Consumer complaint received 2022-12-12
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NY
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I took out a mortgage with Bank of America in XXXX of XXXX  Because I hold my primary bank accounts ( savings and checking ) with Bank of America, it should be easy and seamless to withdraw the funds from my bank account to pay my mortgage account. A representative at the bank helped me set up my mortgage account in XXXX  to do this. 

However, it has been confirmed for me, just within the last couple of weeks, that the payments were set up incorrectly in XXXX and, when my escrow recently increased, the payments the bank has been withdrawing have been less than my new mortgage payment. I noticed that I had a small overdue balance months ago and called the bank only to be told that it was set up to 'correct itself ' and I did not need to take any action. I paid this no further attention because, again, my payments are set up to be taken automatically from the bank. However, I recently started receiving phone calls that I was behind on my mortgage payments. 

So I called the bank on XX/XX/XXXX and the representative confirmed that my mortgage account was set up incorrectly by the bank in XXXX. Specifically, my payments were set up to be made through automatic " Bill Pay '' rather than a " Pay Plan ''. I was never advised of this, even though I asked the question multiple times. The representative waived most of the late fees the bank assessed but noted that there was an additional {$47.00} that the system would not allow him to process since it was a " partial fee ''. He instructed me to call mortgage customer service to have this fee waiver processed. As for correcting future payments, the bank 's system will not allow me to set up the proper " Pay Plan '' going forward until this is reconciled. 

I called mortgage customer service on XX/XX/XXXX as instructed. I was on the phone for XXXX minutes explaining the situation to 3 different representatives only to be told that their system would not allow them to process the waiver since the issue goes back further than 12 months. I was told a supervisor would contact me. On XX/XX/XXXX I called again since I did not receive the promised call from the supervisor at the bank. I was told this time that there is no way they can waive the fee because their systems don't allow it. 

So, in summary, Bank of America set up my mortgage account incorrectly, told me it was correct when I inquired about it, withdrew insufficient funds from my banking account, charged me late fees as a result of their error, and made my ability to set up future payments contingent on paying these fees ( or else incurring additional late fees ). All of my conversations with the bank are documented in my file with them. The difference is less than {$50.00} but, on principle, I should not be expected to pay for this. I, again, am requesting that the bank process a waiver for the remaining {$46.00} so that I can they set up my " Pay Plan '' properly going forward. Also, their reps should be trained on this process so this does not happen to other customers, assuming this was a mistake and not a sanctioned process within the bank for more fraudulent purposes.

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