Consumer complaint received 2021-06-29
Company: Mr. Cooper Group Inc.
State: MD
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I closed on a refinance loan with XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX ( using XXXX XXXX as a closing company ). At the time of closing, the escrow account was set up correctly ( see attached escrow account disclosure and final closing disclosure ). As part of the closing costs, I paid the entirety of my XXXX property tax, half to be paid by the settlement agent XXXX XXXX ( see closing disclosure line F04 ) and half to be held in escrow and paid in XX/XX/XXXX ( see closing disclosure G03 ). The first payment of my semiannual property tax was paid by my prior mortgage company, as the date was so close to XX/XX/XXXX ( the due date for the first payment of the semiannual tax payment ), and XXXX XXXX promptly refunded that portion of the closing costs. 

In XX/XX/XXXX the loan was purchased by XXXX and the loan servicing was transferred to Mr. Cooper. At the time of transfer, Mr. Cooper incorrectly set up the escrow account as having the property tax paid annually, despite several factors to the contrary : 1 ) the escrow account was set up correctly at closing for semi-annual payment ( see attached escrow account disclosure ) ; 2 ) the closing disclosure clearly identifies the property tax as being paid semiannually ( see attached final closing disclosure line F04 ) ; 3 ) the second installment of the XXXX taxes was paid into escrow at the time of closing ( see attached final closing disclosure line G03 ) ; 4 ) if the entire property tax had been paid in one annual installment in XX/XX/XXXX, as Mr. Cooper claims they believed, then the balance in the escrow account would have exceeded that legally allowed by RESPA by {$2200.00} ( see escrow account disclosure, total annual disbursement XXXX, cushion of XXXX, lowest balance in XXXX is XXXX excess ). 

With the property tax incorrectly set up for annual rather than semi-annual payments from the escrow account, Mr Cooper failed to make the second payment for my XXXX property tax. After I informed them of the custodial failure in XX/XX/XXXX, they finally made the second payment in XX/XX/XXXX. 

This custodial failure on the part of Mr. Cooper caused my itemized deductions for XXXX to decrease by the amount of the second semiannual property tax payment ( XXXX ), which they failed to pay timely. This did not affect my federal income tax liability due to the {$10000.00} limitation on the federal deduction for state and local taxes. It did, however, increase my personal income tax liability with the State of Maryland by {$280.00} ( full details available on request ), an amount which I paid on XX/XX/XXXX when I filed my personal income taxes with the State of MD using the XXXX program. 

Despite several requests, Mr. Cooper has declined to reimburse me for this direct financial hardship of {$280.00} which was caused by their negligent custody of the escrow account. They have made several false claims regarding this situation, including that the error was from the prior servicer ( see escrow account disclosure clearly showing semiannual property tax payments ) and that I need " to dispute the state income tax liability with the agency, as its a state income and we do not handle that. '' They have declined to adjust my XXXX so that I could rightly claim the tax that I paid in calendar year XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation