Consumer complaint received 2016-03-20
Company: NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE LLC
State: NV
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Loan servicing, payments, escrow account

Complaint:
I have a mortgage loan with Nationstar Mortgage. I had been inquiring with them regarding reasons for increases to escrow account when my property tax has remained stable and my home insurance has decreased. I have receive limited responses to my emails and no clear reason has been provided. This is when I was informed that a Mortgage Insurance Premium ( MIP ) is applied to my loan. I was puzzled by this since my year-end statement from Nationstar has a XXXX entry for mortgage insurance. I later discovered that my mortgage insurance is approximately $ XXXX/year and it comes out of my escrow account. Nowhere on my escrow statements is there anything about a MIP. Property tax and homeowners insurance payments are clearly stated ; however, there is nothing about mortgage insurance. In my opinion this represents a lack of disclosure and transparency on my loan. Additionally, the mortgage insurance is over XXXX % of my current outstanding amount which seems egregious. I refinanced my loan a few years ago ( HARP program ) and the loan/value ( L/V ) on my mortgage was well over XXXX % at the time the loan was refinanced ( I was XXXX of XXXX homeowners stuck in this situation during housing bubble burst! ). I do n't recall mortgage insurance being discussed during the refinancing of my mortgage, nor did they make it clear that as to what the amount of the MIP is and what my options are to get MIP removed. I now understand that mortgage insurance is required if the L/V exceeds XXXX %. The problem that I have is that they base the L/V on the value of my home at the time I refinanced the mortgage rather than the value of my home at the time I purchased it. As such, the MIP will remain for several more years due to me refinancing the loan which should have been disclosed when I made the decision to refinance. My home value has increased substantially during the past couple of years as the housing market has recovered ; however, this is not reflected in my L'V that is on record with Nationstar XXXX Apparently it is up to the me to have my home re-appraised a and then wrangel with Nationstar to change the L/V so it reflects current market conditions. I have had difficulties getting responses to my questions regarding my escrow account and the mortgage insurance, all I get is form letter indicating their research department will get back to me. This mortgage insurance nonsense is ridiculous and puts an major financial burden on the consumer. I 'm sure it came about as a result of all of the mortgage defaults during the " great recession ''. Bottom line is that Nationstar, and other lenders for that matter, need to be more transparent and forthright regarding mortgage insurance like they are for the loan principal, mortgage interest, property taxes and property insurance. Bottom line is that they do n't want the consumer to know how much they are charging for mortgage insurance as it is simply money in their pockets! They need to me more responsive and clear regarding inquiries to this matter and provide assistance to reach a solution that is satisfactory to all parties, especially the consumer. I will continue my quest to get answers regarding mortgage insurance and will not make the mistake of purchasing another home unless I can provide a large enough down payment to forego mortgage insurance ( housing mess probably would n't have occurred if banks would have required at least XXXX % down in the first place ). Hopefully, this complaint does n't fall on deaf ears

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation