Consumer complaint received 2020-06-23
Company: Cornerstone Home Lending Inc.
State: TX
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I am the beneficiary of a {$50000.00}, bequest from my late-grandfather 's estate. However, the bequest must be paid directly to my mortgage provider per the terms of the trust. My mortgage provider is Cornerstone Home Lending, Inc. I wanted to have the {$50000.00}, paid against my existing principal of around {$150000.00}, and the re-finance. I was even working with Cornerstone 's local home mortgage originator here in Texas. The payment center is in New Jersey, and we have always experienced some difficulty in working with them on things like e-payments. To be clear, we have never missed a payment. All we wanted to do was give Cornerstone {$50000.00} against our principal. For around 30 days now, Cornerstone has failed to take the money while displaying astounding incompetence, or worse. I have come to the belief that the payment processing center for Cornerstone in New Jersey is engaged in prohibited UDAAP practices for the following reasons. The trust attempted to send a {$50000.00}, check to the New Jersey processing center - return receipt requested. They even called ahead to see which office to send the check to. After over a week, we did not hear anything from Cornerstone. I called their customer service line. They explained that ( 1 ) they had no record of the check ; ( 2 ) the trust was given bad information regarding the sending of a check because the company did not accept checks over {$10000.00} ; and ( 3 ) they only accepted principal payments in that amount through cashier 's check or wire transfer. Cornerstone provided me with wiring information to an account at " Bank XXXX. '' I relayed this information to the trust. Fearing that the check was lost, and not acceptable anyway under Cornerstone policy, the trust stopped payment on the check. The trust then attempted to make the wire transfer but had its bank call Cornerstone first. This time, Cornerstone provided wire transfer instruction to a completely different entity and account " Bank XXXX. '' The trust did not feel comfortable transferring the funds based upon the conflicting information. When I looked into the matter online, it appeared that Cornerstone had credited the {$50000.00} check - which was previously missing - to my account ... even though the trust bank stopped payment. The trust was as confused as we were about this, I continued to try and work with Cornerstone 's loan originator on the refinance. However, the credit was eventually withdrawn per my online statement. The local originator indicated that their payment processing department was difficult to work with and suggested the trust move the {$50000.00} into escrow with a local title company in anticipation of closing so we could all avoid dealing with Cornerstone 's New Jersey office. While this did seem easier, I responded that the proposition was ridiculous because we were trying to pay Cornerstone - the same company as the originator - a lot of money on a mortgage contract. I tried one more time to contact Cornerstone 's New Jersey office - this was about a week ago. This time, the customer service representative stated that I needed to email a request to a department that would approve or deny my principal payment. I was livid at this instruction. I reasoned that, as an attorney, Cornerstone had to take whatever principal pay-off I offered under federal law and the terms of the Mortgage contract. For instance, if I tendered the entire {$150000.00}, or so in principal, then Cornerstone had no right to say " no thanks. '' The same was certainly true if the trust tried to give them {$50000.00}. The customer service rep responded that the request would " not necessarily '' result in a rejection of the payment. I responded that " necessarily '' does not enter into this transaction. I requested to speak with her manager and  Cornerstone legal counsel. So far, I have received no response from these entities. I then contacted my local originator and explained the situation. They forwarded me a letter from Cornerstone indicating that my bank stopped payment on a {$50000.00}, check for insufficient funds - which I relayed was outrageous and inaccurate based upon the facts above, i.e., it was not my bank, and Cornerstone appeared to have lost the check while not following their own policy. I demanded the local originator assist in fixing this issue. If we could only obtain correct wiring instructions, then we could solve the issue. My local originator then requested payoff instructions from Cornerstone 's corporate office - as though they were ready to close. The form sent back provided the correct principal payoff amount and the wiring instructions for " Bank XXXX. '' I relayed this information to the trust. Yesterday, the trust tried to wire the funds again ... the wire failed as this was not an active or correct account. To be clear, these are the instructions that Cornerstone 's payment processing center provided to its own local originator in anticipation of closing. Had we tried to close, the transaction would have failed and Cornerstone would have breached the Mortgage contract - though the likely have already. We have also submitted multiple online requests to resolve this issue. Just today, we received a response to send a certified funds check or wire the money to an account they could give us over the phone. This entire payment " XXXX '' is absurd. My fear is that Cornerstone is intentionally placing roadblocks to significant principal payoffs my providing false, misleading, and inconsistent information. Because even if I refinance with them, they will make significantly less money on interest with a substantial reduction in principal. Then you have the issue of providing the wrong payoff account information to both me and the local originator. This could derive from tremendous institutional incompetence. Yet, that seems civilly actionable to the extent Cornerstone could not have closed on any deal - even a refinance through their local originator. Cornerstone 's actions, through malice aforethought or stunning negligence, are the type of actions the CFPB exists to guard consumers from.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation