Consumer complaint received 2021-03-01
Company: AMERIS BANCORP
State: GA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Previous complaint reference # : XXXX This complaint is pursuant to a previous complaint that was submitted on XX/XX/XXXX that was prematurely closed on XX/XX/XXXX. The details of that complaint are listed in the paragraph at the end of this document. The following informaiton is new and has occurred since the original complaint on XX/XX/XXXX : While awaiting remedy for the hardship that Ameris has put us through late last year, we received a letter that showed a new escrow analysis dated XX/XX/XXXX revealing yet another inaccurate tax determination from Ameris Bank and yielding even further shortages that Ameris erred to discover during both the XX/XX/XXXX analysis and the XX/XX/XXXX analysis. My original complaint was issued in response to Ameris Banks lack of awareness and discovery on my XX/XX/XXXX analysis and they yet again failed to uncover now an obscene city tax increase and are now charging that XXXX tax to my XXXX escrow payment. We simply could not bear the additional charges they heaved onto our shoulders for the county tax and we now certainly can not bear an even greater hardship they have placed on us. This needs to be addressed and remedied IMMEDIATELY. We seek remedy from Ameris Bank to cancel these missed charges on their behalf for the year XXXX. In the next paragraph I will demonstrate how they have yet again erred and now, even more sinisterly, how they have willfully and deliberately falsified information in an attempt to lie their way out of accepting their rightful responsibility : Our original claim against Ameris Bank was issued in response to an analysis that showed we were supposed to have paid a tax greater than what they had anticipated. The issue was that they had the opportunity to discover this tax at the beginning of the year XXXX when they performed an escrow analysis. The failed to provide an accurate county tax figure in the magnitude of 6 fold. Interestingly enough I had asked for this analysis to be conducted in XX/XX/XXXX when Ameris Bank had begun their first set of mistakes by not recording my homeowners insurance from XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. We were in danger of having lapsing coverage for our home. After receiving our newly conducted analysis in XX/XX/XXXX, we went the entire year unaware that Ameris had failed to properly and accurately account for our county tax costs. Toward the end of the year in XX/XX/XXXX, we were blindsided by a charge for our county tax and Ameris had increased our monthly payment by more than {$530.00} per month. This, to cover the coming years tax cost and the previous year of XX/XX/XXXXThat is when I filed this complaint with the CFPB to seek remedy for this hardship that was easily discoverable and preventable and by Ameris Bank. Only a week or two later as we waited for a response from Ameris Bank we were blindsided by yet another analysis conducted on XX/XX/XXXX that showed they had again misidentified a city tax in a magnitude increase of 1,726 %. This increased our monthly payment from {$2300.00} in XXXX to {$2900.00} in XXXX. This is criminal what they did to us, but an even worse crime was yet to be committed by them next. Ameris Bank then deliberately and willfully falsified a document to disguise their crime in order to absolve themselves of any wrongdoing or take acceptance of responsibility. On XX/XX/XXXX a response was issued on the CFPB website and a letter was sent to our home claiming that they had received our correspondence with the CFPB and they were responding. This letter and other documents are attached in the supporting documents to this claim. The errors and lies in this responsorial letter are as follows : 1. The analysis conducted XX/XX/XXXX determined a shortage While this is true, the shortage they detected was in the amount of only {$300.00} which spread over the coming year would increase our monthly payment a reasonable {$25.00}. They should have detected the correct amount to cover the entire year. Instead, they missed approximately {$3200.00} which at the end of the year XXXX revealed a shortage of {$3600.00}. 

2. The letter deliberately provides false information when it claims that a shortage of {$3600.00} was determined on the XX/XX/XXXX analysis. As stated above, the analysis on XX/XX/XXXX determined a shortage of {$300.00}, not {$3600.00} as the XX/XX/XXXX letter claims. Our supporting evidence is provided in the attached document. This is the issue that initiated my original claim. They have lied with the intent in an attempt to demonstrate that we would have had knowledge of this increase in shortage at the beginning of XXXX. That is abjectly false and is the basis of my original claim ( # XXXX XXXX. Ameris failed to determine the total taxes due properly and accurately for the year XXXX and instead lumped it into the following year forcing us to pay for two tax years in only one years time. 

XXXX. The most egregious element in this letter is their justification for all the confusion. They issued the following statement : As your property was newly constructed, the XXXX taxes payable in XXXX were based on a land-only assessment or that of a partial structure and this information was not properly conveyed to our servicing office in XXXX XXXX, Illinois. Two very glaring lies and deceptions are taking place here ; the first, that somehow it becomes the duty and responsibility of the owner to convey information to their servicing office when in fact the escrow account is managed entirely by Ameris and the closing documents signed are in accordance with and in the possession of the financial agency itself ( Ameris Bank ) and ; two, not only is this house not newly constructed or a partial structure, but the previous owners of the house had raised a family in this dwelling since the year XXXX. The age of the home and the year of construction are listed several times throughout the closing documents ( one such page is supplied in the supporting files ) documents of which Ameris Bank claimed they did not have on hand at the time of my initial investigation and complaint submission to CFPB in late XXXX. 

This is by far the most malevolent response we could have expected. Not only is that an outright lie but demonstrable lie as evidenced in the documents we had signed at closing. Because the statement provided by Ameris in their letter to us stated that the reason for the fluctuating tax costs was due to the home being listed as new construction, it is easily surmisable that Ameris Bank willfully and deliberately provided fabricated and false information in order to deny us our corrected resolution. That false information does not exist on any documentation anywhere and runs counter to the documents signed by us and Ameris Bank. 

This escrow account is managed entirely by Ameris Bank and therefore the accountability befalls them. Ameris has failed to meet their duties and responsibilities and have even lied to cover up their failure. Our hardship is entirely the burden of Ameris Bank and anything short of the cancellation of the net tax debts for the year XXXX will not be accepted. This will include refunding or crediting us the surge pricing we have thus far paid on our XXXX statements. We are prepared to seek legal remediation if necessary. 


Previous complaint submitted XX/XX/XXXX # XXXX : I purchased a XXXX year old home on XX/XX/XXXX using XXXX XXXX  as my lender. I had changed insurance for the home near or around my birthday in XX/XX/XXXX. That same month, my loan was purchased by Ameris Bank and, I believe due to the timing, the information of the new insurance was " lost. '' I had discovered this in late XX/XX/XXXX and had called both Ameris Bank and my insurance company because I was in danger of having a lapse of coverage even though I had been paying for the coverage. Thankfully, this was resolved just a day or two before the lapse was to take place. Because of this new insurance coverage amount I had requested an escrow analysis of my account with Ameris Bank on XX/XX/XXXX. An analysis was conducted on XX/XX/XXXX and then sent to me. The primary issue : I had received an escrow analysis that was performed on XX/XX/XXXX that showed an anticipated county tax of {$560.00}. My total amount due each month was then updated to reflect this. On XX/XX/XXXX, a disbursement of {$3200.00} was made by Ameris Bank to my county tax office for the year 's property tax. A new escrow analysis was done ( not at my request ) on XX/XX/XXXX which showed this significant increase from the projected amount that was analyzed at the beginning of the year. My new escrow analysis showed that I owed a shortage of {$3600.00} that must either be paid immediately or paid over the coming 12 month period totaling {$300.00} per month. This additional {$300.00} per month payment for the shortage is required in addition to increase in escrow payment of {$220.00} ( {$210.00} up to {$440.00} ) which together amounts to an increase of {$530.00} that I am being required to pay each month than what I have been paying each month since I have started the loan. Essentially, I am being forced to pay for XXXX 's taxes as well as XXXX 's taxes in the same year due to a mistake that was made at the time of the escrow analysis on XX/XX/XXXX. I contacted Ameris Bank on XX/XX/XXXX to seek understanding and resolution and was put on hold. After 20 minutes the call was dropped. I called back again this morning XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with XXXX from Ameris Bank and then was told that she can not see the closing documents from the loan that was made on the date of signing, XX/XX/XXXX. She escalated to XXXX at Ameris Bank and I was told the same thing - they can not see the closing documents and that they would need to put in a request to order these documents which could take up to 21 days. ( My payment is due tomorrow XX/XX/XXXX with a 15 day grace period ). They are hoping that they can find out why this happened using the closing documents, however, the analysis performed on XX/XX/XXXX was done after closing and was done inaccurately. Ameris Bank was unable to provide any help or information and was unwilling to take responsibility for their mistake. I have no doubt that if they had accurately anticipated the correct amount of county property tax that I would have been paying the correct amount all year instead of being stuck with essentially double payments. I am now being held responsible for paying a surge in costs that Ameris incorrectly projected in the area of a 566 % increase. This was preventable and should have been discovered by Ameris Bank at the time of my escrow analysis on XX/XX/XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation