX  branch of the NCSECU is where this mistake started. He wouldn't communicate with my Realtor, he didn't communicate with the insurance agent, and he even lied to my wife on at least one occasion. Because of his mistake I might lose my house!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation