Consumer complaint received 2019-12-29
Company: Ocwen Financial Corporation
State: WI
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
First, some background : I originated my conventional mortgage in XX/XX/XXXX. The mortgage requires taxes and insurance to be escrowed and has been serviced by PHH Mortgage Services since inception. I have never had a late payment since inception. 
I have had an escrow disbursement sent each year in time to pay the Property Tax in the year in which it is billed. This has not changed since the loan was originated. 
In early XXXX, PHH sold my mortgage to XXXX, but PHH retained the servicing rights. In XX/XX/XXXX, I received a mailing from XXXX  c/o PHH requesting me to indicate my preference for payment of my property taxes. I returned the form letter on XX/XX/XXXX via FAX indicating my preference to retain my standing practice to pay in full each year, when billed. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I checked the status of the escrow online and saw no indication that the payment was made or pending, so I called the Customer Service at XXXX/PHH. They told me XX/XX/XXXX was not a timely response and that they could not initiate a payment in XXXX ), but would submit a request to expedite. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, the online portal showed there were three installments scheduled for XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX. and XX/XX/XXXX ( changed from XX/XX/XXXX status, but incorrect per tax bill requirements ). I placed another call to PHH Customer Service. I spoke to a XXXX, who explained that XX/XX/XXXX was after their deadline and they could not issue a payment in XXXX. I asked to escalate the call and after TWO hours was connected with XXXX ( employee ID XXXX ). XXXX familiarized herself with my issue and put me on hold to check what could be done by contacting the Tax Department. After a reasonable delay, she reiterated that they could not issue a payment in XXXX as I had missed the deadline on their form letter. She was not able to offer any further level of escalation for the supervisor of the Tax Department or their supervisor. She was only able to offer a PO Box to which I could send a written Notice of Error. There was no email or fax option that could address the issue in a timely way. 
The impact requires me to front {$8700.00} out of pocket to pay Property Tax in order to include in my XXXX income taxes. This doubles the funds that I've already contractually placed in escrow with this mortgage servicer, who is unwilling to send payment within a 30 day window ( from XX/XX/XXXX written direction ). This is at best willful incompetence and at worst, a deliberate fraud committed by a fiduciary to the consumer market. 
My issue : This organization instigated a process that required a response from me on a timeline that, absent my response, changed my standing direction on tax disbursements. I believe this is a deliberate strategy to hold thousands ( or millions? ) of consumer escrow payments in this way to create a financial benefit in favor of PHH to the detriment of consumers. I request that the CFPB investigate this as an example of what I believe to be a deliberate fraudulent scheme by a fiduciary.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation