Consumer complaint received 2023-12-11
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process
Sub-issue: Escrow, taxes, or insurance

Complaint:
We have been involved in a dispute with Truist Bank in regard to the payment of our flood insurance ( XXXX XXXX ) since XXXX of XXXX. For the previous 7 years Truist has paid all insurances and tax 's due out of our escrow account. However, for some reason they did not pay our flood insurance of {$920.00} for this year 's policy. Though we have spoken to Truist on countless occasions when we first received a copy of a " notice of nonpayment '' Truist said that they would release the funds from escrow to expedite payment. However, they did not do so. 

Meanwhile our flood policy with XXXX XXXX was cancelled and Truist forced their own flood policy 's ( 2 ) on us at a cost of approx. {$6000.00}. One for our line-of-credit and the other for the 1st mortgage. We have been to Truist 's local office at least four times and met with two different individuals, regarding this issue. They contacted their mortgage department each time, which stated that payment could not be made, until they received a policy/declarations page first. Insisting that the insurance company was at fault for not sending this information. The insurance company stated the contrary. They ( XXXX ) must receive payment prior to sending a policy and an invoice was not sufficient. This back and forth went on for 8 months. Meanwhile my mortgage went up from {$1600.00} per month to {$1900.00} to account for the additional cost of their forced flood insurance policies and increased cost of new insurance on our property. Our escrow went negative by several thousands of dollars. 

Speaking with XXXX with XXXX XXXX she thought that the only way to resolve this issue was to educate the Truist Mortgage Dept. on FEMA policy, concerning flood insurance. Whereas it states that payment must be made to the insurance company, prior to receiving a declarations page, unlike hazard insurance. On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) sent the rules/regulations to XXXX ( Truist local bank rep. ), who forwarded it to their mortgage department. XXXX suggested that I contact the Truist mortgage dept. in approx. 10 days to verify that they have issued payment, otherwise XXXX 's quote would no longer be valid. After the 10-day grace period I made contact and was informed that no payment was issued. After farther discussion and research on Truist 's end ( same phone call ) they located an invoice from XXXX XXXX. The Truist representative said she would expedite a check and it should be received by XXXX in two business days. XXXX XXXX did receive the check, however the GAP Insurance that Truist applied did not get withdrawn, until XX/XX/XXXXXXXX 

In Summary : Our new coverage and associated cost will only cover {$160000.00} ( mortgage amount ) for property and {$5000.00} for contents. I had to go to the least amount of coverage required, due to affordability. Original coverage was {$250000.00} for property and {$10000.00} for contents for the {$920.00}. per year. Since my original coverage was cancelled, due to nonpayment from escrow this new coverage is based on a newly purchased home, thus the substantial increase. 

I was told by the local Truist representative that I had to purchase two forced placed policies, because I had a line-of-credit with the bank as well as a mortgage. He advised us to close the account, which I felt I had to. This L-O-C was my safety net if we ran into a financial emergency. We can not reopen another L-O-C, because we are now retired with no income. 

We have 22 years left on our mortgage. My monthly insurance cost has risen an additional {$2300.00} per year for reduced coverage, due to the negligence of the Truist mortgage dept. This equates to approx. {$51000.00}. in additional cost to us for the life of the loan, notwithstanding the 18 % increase each year Florida may assess on top of it. 

We have had to pay a considerable amount of money to pay for Truist forced place insurance policies. We recently had a new policy forced on us by Truist, because their check was not issued in a timely manner. It finally expired on XXXX XXXX. 

To make matters worse, most of this took place during the peak of the hurricane season, whereas we had no insurance, due to the 30 day wait periods required by insurance companies. 

We are dealing with financial hardship, due to no fault of our own. Is there a way to recoup some of these losses? 
I have the documentation to back up the communications between all parties.

Company response to consumer: In progress