Consumer complaint received 2019-08-09
Company: PENNYMAC LOAN SERVICES, LLC.
State: SC
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter from PennyMac Loan Services, my mortgage company, stating that I need to verify coverage for wind and hail insurance for the time period of XXXX. They had sent me a letter prior to this stating that I needed the same coverage for XXXX and that if I could not provide proof of coverage I would be able to get it or they would provide it for me. Due to the initial letter, I obtained coverage for the year XXXX. This was the first time I had received any notification that I needed this coverage and I resolved it immediately for the current year. After receiving the letter on XX/XX/XXXX I called them to find out how I was supposed to get coverage for a previous year and why I had not been notified of this last year. They told me it would be taken care of. I then received a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX that the coverage they purchased on my behalf was cancelled effective XX/XX/XXXX and the money would be refunded to my account. There was never any coverage purchased that I am aware of, if there was I would have been paying more in my mortgage every month and no money was refunded. I received another letter dated XX/XX/XXXX stating that they were planning on buying insurance for the property and I must pay them for any period which the insurance they buy is in effect, but I did not have insurance. I then received a notice dated XX/XX/XXXX, which states " second and final notice '' requiring me to provide insurance information for the property and they are unable to verify coverage from XXXX. Again they state that if I do not have wind coverage for my property for these dates it will be provided for me, by them, at my expense and it will be billed to my escrow account or added to my loan. It also states it may be more expensive and may not provide as much coverage. When I called to try and understand what was going on I was told " the insurance is required ''. When I questioned why I never received a notice last year about this I was given the answer " they thought I had coverage last year and when they saw I did not have coverage this year it flagged them to look back on last year ''. The woman then stated that it was an " oversight on their part ''. When I asked her why I was going to have to pay for their mistake I was told, once again, that it was required. When I asked her how I was supposed to obtain coverage for a year that passed she again stated " it's required ''. I then told her that no insurance company is going to provide me coverage for last year and I was going to call a lawyer. I've since spoken with several mortgage lenders and insurance agents and was told by all of them that there's no way to get coverage for last year and in there opinion it is ridiculous that I be charged for insurance that I never had both privately or through PennyMac. They should not be able to charge me for insurance they never bought and overlooked my not having. I don't understand how I was supposed to know it was required by them without getting any notifications. Once I received notification, in XX/XX/XXXX, I immediately obtained what was required.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief