Consumer complaint received 2024-01-11
Company: Shellpoint Partners, LLC
State: TX
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process
Sub-issue: Escrow, taxes, or insurance

Complaint:
Newrez took over servicing on my loan XX/XX/XXXX from their sister company XXXX XXXX XXXX My monthly payment has never included escrows as we handled those ourselves. The XXXX XXXX XXXX only payment has always been {$1900.00}. On XX/XX/XXXX Newrez took a payment out of bank account for {$5500.00}. I immediately reached out to them via phone. I was told I needed to submit an inquiry through the website, they would do an escrow analysis, and I would have a response within 30 days. on XX/XX/XXXX Newrez took another payment for {$5500.00}. I again immediately called and was told I should have a response soon. I received an email from XXXX XXXX, a manager. She told me she was working on the issue and going to get the insurance escrow refunded. After spending a week doing diligence on the loan she came back and said XXXX had force placed insurance and that was getting refunded but Newrez had also paid the property taxes on XX/XX/XXXX AFTER I initiated the inquiry and they could not get a refund from the county on the taxes.

I received communication from Newrez Compliance Department on XX/XX/XXXX regarding my recent inquiry concerning monthly payment and escrow issues that began ( and have persisted ) following the servicing transfer of my loan to Newrez on or about XX/XX/XXXX. The purpose this complaint is to escalate these issues to your attention and put you on notice that Newrezs response to my concerns has been completely unacceptable.

Newrez records will reflect, the originating lender on the above-referenced loan granted me an escrow waiver such that my property taxes and homeowners insurance have never been included in my monthly mortgage payment since the inception of the loan. Newrez erroneously established an escrow account for my loan at the time of the recent servicing transfer which thereafter resulted in a cascade of additional errors including : ( 1 ) the incorrect purchase of lender-placed insurance for my property; ( 2 ) the erroneous escrowing of monies for taxes and insurance ; ( 3 ) a significant increase to my monthly mortgage payment ( which has been automatically withdrawn from my checking account for the last two consecutive months ) ; and ( 4 ) the incorrect disbursement of payments in the amounts of {$6600.00} and {$5500.00} for my county and school taxes, respectively, ( which, as your records will reflect, had already been paid ).

The response I received from Newrez Compliance Department admitted the error and apologized for their " erroneous creation of an escrow account '' but indicated that refunds for the disbursements at issue could not be obtained. Also concerning is the fact the letter was completely silent as how Newrez plans to rectify this issue moving forward.

I sent a letter to Newrez leadership, specifically XXXX XXXX, Head of Servicing and XXXX XXXX, XXXX of Loan Servicing, and demanded the following : Confirmation that the escrow account at issue has been closed and that no monies for taxes or insurance will be escrowed for my loan moving forward. 
Confirmation that my monthly mortgage payment will be reduced to the amount of {$1900.00} ( consistent with the amount of my monthly mortgage payments to the former servicer of the loan ) ; and A refund of the amounts withdrawn from my checking account in XXXX that exceeded the amount of my required monthly mortgage payment, or {$7000.00}. 

After getting an initial response from XXXX that his escalation team would be in contact, no response from Newrez was ever sent and in XX/XX/XXXX Newrez took another payment in the amount of {$2900.00}. This should not be allowed when this is their admitted error and I can document the escrow waiver, and payment of both taxes and insurance.

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