Consumer complaint received 2020-10-25
Company: AMERIS BANCORP
State: MD
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I have three major issues with my mortgage bank. These include : 1 ) The payment of my real estate tax payment, 2 ) The closure of my escrow account, and 3 ) The cancellation of the private mortgage insurance. 

In addition, I have issues with their slow response to my repeated requests to their customer service department. Their customer service representatives give wrong information and also do not follow up on requests that I submit. 

Some background information that I think will be helpful. They offered Corvid hardship relief. Payments could be deferred for XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX. No mention was made that the payments would be considered delinquent. 
Once the deferral expired. I made payments to bring the loan current. However, they are declaring my account delinquent because I elected to defer payments under the Corvid hardship. I would not have differed payments if they were going to declare me delinquent and thus negatively affect my credit rating. 

I feel they are taking advantage of the pandemic to unduly force me to maintain unnecessary insurance. I am current on my loan. I have an excellent credit score. I have not missed any payments except for the above referenced deferrals. 

They are the third mortgage company to maintain my loan. 

1 ) The payment of my real estate tax payment. 
I had previously arranged with the owners of my mortgage to pay my real estate taxes in full in XXXX. 

Starting on XXXX, XXXX ; I requested that my taxes be paid in full in XXXX. 
Emails were sent on these dates : XX/XX/XXXX ; XXXX XX/XX/XXXX ; XX/XX/XXXX Here is the info on the reply concerning my inquiry into making a single tax payment in XXXX which was not done. I have extracted a portion of the email showing they promised to pay the full tax amount in XXXX. 

============================= Sent At ( CT ) XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX  Topic PMI Cancellation Subject Re : Re : Re : Cancelling PMI and liquidating the escrow account Message Dear XXXX XXXX XXXX : This is a follow up to our previous correspondence regarding your property address and Private Mortgage Insurance ( PMI ). We apologize for the delay in our response. 

Per your request, our Tax Department has adjusted their records so that disbursements for your property taxes will be made once annually in XXXX. We are next scheduled to disburse a payment to the XXXX County Office of finance in XX/XX/XXXX, in the anticipated amount of ( $ $ $ $ $ ). We are next scheduled to disburse a payment to the XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX, in the anticipated amount of ( $ $ $ $ ). We hope this satisfies your request. 
============== However, on XX/XX/XXXX only half the tax owed was paid ( $ $ $ $ $ $ ). In addition they reevaluated my escrow account to reflect the full payment. Which caused an increase in my monthly escrow payment. By making a full payment of the taxes in XXXX, saves me {$15.00}. I have now missed out on this savings for two years. 
I have continued to contact them to get an explanation of why this was not done. Yet have not gotten a satisfactory answer. 

The most recent response I received was this which does not address my issue. 

====================== Sent At ( CT ) XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX Topic Taxes Subject Re : Full payment of taxes : escrow division Message Dear XXXX XXXX XXXX, We have received your email dated XX/XX/XXXX, regarding your taxes. We apologize for the delay in our response time. Please note that we respond to correspondence in the order in which it is received. Due to high volume of borrower inquiries, some inquiries may require more time to research thoroughly. If you require immediate assistance, please contact our Customer Service Department at the number provided below.

Our records indicate your last county tax payment was made on XX/XX/XXXX, for ( $ $ $ $ $ $ $ ), to the XXXX County Office of Finance. The amount paid was procured from the tax departments website as prior to disbursing funds, our tax service verifies the appropriate amounts due with your taxing authority. Your next disbursement for county taxes is due in XX/XX/XXXX, in the anticipated amount of ( $ $ $ $ $ ). You can send us the updated tax bills to any of the following : ================================== 2 ) Escrow Account I have requested that the escrow account be closed and any monies be refunded to me. 

However, they are declaring my account delinquent because I elected to defer payments under the Corvid hardship. 

3 ) Private Mortgage Insurance I have requested that the private mortgage insurance be cancelled. One of the customer service representative I talked to said the refunds would be retroactive which I understand is not correct. This discussion took place on XX/XX/XXXX. In addition he did not follow up on any of my requests which I found out later after talking to a another representative. 

However, once again they are declaring my account delinquent because I elected to defer payments under the Corvid hardship.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief