Consumer complaint received 2023-04-21
Company: PLANET HOME LENDING, LLC
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Planet Home Lending, my mortgage loan servicer, reported me as 60 days past due on my mortgage on XX/XX/XXXX. I did not find out through Planet that I was past due until I received an auto credit alert that my report had changed. When I contacted Planet very confused why I was being reported past due, they told me that they had not received my XXXX and XX/XX/2023 payments. I told them that wasn't possible because I knew that I set up autopay with them in XX/XX/2023. This autopay was setup intentionally using a savings account that I used so that I did not have to remember payments given that I was going through a lot of hardship being affected by the two hurricanes last year right after moving into my home. A representative explained over the phone that my autopay was deleted in XXXX because they didn't receive XXXX XXXX  payment and that my effective date for the autopay was not XX/XX/XXXX, as I thought, but actually XX/XX/XXXX. Again, I explained this was not the information that I knew to be true because when I made my XXXX payment, I set the autopay to start XX/XX/XXXX. Then, Planet representative stated that there is a cutoff date for the autopay and they won't allow it for the next month unless it's done 30 days in advance. I explained that there is nothing on their dashboard explaining this when you setup autopay. I also asked why they would delete my autopay effective XX/XX/XXXX if they hadn't received XXXX because if they had kept it, then at least I would have only shown one payment behind. Further, I explained my impacts from the hurricanes given that I just moved into my home and wasn't prepared. The Planet representative told me that they are allowed by FEMA to report past due information effective XX/XX/XXXX. I asked for documentation to show this and they told me that they could not provide anything. They also stated to me that I had been sent electronic statements showing that the payments hadn't been received. I told them that I received zero communication from them via email or phone. I asked them to provide documentation that they had reached out to me and they said that they couldn't provide anything. After all of this, I made XXXX, XXXX and XXXX payments in one day on XX/XX/2023, a mere 10 days after they claim the FEMA credit report reporting freeze had ended. Despite my efforts to show that their system is not accurately providing information to customers, they are refusing to correct my credit report.

If you review the attachment " Auto Pay Confusion '' you will see that as of today, I have autopay enrolled. When I attempt to make XX/XX/XXXXXXXX XXXX payment, it alerts me that I have autopay enrolled and that this is an " extra payment '' even though the autopay " next draft date '' is not until XX/XX/XXXX. This means that when you enroll in autopay less than 30 days until the due date, in this case, XX/XX/XXXX, Planet makes the autopay effective date for the month after, again in this case, XX/XX/XXXX. Yet when I attempt to make the normal XXXX payment, it alerts me as if it is already planning to withdraw XXXX via autopay. This is misleading and harmful to Planet 's customer 's such as myself in this situation. 

I am also showing the email confirmation that I received from Planet when I enrolled my autopay on XX/XX/2023 with the intention that it would be effective for XX/XX/XXXXXXXX XXXX payment. In this email, it does not mention that the effective date is not XX/XX/XXXX, but XX/XX/XXXX, per Planet 's conversation with me over the phone. Again, this confirmation is misleading and harmful to Planet 's customers because it does not provide information to confirm the effective date, which in my case would have prevented payments to be missed. 

Finally, I am still considered in an active disaster zone per FEMA ( see attachment ). Yet, Planet is stating that I am not considered in a disaster zone.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation