Consumer complaint received 2023-03-03
Company: CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES, LLC
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
PROBLEM : My mortgage loan was purchased by Carrington Mortgage ( Carrington ) from XXXX  XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) on or around XX/XX/23. I was in forbearance at the time but, I had {$1000.00} held in UNapplied funds at the time the loan was transferred. That unapplied money from XXXX XXXX XXXX then became unapplied money with Carrington. I was to make my first mortgage payment on XX/XX/23 with Carrington Mortgage since receiving funds from a HAF ( Housing Assistance Fund ) to keep my loan " current. '' I had planned on using those UNapplied funds, in conjunction with a planned supplemental payment of {$480.00} that would then together make meet my whole mortgage obligation for XXXX. However, I noticed that my bank statement no longer showed the {$1000.00} in unapplied funds. When I asked about it all anyone could finally tell me was that the unapplied funds were applied to Principal once the account was brought current by the HAF. The HAF assured me that the amount they paid to reinstate my loan as current was separate from using any of my unapplied funds. I told CARRINGTON I have been in hardship ( clearly in forbearance! ) so I would never have wanted that money applied to principal, that I asked that those funds be reversed to help me make the bulk of my XXXX mortgage payment. Someone at CARRINGTON should have seen my loan was in forbearance and been able to put two and two together. Clearly, I was struggling, financially, so best not to move a customer 's valuable unapplied funds to principal. IF this is an automated response when an account becomes current that policy or regulation needs to be reviewed, and changed, in my opinion. ( Wondering - Does the bank benefit somehow when money is applied to the principal of one 's loan? For instance, do they get to invest money applied the principal of someone's mortgage loan? It seems it must serve a bank to do this, being that it is so hard, apparently, to reverse it, and it was done as a matter of course. It certainly didn't benefit me, other than paying down my loan, which I didn't want and didn't ask for. ) EFFORTS : I have made various phone calls to CARRINGTON about this on XX/XX/23 ( 23 mins. ), XX/XX/23 ( 43 mins. and 37 mins. ), XX/XX/23 ( 1 hr, 15 mins. ), XX/XX/23 ( hung up. too long a wait ), XX/XX/23 ( 40 mins. ), and XX/XX/23 ( 35 mins. ) to various reps and talked to people at various levels and in various departments, and was given absolutely NO certain REASON as to why the funds can't simply be reversed. I have also emailed CARRINGTON 'S OWN ADVOCATES DEPT. ( XX/XX/23 and XX/XX/23 ), WITH NO RESPONSE.!!!! Cognitive dissonance warning ahead!!!! I was told NO ONE WILL even ASK that the funds be reversed from principal, UNLESS AND UNTIL I pay another partial payment of {$48000.00} ( asked pre-due date ), and even then, all they could promise was to ASK someone, somewhere, IF the {$1000.00} can be reversed with NO GUARANTEE, along with no guarantee that my additional {$480.00} won't also be misapplied to principal, because it is also a " partial payment, '' which is the reason I was given for why the {$1000.00} was put toward principal in the first place! 

NO REMEDY : So being that my mortgage payment was due today, I went ahead and made the recommended partial payment of {$480.00}. It felt like I was being extorted for more money from CARRINGTON who already seemed to mismanage my other funds, with no assurances of a positive outcome, and not knowing HOW LONG it might take to get a decision from CARRINGTON, running scared that my mortgage payment runs the risk of either being " late '' or of me having to come up with another supplemental amount, before that happens, which would surely put an undue financial burden on me. The reason I was in arrears in the first place was due to a combination of a COVID hardship and a prolonged health issue. I am presently on XXXX, and have NO EXTRA INCOME to make EXTRA mortgage payments, and IF I DID have any unassigned money I certainly would be paying it to my other bills that are due and owing, and not to the principal on my mortgage loan. That is not a luxury I can afford at this time. 

ACCOUNTABILITY : Aren't there laws or regulations governing against this type of treatment of customer funds? If so, why isn't CARRINGTON aware of them? And is there a way to hold them accountable? I read tonight that a bank has NO fiduciary responsibility to a customer. I couldn't believe it. How is that possible? They are not to " mismanage '' funds but I'm guessing THAT word can be defined in a way advantageous to CARRINGTON or other banks, or maybe be unclear, or maybe they are simply counting on being protected somehow. It just doesn't seem right. 

CLOSING : I usually don't make a complaint when I receive bad customer service. Everyone can have a bad day or not have been given enough training or be short-staffed, so ok. However, in this case, it seems more about who controls what we are led to believe is our money. It seems downright unethical or unlawful to appropriate my saved funds the way CARRINGTON wanted, to principal, rather than in the manner I wanted them applied, to a mortgage payment, without even asking me, and without a method to quickly undo it! Isn't it MY money? I mean I put it there with a very specific intention of using it to make a mortgage payment. Do banks really have that much power over our money? If so, that is very scary, and we need to speak up about this kind of thing. People can't fight against what they don't know exists. I am just trying to pay my mortgage so I can keep my house which is already difficult enough to do. 

Anything the CFPB can do will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation