Consumer complaint received 2020-03-29
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: MI
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
The bank we currently have a mortgage with ( Fifth Third Bank - www.53.com ) has been receiving payments from us for the last 10 years without issue. Since the term of the loan, it was agreed that we would be responsible for paying property taxes and home owners insurance. As of XXXX of XXXX, it was discovered that Fifth Third Bank paid our property taxes without any notification. It was also discovered that the bank was now charging us an escrow on our mortgage, again, something that was never communicated with us. At the time, it didn't seem like an issue ; we worked with the Fifth Third XXXX Branch Manager on XX/XX/XXXX, who was excellent and helped us clear things up, or so we thought. The Branch Manager indicated that all we'd need to do is pay Fifth Third back any amount owed relative to the debt incurred for the taxes Fifth Third payed ( without our authorization ) and he would work with others to resolve the issue and get us back to the normal payments we've had for the last 10 years. He stated that his goal was to get us back to normal by XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX came around and we continued to note the added escrow payment on our mortgage bill. After discussing this with the XXXX Branch Manager, he apologized and indicated it was going to take a little longer than he anticipated. He instructed us to just make the standard mortgage payment with the added escrow payment and that he would continue to work on the issue. XXXX comes around, and again, we note the added escrow payment. After discussing with the XXXX Branch Manager, he said he has escalated the issue and is continuing to work on a solution for us. He requested that we make the standard payment and that he would be in touch with an update on the situation. We make the standard payment through the online bank web portal for XXXX. We later find out that the bank did not apply any of the XXXX payment to the mortgage. We later received a call from the XXXX Fifth Third Branch Manager indicating that the payment wasn't applied because the escrow amount was not included in the payment. He then requested that we pay the added escrow amount for XXXX and that he would adjust the payment for correction and continue to work on the issue. We authorized him to pull the added escrow amount required for XXXX mortgage+escrow true up from our savings account. We noted he pulled approximately {$13.00} more than the escrow payment amount ( which we have yet to work with him on ). Since this fiasco, I have signed a document required by Fifth Third stating that I did not wish to utilize their escrow service. Their reply to the request was denied with a reason being we were late on our XXXX mortgage payment, and that we would need to make 6 consecutive payments before I would be eligible to close the escrow account. 

It is now XX/XX/XXXX, and have noted that my FICO ( credit ) score has decreased because of the issue with Fifth Third Bank. 

Unfortunately, they are the 500lb gorilla and I am a mere individual trying to work with this bank to make things right, which has lead to nothing but frustration and the feeling of being strung along by a financial institution. 

My wife and I have since closed our savings account with them, and are working with another financial institution on refinancing our home in an effort to migrate away from Fifth Third.

The only issue I have at the moment is my FICO score being affected by Fifth Third 's inability to resolve an issue for us. 

What are my options at this point? 

BTW : My next stops are with the XXXX  and filing complaints with XXXX, XXXX and XXXX  relative to this issue.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation