Consumer complaint received 2021-05-14
Company: Shellpoint Partners, LLC
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I have been dealing with NewRez and their errors and discrepancies with my taxes and other fees for over a year now. I have tried on numerous occasions to work with NewRez on staying up to date on my account, however, their customer service and their payment and mortgage practices are misleading, they make careless mistakes and try to blame the customer, they don't have a viable or productive way to communicate and their practices are borderline suspect. 

In the beginning of XXXX XXXX I started to see that my mortgage statement had decreased from {$1400.00} to XXXX ( these are rounded ). I was unsure as to what happened, because, I did NOT receive ANY correspondence so I called New Rez. I was told that they overpaid my taxes and that is why they lowered my mortgage amount. That was the only explanation I received and I had never heard of such a think. So, honestly, I didn't really understand why it was overpaid, but, figured at that time okay well if I overpaid then it will adjust. Fast forward to XX/XX/XXXX and my mortgage is increased to {$1700.00}. Again, I am wondering what is going on. Now my payment has gone up? 

So, I call NewRez in mid XXXX and they tell me that they overpaid my taxes last year and sent me a check and realized that this was an error. I said, well I NEVER received a check. I mean, doesn't NewRez check it's accounting to see what checks haven't/have cashed annual. If so, why would I be penalized for this? So, I was told they would investigate it, but, they didn't have any way to update me about it and I would have to call back. So, I call back a week later and still no updates. I call back 14 days later and they tell me oh, yes, we have credited your escrow account. We found the check wasn't cash. So, I ask well was someone going to tell me? I ended up paying the increased amount in XXXX, which I truly COULD NOT afford to because I wanted to stay in good standing. If they knew that they credited the account then shouldn't my mortage statment been updated to the correct mortgage amount. Then I was told that they couldn't change it without doing an escrow anaylsis ( i believe that's what they called it. ) I was very confused, but, the customer service rep told me that this was the best way to do this. Me assuming that this would at least get my XXXX statement updated. 

A week goes by and I call, because NEWREZ does not have system in place to notify customers about their errors being fixed, but, definitely can notify you when you don't make your payment. I call again and they tell me that the escrow analysis has been done, but, my statement won't update until XXXX. So, I am expected to pay the increased amount another month. This is definitely not a fair practice. I asked whey couldn't they update the statement for XX/XX/XXXX. I was told they had to adjust for the following statement and they just do what NewRez tells them to do. With everything that is going on, I am not trusting this mortgage company. NewRez has decreased and increased and now increased my mortgage statement again. There ' s NEVER any communication. There's NEVER an apology. There's NEVER let me see how we can fix this. I am worried that they are using unfair practices to inflate my mortgage. They are being deceptive and I am left in the dark and forced to make payments, to keep myself in good standing but I don't have a company that keeps their reporting in order. 

The last thing is now my mortgage has gone up. So, they are telling me my mortgage has gone up due to my analysis. But, then I was told that the increased mortgaged I paid in XXXX they will submit a refund, I asked why would they submit a refund if my new mortgage is {$1500.00}. So, that they can then come back and say they made an error in submitting it and make me pay it again. I am very concerned about NewRez practices with my mortgage and their lazy customer service. This has been a very stressful time and I worked hard not to get behind on my payments and NewRez is making it very difficult for me.

Company public response: Company believes complaint is the result of an isolated error
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation