Consumer complaint received 2019-06-07
Company: SUNTRUST BANKS, INC.
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
In XXXX of XXXX, I secured a mortgage from SunTrust for the purchase of my primary residence at XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, FL XXXX. Attached please find the closing disclosures and mortgage note. The PMI terms state removal can be requested at 80 % LTV and good payment history. Good payment history is specified as 12 months of no 30+ day late payment or 24 months of no 60+ payments. 

In XXXX or XXXX of XXXX, I received notification in the mail of the sale of my mortgage to XXXX XXXX, but that SunTrust would remain the servicer. There was no disclosure of new terms related to my PMI or new investor guidelines that I agreed to. The updated terms of my loan in regards to PMI were not agreed to. They can not sell my loan and update loan terms without my consent. Line item # 20 in the mortgage note describes SunTrust ability to sell my loan, but nothing about being bound by a new set of terms should this occur. I would have never agreed to such. I never signed anything. 

In XXXX of XXXX, I requested the removal of PMI as specified in the attached PMI disclosures. I was at that time told about XXXX   XXXX  investor guidelines. I disputed that XXXX XXXX investor guidelines were not the right disclosures I agree to at closing. They acknowledged at that time that the original PMI disclosures were the appropriate terms, but my request for removal was still denied because I did not meet the requirement of no 30+ late payments for the preceding 12 month period. 

In or around XX/XX/XXXX, I filed a dispute for the payment they were regarding as 30 days late. The premise for that dispute was : In XX/XX/XXXX, I went in branch ( at XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX, XXXX XXXX, FL XXXX ) to make a payment and the teller told me the wrong amount ( {$20.00} less than my normal payment ). I did not question the amount she presented because in XX/XX/XXXX I had made a slightly higher payment via my XXXX XXXX bill pay because I could not remember the amount owed. SunTrust held my XXXX payment and did not apply it to my account due to the tellers mistake saying they would not apply anything less than the full payment amount to the account. I did receive a letter in the mail stating this, but am busy and knew I would just take care of it with the XXXX payment. On XX/XX/XXXX, I paid the difference plus the payment for XX/XX/XXXX bringing the account current. They put a 30-day late payment in my record even though I went to the branch manager ( at XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX, XXXX XXXX, FL XXXX ) and explained the error. Ultimately, they denied my late payment dispute because I did not pay the {$20.00} in time to meet the 30-day commitment ( even though it was 1 day outside the timeframe ). I conceded knowing I could request again in XX/XX/XXXX. I learned an important lesson that inaction on my part would cause this process to drag on. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, our request for a HELOC was approved based on an appraisal conducted by SunTrust ( attached ) that showed the value of the home to be {$360000.00}. 


On XX/XX/XXXX, I submitted a request via online banking secure messaging portal ( as instructed by a service center rep on XX/XX/XXXX, screen shot attached ) to request the removal of PMI knowing that I was now at 12 months of good payment history. 

Subject : Request to remove PMI XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Please find the attached appraisal contingencies. I would like to remove PMI based on the recent appraisal value conducted as part of my recent SunTrust HELOC and 12 months of good payment history. Please confirm when this is complete. 

I received no response to this message to date or any kind of confirmation that my request was received. 

On or around the week of XX/XX/XXXX, I called to confirm receipt of my request. They confirmed my request was received and that the PMI showed in a review. 

On or around XX/XX/XXXX, I called again to request a status update and was told the timeline was 30 days from receipt is when the review would be completed. 

On or around XX/XX/XXXX, I called to get the status again and was told it was still in review and the file showed a completion date of XX/XX/XXXX. I asked if I would be credited back the PMI payment for XXXX since the review was taking longer than the specified timeline. The answer was no, that there would be no refund of PMI and that I am required to keep paying it until the time of removal. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received the attached denial for my PMI removal request due to XXXX XXXX investor guidelines. Please note the following in the denial letter : Property As Is Value of {$340000.00} even though a recently conducted appraisal by SunTrust shows the value to be {$360000.00} ( which is an LTV of 67.64 % ) It shows 0 number of 30 days or more past due payments in the last 12 months and 0 number of 60 days or more past due payments in the last 24  months. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called and spoke to a supervisor in the mortgage service center ( XXXX something ) about my disappointment around the denial being made due to XXXX XXXX guidelines that I never agreed to. She said that because they are the investor listed on the account there is nothing she could do to escalate the matter further until I paid for appraisal or BPO requested and submitted a list of substantial improvements as specified in the denial letter. I told her that I will not submit those because I did not believe those XXXX   XXXX terms are the ones I should be held to. I believed I met all the requirements outlined in the PMI disclosures ( attached ) that I agreed to at closing. We were at an impasse of no further point of escalation so I expressed to XXXX that I then had no choice other than to file a complaint. 

As you can see in the detailed timeline provided, I keep getting the runaround on removing PMI even though I have met all the terms on the PMI disclosures I received at closing. I never agreed to updated terms at the sale of my mortgage to XXXX XXXX. I feel like they are trying to defraud me of hundreds of dollars a month for insurance that is not necessary to protect an asset that has matured out of the PMI LTV specifications. I have made a tremendous effort to work with SunTrust throughout the process, but seek the protection of CFPB due to their complete lack of transparency and being told opposing things at every juncture.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation