Consumer complaint received 2019-04-25
Company: Mr. Cooper Group Inc.
State: NJ
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
At the end of XX/XX/XXXX, we were notified that our Mortgage was assigned to Mr. Cooper, the new Mortgagor. In our notice of assignment, we were guaranteed a smooth transition and were told that we did not need to do anything to facilitate the assignment/transition. The mortgage was transitioned in XXXX. 

Per the terms of our Mortgage Agreement, we pay our Mortgagor certain additional amounts which are to be held in escrow by the Mortgagor in an escrow account, and used by the Mortgagor to pay our homeowners insurance and property taxes. 

We received notice from our township in XX/XX/XXXX that our first quarter property taxes were not timely paid, and that interest and penalties had begun to accrue. Our Mortgage Agreement provides that in addition to being obligated to use the escrowed funds to pay our property taxes, the Mortgagor is responsible for any interest and penalties due in connection with failing to timely pay such property taxes when due. Regardless of responsibility for facilitating payment of our property taxes ( and payment of penalties and interest thereon ), we are very concerned about any consequences resulting from the Mortgagors failure to pay the amounts due, including, but not limited to, the impact on our credit score and/or potential tax liens being issued against our property. The first quarter taxes should have been paid on XX/XX/XXXX. 

I called Mr. Cooper on XX/XX/XXXX, immediately following our receipt of the late notice from our township. On the call, a representative of Mr. Cooper blamed our prior Mortgagor for not paying the first quarter property taxes. The representative said that Mr. Cooper would pay our first quarter property taxes, as well as any interest and penalties accrued in connection therewith, utilizing the funds that Mr. Cooper holds in escrow, and would, thereafter, bill our prior Mortgagor for such amounts. This process is consistent with the terms of our Mortgage Agreement. 

Despite the foregoing conversation, and contrary to the terms of our Mortgage Agreement, Mr. Cooper failed to pay our property taxes and interest and penalties accrued in connection therewith. 

In follow-up telephone conversations that I initiated in the ensuing weeks with representatives of Mr. Cooper, A representative of Mr. Cooper said that Mr. Cooper had not paid the amounts due because our township had failed to provide proper documentation and had failed to return Mr. Coopers communication requests. The Mr. Cooper representative did not indicate what documentation was missing and instead told me that the issue had to be resolved between Mr. Cooper and the township directly. Additionally, my wife visited our townships taxpayers office two ( 2 ) times to confirm that the property taxes and other charges had been paid. On each occasion, the township claimed that ( despite what we had been told by Mr. Cooper ) the township had not received any communications from Mr. Cooper and that Mr. Cooper must reach out to the township directly to pay the amounts due. In short, both our township and Mr. Cooper indicated that there was nothing that we, as the homeowners, could do to solve this issue. Nevertheless, in XX/XX/XXXX, I verified on two ( 2 ) different telephone calls with Mr. Cooper representatives that they had the correct phone number for our townships XXXX XXXX XXXX on file, in hopes that the amounts due would be promptly paid. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Mr. Cooper again. This time, the representative from Mr. Cooper that I spoke with indicated that Mr. Cooper did not have the past-due property tax bill on file. With my assistance, the agent was able to download a copy of the property tax bill from the townships XXXX XXXX website. The Mr. Cooper representative said that the property tax bill and other amounts due in connection therewith would be paid in full and that I should call back in a little over a week for an update. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Mr. Cooper to confirm that the property tax bill and other amounts due had been paid and to ask for an update on the situation. The representative that I spoke with said that Mr. Cooper had confirmed the tax bill amount due, along with the interest/penalties accrued, and that Mr. Cooper would be issuing a check to my township that week. The representative again confirmed that we would not be responsible for the interest/penalties accrued. I was told to call back in five ( 5 ) days for another update. 

As of XX/XX/XXXX, the past-due property taxes and interest and penalties accrued thereon have still not been paid by Mr. Cooper. I called Mr. Cooper on XX/XX/XXXX, and the representative I spoke with initially indicated that my repeated requests for the payment of the property taxes and other amounts due had been denied due to missing documentation. When I directed the representative to look through my file, he found the documentation and sounded confused. After being placed on hold for about ten ( 10 ) minutes, the representative came back on the line and told me that my wife and I have done all we can do with regards to this matter and that the rest of the work to resolve this matter is to be handled by the Mr. Cooper tax department. Additionally, the representative said that they are working on the issue ( despite his original claim that our request had been denied ). The representative then directed me to call back on Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX, for another update. I did, and Mr. Cooper told me that their tax department was working on it, but they blamed the prior mortgager for not paying the taxes on time. They also did not have any timeline as to when this would be handled and the agent indicated that they didn't know what else could be done. I indicated I would be filing a complaint with the CFPB and the agent understood my situation. 

At this point, we are very frustrated with the situation, and the seeming lack of urgency, attention, or competency by Mr. Cooper. There is plenty of money in the escrow account established by Mr. Cooper to pay the property taxes and other amounts due. It has now been about two ( 2 ) months since my first phone call to Mr. Cooper regarding this issue ( and over three ( 3 ) months since our Mortgage was assigned ), and the first quarter property taxes have still not paid. Such failure to pay the property taxes and interest and penalties in connection therewith is a violation of Mr. Coopers obligations under the Mortgage Agreement and disregards our repeated requests for payment. Interest and penalties continue to accrue, and my wife and I are growing increasingly concerned about a tax lien being filed against our home and/or a negative impact on our credit rating. I am hoping that this issue is resolved as soon as possible.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation