Consumer complaint received 2023-11-03
Company: U.S. BANCORP
State: WA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process
Sub-issue: Escrow, taxes, or insurance

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, we discovered that U.S. Bancorp Investments , Inc. had withdrawn funds from our escrow account without authorization to pay property taxes on a property that we don't own. The situation is complicated, as the property is located in a different county than our home mortgage with US Bank. We immediately contacted US Bank to report the error, but they were evasive and unhelpful. We had to take matters into our own hands and contacted the XXXX XXXX Treasurer to prevent the legitimate owner of the parcel from being reimbursed with funds from OUR ESCROW ACCOUNT. 

Not only did US Bank 's wrongful payment jeopardize the integrity of our escrow account, but it also imposed an unnecessary and unjust financial burden on us. Despite our repeated attempts to contact US Bank, they provided unsatisfactory responses and showed a dismissive attitude towards our concerns. We demand a coherent explanation for this egregious error. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, we filed a formal complaint with CFPB after more than a week of dealing with US Bank 's failure to provide relevant details. On XX/XX/XXXX, we still hadn't received any documentation about when or HOW US Bank received the incorrect information. It wasn't until we received a phone call from the XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX that we learned that US Bank had contacted them requesting reimbursement for the erroneous tax payment. 

As a licensed real estate agent, we understand the required documentation to close any transaction. We are confident that the missing " legal description '' in the Title Commitment is not the reason for this catastrophic error two and a half years after the loan originated with US Bank. US Bank is trying to place responsibility for the missing legal description, which is unacceptable despite the absence of legally recorded documents validating their claim. The historical snapshot US Bank attached to their response was irrelevant and did not add value to their explanation. 

We have access to our own US Bank mortgage account, and we are perplexed as to why US Bank paid ONLY on the correct parcel since the loan originated on XX/XX/2021, if they received the incorrect Tax Parcel ID at closing. Why did US Bank wait XXXX years to pay taxes on the additional parcel? When was the wrong parcel added to our account? Why would US Bank allow two properties, especially one without proper documentation, to be associated with one mortgage account? 

The lack of transparency and accountability that US Bank has demonstrated throughout this ordeal is deeply troubling. They have shown no willingness to accept responsibility for their blatant mistake, which violates our consumer rights and represents a fundamental breach of their fiduciary duty. 

We insist that US Bank provide the requested documentation that accompanies their explanation for the error instead of blaming it on the missing legal description. If we hadn't reviewed our escrow account carefully, this wrongful payment would have gone unnoticed, allowing U.S. Bank to continue making unauthorized payments without repercussions.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation