Consumer complaint received 2020-07-13
Company: MORGAN STANLEY & CO. LLC
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage

Complaint:
Hello, I'm writing to formally file a dispute related to home insurance charges levied in the last 12 months and bring to your attention predatory and unethical practices at Morgan Stanley Private Bank ( Morgan Stanley Home Loans ). 

Issue Details 1. I have been charged a home insurance premium twice within the last twelve months. The charges are below. 

XX/XX/XXXX : About {$2500.00} XX/XX/XXXX : About {$2800.00} 2. Regarding the first charge in XX/XX/XXXX - the first time I reached out to the reps at MS loan administration, I was told it was related to the Flood/Hazard Insurance of the Condo building. This typically renews in XXXX of each year and is made available by the XXXX XXXX. So I had asked about why MS purchased an insurance for me ahead of time. The rep believed it was a mistake and told me she filed a request for it to be taken out and I assumed it would be done so. For some reason it wasn't. Much later and more recently when I realized it wasn't, I reached out again and was told it was related to home insurance instead. This reasoncame muchlater and I couldn't purchaseone myself toprovide MS with proof for any time period. I have been purchasing insurance coverage in previous years by procuring insurance myself. I've attached a sample of one such insurance coverage. You can see from the coverage details, that I paid around {$500.00} in annual premiums thatyear and it has more or less remained the same. Yet Morgan Stanley charged me almost 5x that amount to procure that insurance themselves. Upon looking closely at my online statements and realizing the amount, I called Morgan Stanley 's loan administration team twice to request the coverage details and why was such an  insurance bought when it was not needed instead of simply matching the coverage I used to get. The coverage I used to get was more than sufficient with my XXXX XXXX, so there was absolutely no need for such extensive coverage. Furthermore, I've called in twice already to request the details for the coverage and the reps would not connect me with the insurance team at MS . They would simply tell me that the insurance team would forward the details to the rep, who would then forward it to the supervisor, who would then email it to me. I still don't have the details. 

3. Since I had no details about the coverage from the MS team and the online portal didn't have it either, I asked the reps if the XXXX coverage they bought me was good for a year. They simply said yes. If you look at the coverage I used to purchase, the period would be XX/XX/XXXX onwards. This is why it was surprising that they levied another charge in XX/XX/XXXX. 

4. I recently sold the property and closed on it on XX/XX/XXXX. Since the second charge was only levied on XX/XX/XXXX, Morgan Stanley should have pro-rated the charge and refunded the rest. However, I didn't hear from them about it nor saw any adjustment in the online account. I had to call in again to a ) completely dispute the charge since they had told me the previous charge was good for a year and b ) remind them that they should be pro-rating and refund the rest at the very least. The rep checked with the insurance team and confirmed they owe me a refund but until I called in, they had no intention of doing so. 

5. I'm yet to receive coverage details or any details of the refund on the balance of the second charge. The reps simply refused to provide any details, saying the insurance team will be reaching out on that. I'm still waiting.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation