Consumer complaint received 2022-10-20
Company: Mr. Cooper Group Inc.
State: GA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
My mortgage inexplicably jumped from {$1400.00} to {$1700.00} following an escrow review analysis by Mr. Cooper. They alleged an escrow shortage led to the need to increase my monthly payment, however, it is my contention that the shortage was a result of their own misappropriation of funds ( see attachments ). The account projection for XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX only allotted {$1.00} annually for my hazard insurance and they were only collecting {$.00} on a monthly basis. They then, for some reason, decided to issue me a surplus check even though the disbursement put my escrow in the negative. I contacted Mr. Cooper upon receipt of the check and they assured me it was money I was owed and there was no need for me to return the check. Apparently, my escrow balance was in the negative since XX/XX/XXXX when my property taxes were paid. 

I would have no way of knowing how they were using ( or misusing ) my funds as I continued to pay the same mortgage payment each and every month. I do not think the shortage was my fault and I do not think I should be responsible for paying an additional $ XXXX per month to rectify their mistake. I spoke with 2 different Mr. Cooper reps last week and I sent the following e-mail to a Manager, XXXX XXXX ( XXXX, phone ( XXXX ) XXXX ). I was told she'd respond to me no later than Tuesday but here it is Thursday and I still haven't heard from her. 

Property address : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, GA XXXX Mr. Cooper Loan # XXXX XXXX XXXX, I just spent an hour and seven minutes on the phone with Mr. Cooper and still didnt get the help I was expecting. Both representatives I spoke with could see the error in my Escrow Review Statement but all they were willing to offer me was to spread out the shortage amount over 24 months so as not to affect my monthly mortgage payment as drastically. As it stands right now we went from {$1400.00} to {$1700.00} without so much as an explanation. While spreading the money out over 24 months helps in the short term, it doesnt address the fact that this was Mr. Coopers error, not mine. 

We pay or mortgage payment timely each and every month and its not my fault that you failed to properly project the annual property insurance. Youll note that our actual annual amount is {$1300.00} but Mr. Cooper inexplicably projected it at {$1.00} per year. So rather than a monthly escrow amount of just under {$110.00}, the projection on my account was a mere {$0.00}! Your Escalation Specialist tried to explain to me that Mr. Cooper wasnt willing to rectify that error because you continued to make insurance payments on my behalf despite the shortage. I dont accept this explanation because I was still making my usual mortgage payment and trusted Mr. Cooper to handle the funds properly. All Im asking is that this shortage be rectified internally by Mr. Cooper so that my mortgage payment goes back to {$1400.00}. This shortage was not my fault and I should not be responsible for paying it back. My funds were misappropriated and this needs to be fixed immediately. 

I was told that you would be contacting me either Monday or Tuesday but I wanted to make sure you had my side of the story while you were reviewing the file.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation