Consumer complaint received 2019-06-03
Company: Flagstar Bank, N.A.
State: AL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Flagstar Bank or rather Mortgage Company assumed my mortgage from the company I financed with interest smart home loans in XXXX. By XXXX of XXXX suspicious movement of XXXX 's started occurring in my escrow account. Money was being taken out and put back in and taken out and put back in again which alerted need that there might be some type of money washing scheme going on. Shortly after I found out that Flagstar Bank had taken {$1900.00} out of my escrow account to purchase Hazard insurance from some type of shell company that they own to cover my wind and hail insurance. The problem with this is that my elected wind and hail insurance Company is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and they had already notified Flagstar on four separate occasions that the payment was due from their company but we're ignored. Flagstar instead of paying the {$670.00} elected to take over {$1900.00} out of my account and purchase insurance from one of their friends companies. After this I had a definite mortgage shortage of which they were glad to loan me money and then assess me fees because I did not have enough money in my escrow. When I presented them with all the paperwork showing that not only have I never missed a payment but that they were the ones responsible for paying XXXX   XXXX XXXX XXXX out of my Escrow in a timely manner and not me. Just turned into a seven-month process in which they continued to try to purchase more Hazard insurance and kept putting me off telling me that they were escalating my case and would get back to me but no one ever did. The few phone calls I got from different managers at the company had no way of knowing any of the information that was part of another division for example the escrow department it's not able to see your loan Insurance status and customer service it's not allowed to see your escrow or your insurance status. So these managers have no power to fix anything but only two push the escalation button that goes nowhere. After numerous tries to reason with Flagstar Bank I am out of options. The one time that they responded and said that they were returning the money to my account, only a partial payment was made into the account and then later that day it was taken back out and I was told that I owed it to them for fronting me some escrow money. I explained to them that I did not owe them anything they stole my escrow money and never returned it and I did not need to borrow money from them because I already had it in my account they have now begun charging me over {$1200.00} a month for a mortgage that was around {$850.00}. I can not afford to pay this as I am in the process of losing my job because of a XXXX and my income will be greatly affected. I would have struggled with the original {$850.00} but the XXXX plus dollars is way out of any type of reason. I really need some help auditing their books hey insurance company is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and they had already notified Flagstar for separate occasions that the payment was due from their company but we're ignored. Flagstar instead of paying the {$670.00} elected to take it over {$1900.00} out of my account and purchase insurance from one of their friend companies. After this I had a definite mortgage shortage of which saver glad to loan me money and then assess XXXX 's because I did not have enough money in my escrow. When I presented them with all the paperwork showing that not only have I never missed a payment but that they were the ones responsible for paying XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX out of my escrow in a timely manner and not me. Just turned into a 7 month process in which they continued to try to purchase more hazard insurance and kept putting me off telling me that they were escalated my case and would get back to me but no one ever did. The few phone calls I got from different managers at the company had no way of knowing any of the information that was part of another division for example the escrow Department is not able to see your loan insurance status and customer service is not allowed to see your escrow or your insurance status. So these managers have no power to fix anything but only to push the escalation button that goes nowhere. After numerous tries to reason with Flagstar Bank I am out of options. The one time that they responded and said that they were returning the money to my account, only a partial payment was made into the account and then later that day it was taking back out and I was told that I owed it to them for fronting me some extra money. I explain to them that I do not owe them anything they stole my extra money and never returned it and I did not need to borrow money from them because I already had it in my account they have now begun charging me over {$1200.00} a month for a mortgage that was around {$850.00}. I can not afford to pay this as I am in the process of losing my job because of the XXXX and my income will be greatly affected. I would have struggled with the original {$850.00} but the XXXX plus dollars is way out of any type of reason. I really need some help or nothing there foots and getting back my money. I managed to get ahold of my escrow records which show all of the illegal transactions. At this point I have sent Flagstar all of the legal information showing proof of insurance and the letters from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX proving that they were billed for the proper insurance and refuse to pay it, they refused to respond or audit my account to the original condition it should be in. At this point I'm out thousands of dollars and at the same time they are ruining my credit and calling my house several times everyday threatening to ruin it even worse even though I'm making my full payment. When I asked if I could take my insurance away from them and pay for it myself to alleviate this problem they told me no, that I have a VA loan and that I had to let them handle my escrow and my insurance. I am being held XXXX by this company and it's least for money with no recourse. Please tell me there's an answer and that your company can help. If anyone else is in the same situation and has found a way to make these people pay for what they have stolen. I would welcome the knowledge.

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