Consumer complaint received 2022-04-27
Company: M&T BANK CORPORATION
State: OH
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
M & T bank is holding my information hostage which is preventing me from receiving mortgage assistance through the state of Ohio. My wife and I applied and have been approved for six months of mortgage assistance through Ohio 's XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX program funded by the CARES act. A part of the process to receive funding is for the Ohio XXXX XXXX XXXX to request a verification of mortgage from our loan/mortgage servicer, M & T bank. This communication and these requests take place through the U.S. Department of Treasury 's system where the Ohio XXXX informed us an information request typically takes 30 days. My wife and I were approved in XX/XX/XXXX and when the 30 days had passed in XX/XX/XXXX I called the Ohio HFA for a status update. The Ohio XXXX indicated that the request was left unanswered and that they were initiating a new request. I recognized that the 30 days took place over the holidays during a pandemic where staffing levels were low so waited another 30 days. In XXXX of XXXX I reached out to Ohio XXXX who indicated they still had not received anything from M & T bank so they submitted a fresh request through the treasury system. I inserted myself into what should be an automatic background process calling both the Ohio XXXX and M & T Bank every few days to piece together what the holdup was. This is where I learned about the Treasury system, that the information can't be simply faxed over, and the exact documents ( verification of mortgage ) needed by the Ohio XXXX. Repeated calls to M & T Bank did not connect me to anyone who was able to send this information through the Treasury system or who was in charge of responding to these requests. Numerous M & T Bank personnel and departments were mystified by my request and were no help. In XXXX of XXXX I heard from the Ohio XXXX that they had received my verification of mortgage from M & T bank through the treasury system but that my name was not included/spelled properly and therefore invalid. The Ohio XXXX let me know that they had reached out through this same system to M & T bank to issue a correction but like other communications this could take 30 days to hear back. In XXXX of XXXX I tried a new method to contact M & T bank where instead of calling I used their email messaging system. This got me in touch with the same consistent customer service representative who assured me that on XX/XX/XXXX my information was sent to the Ohio XXXX via the treasury system and should be received withing XXXX business days. On XX/XX/XXXX another communication from M & T bank indicated that they had lied to me my information had not been sent and that they are " researching the issue ''. My confidence in M & T bank has been completely eroded. I'm unsure if they have my information at all as this mortgage was transferred to them by the XXXX XXXX Mortgage company. If they do have it, then they are unable or unwilling to communicate this information to a government agency. Their incompetence is staggering. I am unable to determine if this is a flawed process, a flawed computer system, or some combination of the two on their end. After half a year of dead ends I feel my best course of action is to lodge a formal complaint with the CFPB in the hopes that this spurs some action on my case.

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