Consumer complaint received 2016-10-30
Company: Shellpoint Partners, LLC
State: GA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Loan servicing, payments, escrow account

Complaint:
Shellpoint Mortgage assumed my mortgage from my original mortgage lender earlier this year. Since being sold to this lender, I have had nothing but difficulty with having any extra monies paid allocated to principal. This was no problem whatsoever with my former lender. Any extra money paid to Shellpoint gets placed into an " unapplied payment '' status and these funds do not get applied to principal until the amount equals a FULL mortgage payment. In attempt to get around this, I have resorted to mailing individual paper checks ... .one for a usual monthly payment and another FULL payment to be applied specifically to principal ( to avoid the " unapplied payment '' issue ) but the company still applies the XXXX extra payment to the original loan ( and charges interest ) and NOT to principal. This has occurred even with placing post-it notes directly on the checks and indicating on the check memo line that XXXX check should be applied to a regular payment and the other to principal. Numerous calls to customer service and speaking with numerous individuals unfortunately has not solved this problem either. Further, retaining an attorney who has written a letter on my behalf requesting that all additional payments be applied to principal has not rectified the situation. Requests to speak to supervisors have been met with resistance and requests to return my calls are completely ignored, despite assurance that corrective action will be taken and promises to return phone calls to confirm those corrections with me. This month alone, I have called the company 5 times to attempt to correct misallocation of last month 's ( XXXX ) extra principal payment, and still have not seen corrective action despite assurances by the company. 
An individual from the company has suggested that I make payments directly on the company web site to avoid having an employee in their collections department manually input the mortgage payments, thus potentially avoiding this problem going forward. He indicates that I will be able to directly input how payments are allocated ( regular payment vs. principal only ). I am certainly willing to try this method, as I am clearly at this company 's mercy unless I decide to pay the loan off in its entirety early, but wo n't attempt this until past payments are input correctly toward principal, and erroneous interest charges are backed out. I see this recommendation by a company employee as an admission of no-faith in his company 's ability to handle client 's payments and certainly see it as and admission of no ability to correct a problem if payments are miscategorized. 
I have never resorted to writing a negative review of a company but have never witnessed such poor customer service and apathy/inability to rectify problems when they occur. I 'm sure I 'm not the only client with this problem and ca n't help but believe that there must be some company-wide concerted effort to bilk clients for extra interest when they are doing their best to make timely regular payments and to repay debt in a more timely fashion by attempting to pay down principal faster. This is not only distasteful and inappropriate, it is also illegal and should be investigated. 
I picked my original mortgage company after thorough research into the company that would offer the best balance of attractive rates, track record in the industry, and record of customer service. To say the least, having your mortgage eventually become re-bundled and resold to a company the likes of Shellpoint Mortgage has been a huge disappointment. I 'm not able to control this method mortgage acquisition by Shellpoint, but will be doing my best to warn initial mortgage customers about this company 's terrible business practices through this outlet, the XXXX, and other agencies. Any help you might provide would be greatly appreciated.

Company public response: Company believes complaint is the result of an isolated error
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation