Consumer complaint received 2022-03-03
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: PA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX received an email from Truist ( formerly Suntrust ) with a " friendly reminder '' that my monthly mortgage payment was changing from $ XXXX to $ XXXX, an increase of $ XXXX, or $ XXXX. This was the first communication from Truist that the monthly payment was changing and there was no explanation for the increase in the email. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called Truist customer service to see why my mortgage was increasing so much. Truist 's explanation was that my insurance went up ( accounted for about $ XXXX ) as did my city tax ( by about $ XXXX ) which significantly impacted the escrow analysis on my account. After about 45 minutes talking with multiple departments, it was clear that the tax increase was not accurate and that Truist had mishandled their tax projections in XXXX for my account. Therefore, the escrow analysis would need to be re-done to get my monthly payment back down to a reasonable number. The last person I spoke to agreed that something was wrong, said that the escrow analysis would be run with the correct numbers, and that I would hear back from Truist in 3 business days. 

By XX/XX/XXXX I had not heard back from Truist, so I called customer service again. Nothing had been done with my account, so we started from scratch on all the issues that were supposed to be resolved by XX/XX/XXXX. This time I spent about 90 minutes on the phone with multiple departments to get Truist representative to see the obvious issue that was happening. When they agreed the escrow analysis had to be re-done, they informed me that whoever told me that would take 3 business days was incorrect. The updated analysis would take six business days, and that had not started yet. The representative ( s ) assured me that everything would be resolved on my account no later than XX/XX/XXXX, and that I would definitely be hearing from Truist by that date. 

By XX/XX/XXXX I had not heard from Truist, so I called customer service again. Starting from scratch again on all of the issues I had dealt with to date, and speaking again with multiple departments over the course of about 60 minutes, I was informed that the escrow analysis was re-done but yielded the same result with the inflated monthly payment. The representative ( s ) eventually understood that the tax projection was incorrect, and informed me that they would have to re-submit the numbers for another escrow analysis. This time, they told me that escrow analysis takes 14 business days to complete. I asked to speak to a supervisor, as any reasonable person would find all of this unacceptable, they left a message for a supervisor and could not connect me directly. The representative ( s ) also refused to document what we spoke about via email back to me. 

On XX/XX/XXXX the Truist supervisor reached out to me. While they couldn't guarantee anything, she had put in an urgent request to get the escrow analysis complete within the next 24-48 hours rather than 14 business days. They apologized for how everything had gone to date, and did guarantee that no matter what, they would reach out to me on Tue, XX/XX/XXXX to give me an update on where my account stood. They also provided their extension for me to contact them directly if needed. 

By XX/XX/XXXX I had not heard back from the supervisor. I called Truist customer service again and attempted to contact them directly with the extension provided. The representative I spoke to could not make any connection with that extension. I then started from scratch again with all of the issues to date with that representative. After reviewing my account information the rep informed me that having an escrow account as part of a mortgage is a bad idea and that tax increases can compound a shortage. They also indicated that another analysis was being done and the results would be available by XX/XX/XXXX ( the next due date for payment on my account ). I was admittedly very frustrated and angry on this call since I had no reason to trust anything that a Truist representative was saying at this point. 

On XX/XX/XXXX my payment was due, but my online Truist account was still showing the inflated amount due. I called Truist customer service again to make a payment in the amount of {$1800.00} since multiple representatives from Truist had agreed that the {$2000.00} number was incorrect. I was told that the only amount I was able to pay on the account was the {$2000.00} that was showing as due. I declined paying the incorrect number, at the risk of impacting my credit. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from Truist informing me of me new updated monthly payment of {$1900.00}. There was nothing explaining that this was the result of an updated escrow analysis, or any justification at all for arriving at the new payment amount. Nobody from Truist reached out with an explanation either. As the new monthly amount seems like the result of a more accurate escrow analysis on my account, I made the monthly payment ( and hopefully avoided any impact to my credit ). I still don't have a way to validate that it's accurate though.

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