Consumer complaint received 2021-03-02
Company: SIERRA PACIFIC MORTGAGE
State: CO
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
We lost our home at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX CO XXXX on XX/XX/2020 in the XXXXXXXX XXXX Fire. On or about XX/XX/XXXX, I called Sierra Pacific Mortgage to notify them of the loss. They agreed to place us on forbearance. As we are planning to rebuild, we discussed the rebuild process with them and they told me that it would be an additional two weeks at least each time funds are released for the construction, which would be at least 12 times, but probably more. We have a short timeline for the rebuild ( 24 months ), a short building season, and are short on labor and materials in XXXX XXXX already. With that, we decided to pay off the mortgage and get a local construction loan instead. I called Sierra Pacific many times in XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX for different reasons and was always told the following process to use the claims checks from insurance to pay off the loan : submit the claims checks, estimate for the rebuild, and the payoff amount from Sierra Pacific to : XXXX XXXX, Attn : Payoff Department, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX  XXXX, VA, XXXX. I requested the pay off amount on XX/XX/XXXX as I learned from our insurance company that another check was in the mail that would be close to covering the balance on our mortgage. We received the second check on XX/XX/XXXX, and we had two checks from insurance that totaled {$280000.00} that I overnighted on XX/XX/XXXX with the other required documents as outlined above, and XXXX received them on XX/XX/XXXX. We owed a balance for interest and fees accrued while on the forbearance, so I wired the difference on Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX. I called on XX/XX/XXXX to make sure they received them, they said to call back on the XXXX. Called on the XXXX ( each time you have to wait on hold for 30-45 minutes and sometimes they drop you and you have to call back XXXX, they confirmed they had received the wire but not the checks and told me to call on the XXXX. On the XXXX, they confirmed they had received the checks but hadn't processed them yet. Called back on the XXXX, and for the first time someone told me that I had sent the document and checks package to the wrong place and transferred me to another department XXXX XXXX XXXX and that it was going to " take time '' to get the checks to the correct place. I reminded them that the payoff amount was good through XX/XX/XXXX, which was the following Monday, and that they needed to apply the funds immediately, and they basically said that isn't how it works, but that they should be able to fix everything and honor the payoff and I should call the following week. I called today, XX/XX/XXXX, and was told that they had the checks, but now that the payoff information was no longer up to date, I needed to call Sierra Pacific back, get new payoff information, and then upload that to XXXX in order to get the mortgage paid off. I reminded them that a new payoff amount would mean more taxes and fees and that I wasn't going to pay that since I followed Sierra Pacific 's instructions to the letter and it was their fault that the checks originally went to the wrong place. They said that in order to pay off the mortgage I needed a new payoff amount that was currently valid.

I want Sierra Pacific and XXXX to honor the original payoff amount, use the money that I sent per my instructions to pay off the mortgage, and email me the paperwork verifying that the mortgage is paid so we can get them off of our insurance claim immediately. 
It is difficult enough losing your home and everything in it, but the lack of training that Sierra Pacific provides to its employees in our specific situation is negligent, and their process is asinine. It would be beneficial for other consumers to never use this company for their mortgage if they ever need customer service.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation