Consumer complaint received 2023-09-29
Company: Mr. Cooper Group Inc.
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process
Sub-issue: Escrow, taxes, or insurance

Complaint:
Please answer my direct questions as you have not in any of the previous emails. Yesterday, XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX advised me to send an email inquiry to XXXX regarding the missing payment that was debited from my bank account on XXXX, which is yet another covered error subject to regulation under XXXX Not crediting a payment on date of receipt as required under 1026.36 ( c ) ( 1 ) error subject to regulation. A payment that cleared my bank account on XX/XX/XXXX, was not showing in your portal as of yesterday, XX/XX/XXXXXXXX  and the portal reflected the payment due for XX/XX/XXXX, of {$850.00}, if the payment that cleared my bank account on XXXX was not showing until today, how can the amount due for XXXX still reflect {$850.00}? 

Below is the response to the email XXXX suggested I send. A copy of my statement was attached yet they couldn't find the account. Is it unconscionable that I would receive an email stating the account can not be located with all of the information provided. Clearly nothing Mr. Cooper does is accurate. 

From : XXXX XXXX Incoming XXXX Sent : Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX To : XXXX XXXX Subject : RE : XX/XX/XXXXXXXX  Payment Thank you for contacting Mr. Cooper. Please note that we are unable to locate an account under the property address and/or borrower information provided. 

If you have any questions, please contact us directly at XXXX, or call our Customer Service Department at XXXX. Theyre available Monday through Thursday XXXX XXXX to XXXX XXXX  ( CT ), Friday XXXX XXXX  to XXXX XXXX  ( CT ) and Saturday XXXX XXXX  to XXXX XXXX ( CT ). 

Let us know if theres anything else we can do for you. Were here to help. 

Sincerely, Mr. Cooper Additional Violations : Imposing a fee, the servicer lacks a reasonable basis to impose- Not timely paying taxes, insurance, or other charges servicer agreed to collect and pay per 1024.34 ( a ) or refunding an escrow account balance per 1024.34 ( b ) Any other error relating to the servicing of a borrowers mortgage loan While discussing this ongoing issue with XXXX yesterday, we found an additional error in that the funds for escrow for taxes far exceeded my tax bill, so where were those funds allocated? 

Under 1024.35 ( f ) ( 1 ), the servicer should correct the errors and notify the borrower of the correction in writing within five days ( excluding weekends and holiday ). NOT 5 YEARS!

Furthermore, Your " RESPA Response Notice of Error '' received today does not satisfy the requirements as this has been reported since XXXX. Mr. Cooper sent me confirmation that the flood insurance proof was received yet continued to withdraw funds for forced placed flood insurance, then recycled the same error in sending a letter on XX/XX/XXXX, that there was a lapse in my flood insurance coverage in XXXX. It is known that Mr. Cooper has engaged in inappropriate lending standards and that Customer Service Reps are encouraged to pressure customers to refinance and also to redistribute fees, which is exactly what you've done with the payments made as evidenced by the ortal on XX/XX/XXXX stating all forbearance payments had been satisfied and there was {$0.00} due on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX. It is common knowledge that Mr. Cooper 's customer service reps are encouraged to pressure customers to refinance with no benefit to the borrower and clearly fees are redistributed so that the Mr. Cooper can profit and force the borrower to refinance. Mr. Cooper has not been compliant with RESPA as evidenced by the lack of communication and by its failure to research and resolve this issue in XXXX when it was initially reported. When Mr. Cooper couldn't respond within 30 days, it should have communicated to me and explained why more time was needed to reply and that the issue was being worked on. I called monthly, so how is it possibly not to respond timely? I did receive confirmation that my funds would be returned. Not only were my funds never returned, Mr. Cooper continued to deduct funds for forced placed flood insurance, year after year. Mr. Cooper 's non-compliance has been with the statutory scheme governing the error resolution process and communications between lenders and consumers. 
Mr. Cooper/Nationstar did not comply with RESPA and in your most recent response, attached, is statutorily insufficient and constitutes common law negligence. as Mr. Coopers representatives confirmed this was resolved in XXXX yet continued the behavior which indicates a reasonable investigation was never conducted and I was never provided with the required responsive information. 

RESPA RESPONSE TO NOTICE OF ERROR Under applicable federal law, we are required to inform you that after completing a reasonable investigation into the issues described above, it has been determined that an error occurred because a letter was sent to you dated XX/XX/XXXX, indicating there was lapse in flood insurance coverage. We corrected the error by refunding all flood insurance disbursements and removing hazard and flood insurance from the escrow account. You have the right to access the documents we used in this investigation, and we have enclosed them. Those documents are : Transaction History Suspense History Escrow Statement dated XX/XX/XXXX Billing Statement dated XX/XX/XXXX Prior Response Letters ( 2 ) Additionally, it is a prohibited practice for a servicer to charge a fee or to require a borrower to make a payment not yet due as a condition for responding to an error notice. In addition, for 60 days after receiving the error notice, servicers may not report adverse information about an alleged payment error to a consumer reporting agency. 

RESPA exists to prevent abuse of borrowers by servicers and Mr. Cooper/Nationstar has shown their lack of compliance with the requirements of RESPA, Mr. Cooper received and confirmed receipt of proof of flood insurance in XXXX, XXXX. XXXX and XXXX yet continued to deduct funds for force placed flood coverage providing contradictory information. Mr. Cooper even sent the funds to Assurant for kickbacks as my coverage has never been with Assurant but through my HOA master policy, and Mr. Cooper knew and confirmed that they were aware of the coverage.

Mr. Cooper continues to post statements in its portal reflecting that there are no payments due on the account and then charging fees and costs for not having received the payment and improperly disclosing information to credit reporting agencies. 

I have provided sufficient detail to Mr. Cooper multiple times, in writing, that I have attached to previous emails. Mr. Cooper never provided me with a response until today, over 4 years later. I never received a notice of the effective date of the correction from providing proof of flood insurance and Mr. Cooper continued with the error., year after year and even as recent as a month ago, XX/XX/XXXX. Please provide me with the details of the investigation from my requests in XXXX, XXXX, XXXX and XXXX at once. I have provided you with the details including dates and the names of those I spoke to and have the conversations recorded with informed consent. 
Mr. Cooper has engaged in predatory lending that imposes unfair, deceptive, and abusive terms on borrowers. Mr.Coopers customer service reps continually attempt to trick borrowers into refinancing and to strip them of equity push them into higher interest contracts and/or force them into financial ruin.

Mr. Cooper would not disclose terms of the options at the end of forbearance period as requested multiple times, and has continued to engage in deceptive and fraudulent actions and with a complete lack of transparency.

Upon exiting a Covid -19 forbearance program and when a borrower is ready to restart making mortgage payments, Mr. Cooper as a mortgage servicer is required to work with borrowers and tell them about all available options. 

Mr. Cooper has also been in violation of Charging late fees to borrowers in CARES Act forbearance programs.The CARES Act prohibits a servicer of federally-backed mortgage loans from imposing these fees while a borrowers mortgage payments are being deferred due to financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 emergency. 4 Late feees. Were charged of {$36.00} to my account on XX/XX/XXXX when on XX/XX/XXXX the account showed paid to date. 
Failing to end preauthorized electronic fund transfers. As evidenced by the XXXX taken from a XXXX account in XXXX of XXXX an account closed in XX/XX/XXXX. I paid my a monthly payment XX/XX/XXXX from my XXXX XXXX Account and Mr. Cooper attempted an ACH from the closed XXXX account, their portal reflects a reverse charge which was caused by their careless practices and has me questioning their cyber security. The XXXX XXXX payment was never applied but deducted from my bank account. 
Theyve charged me as a borrower, unauthorized amounts. Mr. Cooper has overcharged me for services and added fees outside of my loan terms due to the misappropriation of funds and late fees that werent warranted during forbearance Misrepresenting mortgage loan transactions and payment history in online accounts. The online account indicated the loan was paid up to date on XX/XX/XXXX, on XX/XX/XXXX the portal indicated {$5600.00} and later that day the portal indicated I owed {$4700.00} with a partial payment of {$560.00}! That is beyond deceptive, should a borrower be required to view the portal multiple times a day. same day the portal indicated Examiners found that servicers provided inaccurate descriptions of payments and transaction information, which may have misled borrowers. 
Mr. Cooper has continually misrepresented mortgage loan transactions and payment history in online accounts with inaccurate descriptions of payments and transaction information, which is done purposely to mislead me and other borrowers. 
Incorrect handling of partial payments. Servicers are required to take one of the following specific actions when they receive a partial payment from a borrower : crediting the payment, returning it to the consumer, or holding it in an unapplied funds account. Examiners found that, in some cases, servicers put these payments in borrowers escrow accounts rather than returning the amount or crediting it to borrowers next monthly payment. 
Failing to forced placed flood insurance and continuing to charge for it annually and immediately after receiving and confirming receipt of the proof.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation