Consumer complaint received 2022-02-02
Company: Finance of America Holdings LLC
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
To whom it may concern : Finance of America handles my mortgage and mortgage servicing. I escrow my property taxes and home insurance payment with them. My loan # is XXXX. Ive never had an issue in the past with making my mortgage payment or with secure home owners insurance coverage. I refinanced my mortgage through Finance of America in XXXX of XXXX. Everything appeared to moving forward nicely. I make my payment electronically each month, always sending in my payment at least a few days in advance. I actually make an additional payment each month towards my principle. A small amount around {$110.00}. I switched my mortgage to a 15-year term. The refi increased my payment slightly but not that much. My new rate was reduced to 2.75 % which made me happy. 
Fast forward to XX/XX/XXXX. I received my escrow analysis and notice a massive short fall. I couldnt understand where this short fall came from so I called Loan Servicing and asked for assistance. I was told the reason for the short fall was because in XXXX of XXXX the insurance department of Finance of America implemented force placed insurance on my home. I asked why they would do that without notifying me first. I never had a problem with my insurance provider XXXX. Ive been with XXXX for several years. My policy for the last 2 years was around {$1600.00}, which I though was very reasonable. The forced placed insurance which I didnt authorized was {$4000.00}. Yes, more than twice the policy I secured. I was flabbergasted when I heard this. I was certain there had to be a mistake. How can a company that you pay to escrow and mortgage service your loan, force place your insurance without any notification? This has to be illegal. I would think they would call me, email me or send me something in writing alerting me of this situation. But nothing came... the only way I figured this out was 6 months after the fact. I would think they would have had to send me a copy of the policy they force placed. I would have thought XXXX would sent me something showing cancellation as well. But no, I received nothing. I receive every piece of marketing junk mail they send me but no notification of forced placed insurance which I surely would have cancelled. 

Over the month of XXXX, XXXX, Ive made countless phone calls, spent at least 10 hours on hold based on my last count, attempting to get this issue resolved. No one seems to want to assist me. I get a lot of finger-pointing, everyone works from home, no one answers our calls, you should have received something in the mail, its another departments responsibility responses are all I seem to get. 

One person from mortgage servicing, did call me and leave me 2 messages. XXXX XXXX no last name ) from phone number ( XXXX ) XXXX. He promised to call me back last week by XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX but he never called back. My mortgage payment was due on XXXX. I paid it but I only paid the principal and interest portions plus a little more just make sure I covered those 2 parts of my payment. I need some assistance with resolving this issue ASAP. 

Im very unhappy and I dont seem to be getting any assistance. I pay for these services. I paid to refi with Finance of America and I pay them with the interest each month and they should be looking out for my interest. 

I cant believe the mortgage service company has the right to go ahead and force place insurance on my house without my ok or knowledge. The policy they forced placed is twice as expense, it doesnt provide proper coverage on my property, that only covers the banks investment, etc. I wonder what would have happen if I had a claim from XXXX to XXXX of XXXX? I can make a good guess ; They would have denied it! I also find it odd that they company that force placed the insurance policy on me also holds an interest in the insurance company they stuck me with.... That sounds very illegal. 

I someone to control of this issue and help me with addressing the problem. My name is XXXX XXXX. My home is located at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, Florida XXXX. I can be reached at phone number XXXX XXXX. 

Thank you!

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief