Consumer complaint received 2017-12-01
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: IL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
1 ) In XXXX XXXX I opened a mortgage with XXXX XXXX. The payments were {$2600.00} of which {$680.00} was for a real estate tax escrow. 
2 ) In early XXXX XXXX raised the mortgage payment to {$3300.00} with the escrow payment increasing to {$1400.00} ( an increase of 100 % for an annual total of {$16000.00} into escrow ). I immediately protested this escrow assessment. 
3 ) The tax history of the property is as follows : XXXX : {$10000.00} Paid in Full XXXX : {$10000.00} Payment History XXXX : {$8200.00} Payment History XXXX : {$8000.00} Payment History XXXX : {$7700.00} Payment History 3 ) Even in the highest years of the taxes ( XXXX ) the escrow amount demanded was 62 % higher than the taxes. This is well beyond the amount allowed in the mortgage escrow agreement. 
4 ) In XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX stated in writing ( Please see EXHIBIT D ) that they had corrected the escrow amount, waived late charges and had not made any negative credit reports. 
5 ) At around the same time XXXX XXXX  transferred the servicing of the loan to Fifth Third Bank, whereupon I re-directed my automatic payments to Fifth third. 
6 ) Fifth Third did not accept the first XXXX payment from my account at XXXX stating that it did not match their records. It was at this time that I discovered that apparently XXXX XXXX had not done any of the things it said it did in EXHIBIT D before they transferred the servicing to Fifth Third. 
7 ) Since the transfer of the servicing to Fifth Third I have made all payments to Fifth Third including manually sending them the payment that they refused from the XXXX EFT. I further paid an amount that they said was needed to adjust my escrow account per their calculation of the escrow. Please see EXHIBIT F. 
8 ) Since the transfer of the servicing, Fifth Third has not applied a number of payments to the mortgage. Apparently, ( and I never received any explanation of this in writing ) they put my payments in an account called " unposted funds '' and when the amount in that account reached the XXXX XXXX  unadjusted payment, they then applied the funds to the mortgage. 
However, in one instance they actually returned funds in that account after deducting a payment. Here again, I promptly returned the funds that they returned to me. 
9 ) I have received monthly notices of default and foreclosure from Fifth Third and monthly statements showing amounts due as high as over {$13000.00} even though I have made all payments and they have money in the " unposted funds '' account. 
10 ) Throughout this period I have never received any kind of explanation of how Fifth third has put me in this position. Nor any explanation of exactly what they believe to be what they need from me. I even wrote to a senior officer ( see EXHIBIT I ) and received no response. 
11 ) To illustrate the absurdity of the situation, EXHIBIT J is a letter from Fifth Third stating that I must pay {$3400.00} in delinquency, which appears to be the amount of one of the unadjusted XXXX XXXX payments, plus a late fee ( supposedly waived ). Exactly one day prior to EXHIBIT J they sent a mortgage statement ( EXHIBIT K ) saying that I owe {$13000.00}.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation