Consumer complaint received 2021-09-03
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: OH
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
In XXXX of XXXX, I had XXXX XXXX with XXXX XXXX XXXX and multiple visits to the XXXX. My employment industry was directly affected by the COVID pandemic and initial shutdown. Our primary residence mortgage with Citizens Bank was placed in 90 day forbearance. We were advised by Citizens Bank that this would not be reported to the credit bureau and no late fees would be applied. Our next payment due date was set for XX/XX/XXXX. 

Before XX/XX/XXXX, our forbearance was extended an additional 90 days to XXXX. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, we started making our full monthly payments on the loan again and requested a loan modification for deferment of the 5 months of forbearance. ( see 1_CitizensStatement_XXXX ) We made an additional double payment in XX/XX/XXXX and another in XXXX. ( see 2_CitizensStatement_XXXX and 3_CitizensStatement_XXXX ) In XXXX of XXXX, we received deferment approval and were instructed to make our next payment prior to XX/XX/XXXX. This totaled 5 months ( XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX of XXXX ) of payments that would be deferred to the loan maturity date and they would bring our mortgage current. ( See XXXX ) Since XX/XX/XXXX we have continued to make all monthly payments. 

Starting on the XX/XX/XXXX statement, our payments stopped being applied to the loan balance and were instead placed in a Partial Payment ( Unapplied ) * Suspense Account. ( see XXXX ). 

Since XX/XX/XXXX, Citizens Bank has still not brought the mortgage to current and instead placed each of our monthly payments into the Suspense Account now totaling {$20000.00}. ( see XXXX XXXX. 

Starting XX/XX/XXXX we started reaching out to Citizens Bank Customer Service and Loss Mitigation departments to determine why the statements have not been corrected. We have contacted Citizens Bank on the following dates : XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. ( See XXXX ). Each time we have contacted them, they have stated they are working on system changes/updates to correct the situation and show we have been making timely payments. They have stated they are escalating and expediting multiple times. During a recent call with Citizens Bank we asked if they could CC us on the escalation, and they have explicitly stated they are not allowed.

It has now been 9 months and Citizens Bank has still not resolved the situation.

We are currently refinancing and need documentation to provide to underwriting. We have asked Citizens Bank to provide statements showing corrected current mortgage, and in the meantime, provide us documentation that they are correcting the situation. So far they have been unable to do so.

Due to Citizens Bank not resolving and providing corrected statements nor providing any documentation showing they are working on resolving, we have nothing to prove to our other bank for refinancing. This has prevented us from refinancing and negatively affected our credit report. 

We are requesting that Citizens Bank correct our mortgage and defer the 5 months as approved, show our mortgage as current with corrected monthly statements, show that we have been making all payments to date on time, and correctly report this to all XXXX credit bureaus. 

Please help. This situation and COVID has caused great stress on our family and we would greatly appreciate a resolution. 

Thank you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation