Consumer complaint received 2023-08-08
Company: SERVICEMAC, LLC
State: WA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I've been fighting tooth and nail since XXXX, trying to recover {$2500.00} of my money that ServiceMac " sent into the void '' in XXXX. After hours spent across 10 phone calls with them, I've observed that they blatantly make things up, contradict each other, don't do anything they say they will, and never follow up about anything. Many of the calls have gone through the same series of dialogue : We didn't make an accounting mistake. And if we did, we already sent you a check to fix the discrepancy. And if you didn't receive a check, we also sent the money via debit. And if you didn't receive the debit, we need some proof. And if you have proof, apologies about the mistake, we will follow up with our " XXXX XXXX '' and get back to you. Many times they've acknowledged the mistake, and promised that the issue has been resolved and that the money will be returned to me. But it never happens, and I have to call again a couple days later and re-start working through the above dialigue. 


Some background, my mortgage started in XXXX, but the wrong start date was set up. I was told to make a payment towards XXXX, and that it would be retroactively applied to the XXXX payment. I did this. And then in addition on XX/XX/23 I made a {$2500.00} principal only payment to my mortgage. The initial XXXX payment was reversed and applied to the XXXX payment as agreed on, but the separate {$2500.00} principal only payment was mistakenly reversed and applied to the XXXX payment as well, sending the money into " limbo ''. 


XX/XX/23 I realized this when I noticed the discrepancy with the remaining balance. I called and explained what I was seeing, the mistake of the reversal was acknowledged, and they told me I should have received a check for a refund. I absolutely did not receive a check. I requested that the money be re-applied to the principal like I originally wanted, instead of sending another check. They agreed, and said it would take 3 weeks ( wow! that's a long time ) for the request to process. 


XX/XX/23 I realize that the money was never re-applied to my principal. I call to figure out why, and they tell me that they aren't allowed to re-apply it, they need to return it to me. But they didn't follow up with me to let me know or send me another check, they just let it sit in limbo for more than a month. They offer to send the money through ACH debit, and I agreed. I was surprised to verbally give my account number over the phone for this, usually a secure portal would be used. They said the money should be in my account by XX/XX/23. It wasn't there by then, and I called XX/XX/23 to figure out why. They said it takes 10 business days ( XXXX search says 1-3 for ACH debit? ), but that the previous person gave the estimate on days not business days. So it should be in my account absolutely no later than the morning of XX/XX/23. Surprise surprise, it's not there. 

XX/XX/23 I called again to figure out why. The " XXXX XXXX '' stopped the debit and flagged it as " already paid ''. They claimed they already sent me a debit for this in XXXX. Then they wanted proof that I had not received the debit, and wouldn't acknowledge that they had {$2500.00} of my money in limbo until I showed them proof. 

XX/XX/23 to XX/XX/23 my issue has been escalated, and I've had 5 phone calls and spent several hours trying to get this resolved. Three different managers have told me they would be my point of contact for resolving this, but they still don't follow-up, and each time I call and try to be connected to one of them they are no-where to be found. One manager " combed through '' my account history with the " XXXX XXXX '' ( even though I explain exactly what the mistake was every single time I call ), and concluded that indeed they did mistakenly reverse the {$2500.00} and " applied it '' to the XXXX payment. And that much of the confusion was because they have been investigating the XXXX mortgage payment that was reversed and re-applied to the XXXX payment at the same time. At this point it became abundantly clear that this incompetence is deliberate. They are purposely trying to steal my money, while making things up and sending me in circles. 

The manager handling the case told me that the money would be overnighted to me as a check. But then called me 10 minutes later letting me know that since it was " already applied as a mortgage payment '' that it couldn't be sent back to me. And that the solution was to just apply it to my XXXX payment, and then I would skip a mortgage payment. I asked if she's verified that the " XXXX XXXX '' was on board with this, and she assured me that they were, and that they would call in a couple days to verify that things were wrapped up. A week later and the portal is showing that I still owe an XXXX payment. 

XX/XX/23 I call to make sure that the plan is still for me to not make an XXXX payment to settle the difference, and it was as if the previous conversation had never happened. After working through the same dialogue for the tenth time, another manager " combed through '' my account history, and determined that the best course of action would be to send the money back to me. I mentioned that the previous time I called, I was told they couldn't, and many times before that, the XXXX XXXX flagged and stopped it. So they agreed that I shouldn't make an XXXX payment to settle the difference, and that my primary contact for my issue will call me in a couple days to confirm. This time I asked if I could get this in writing, as this is exactly what I was told a week ago, and I want to protect myself from getting a late charge. They refused. So I guess in a couple of days when it turns out they were making up whatever they had to in order to get me off the phone, I will be calling again. And then a couple days after that. And so on ....

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation