Consumer complaint received 2023-05-25
Company: BANNER CORPORATION
State: OR
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
On Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, my husband XXXX XXXX contacted our mortgage holder ( Banner Bank ) to let them know we wanted to eliminate our escrow/impound account and take over paying our taxes and insurance on our own. This was a refinance loan that we closed with Banner Bank in XXXX to take advantage of the lower interest rates. This is a fixed, Conventional loan@ 3.75 %. We have been homeowners for more than 30 years and have never had a late payment on any mortgage, or any other debt for that matter. We currently owe approximately {$220000.00} on our Banner Mortgage and our home is worth approximately {$800000.00} ( approximately 28 % LTV ). XXXX was told by XXXX XXXX XXXX Customer Service Specialist ) that Banner Bank does not have to release the escrow account, but that they would do it for a fee of .25 % of our ORIGINAL loan amount ( {$240000.00} ), which equates to a fee of {$620.00}. We could not believe that they want to charge so much money, given our good standing with them. XXXX, who has been a Real Estate Broker for over 40 years, has done considerable investigation and has found no other institution charging such a large fee to release an escrow account with perameters such as ours. We have been lied to on multiple occasions. We were first told by XXXX that this was disclosed to us in our closing documents and Deed of Trust. XXXX asked her to please show us where it was disclosed. On Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX sent us 105 pages of closing documents, which I reviewed. NO WHERE does it state anything about such a fee, so XXXX politely emailed back and asked that she highlight the section where this was disclosed. To that, we received an email message back from XXXX stating, " My apologies, it is not disclosed in the documents at signing. I spoke with my supervisor and because we are not required to waive escrow, we do not have to disclose the fee. '' XXXX then asked XXXX to please have her supervisor call XXXX directly to discuss the situation. On Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX received a call from XXXX, who identified herself as XXXX 's supervisor. XXXX told XXXX the same thing, adding that this fee was an " industry standard ''. XXXX said she was polite, but curt and said that they absolutely would not eliminate, or negotiate the fee. XXXX then told XXXX that the reason Banner was taking such a hard line was because we were given a discount in their fees when we refinanced and that this discount was disclosed to us. XXXX then told her that we were never told of a discount if we place an escrow account with Banner Bank, so he asked if she would please have XXXX send us the disclosure that we were given and signed at closing regarding this scenario. Today, on XX/XX/XXXX, we received an email and PDF attachment from XXXX stating, " That is the document XXXX agreed to send you from the CFPB. '' The document sent was entitled, -29 Escrow Cancellation Notice Model Form ( 1026.20 ( e ) ). The form is dated XX/XX/XXXX. 
None of this makes any sense to us. Again we are in perfect standing on our mortgage and ALL our bills. We have perfect credit and low LTV. XXXX has spoken to many of his lending sources who have said they charge either no fee, or a minimal fee for paperwork ( $ XXXX {$50.00} ). 
Is there anything that can be done about this ridiculously large fee that feels more like a penalty! We would be happy to send you any documents ( in PDF format ) that you would like to review. 
Your assistance is greatly appreciated. 
Sincerely, XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation