Consumer complaint received 2018-09-21
Company: Caliber Home Loans, Inc.
State: NJ
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX, I received a letter from Caliber Home Loans informing me that my escrow account was severely deficient and that my month mortgage payment was increasing from $ XXXX/month to $ XXXX/month. The reason given was that the new payment would account for the deficiency. 
I immediately contacted Caliber Home Loans and spoke to their support. Initially, I was informed that my property taxes probably went up and that this was common. I demanded for this to be escalated and was able to get a tax agent on the phone. They informed me that they didn't see an issue, so I logged into my account online and noticed 4 tax disbursements from my escrow account in a matter of 8 days. I asked what those were and after some hesitation by the agent, was informed that there was an investigation going on with my account. I asked for more details and after not receiving any, requested the issue be escalated immediately. I was told that it was being escalated internally and someone would contact me. 
XX/XX/XXXX - I was contacted by a XXXX in the tax department for Caliber. She informed me that somehow there was a glitch in their system and some parcel numbers for other townships were submitted and taxes were paid for other properties. XXXX informed me that she would be contacting the townships involved to request a refund. She informed me that these payments were all against my escrow account at this time. I requested a follow-up from XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, even if there were no updates, to which she agreed. She also informed me that one of the payments appeared to have already been refunded back to the account in the amount of {$3300.00} Tax payments were disbursed as follows : - {$3500.00} ( XX/XX/XXXX ) - XXXX XXXX ( not my township or my property ) - {$3300.00} ( XX/XX/XXXX ) - XXXX XXXX ( possibly my property, although amount is higher than usual ) - {$3300.00} ( XX/XX/XXXX ) - XXXX XXXX ( a neighboring property, from what I was told. Not my property ) - {$3400.00} ( XX/XX/XXXX ) - XXXX XXXX ( not my township or my property ) XX/XX/XXXX - XXXX called to inform me that she had no updates XX/XX/XXXX - XXXX called to inform me that she had no updates XX/XX/XXXX - XXXX called to inform me that she had no updates, but that she was waiting for a call back tomorrow from XXXX and XXXX townships. I asked what happens if they don't call tomorrow. Her response was that she's contact them again and then wait. 
I then asked XXXX five questions : 1. What happens when my own property taxes need to be paid again, because they are due in XXXX. She informed me that at the present time, there are no funds in the escrow account and it is actually negative. 
2. I asked XXXX why Caliber isn't refunding my escrow account since this was a clerical ( " glitch '' ) on their end. She responded saying that Caliber doesn't do that and that I'll have to wait until the funds are refunded from the townships involved. 
3. I asked XXXX what happens if this situation isn't resolved next month because I keep receiving letters from Caliber saying they are changing my monthly payment to increase to $ XXXX/month due to this issue. XXXX informed me that there wasn't anything she could do about that and that would be my new monthly payment until the issue is resolved. She told me she understood how frustrating this is and she has instructed her internal parties that this will cause a hardship on me, but repeated that there wasn't anything she could do about it. 
4. I asked XXXX what would happen if I changed my mortgage company and go somewhere else. She informed me that my escrow account is currently negative, so it would remain that way and there isnt ' anything she can do about that. 
5. I asked XXXX how to escalate this further as I can not afford that monthly payment and it's going to affect my credit. She said that she is handling it. I told her that it may be time to get a lawyer involved. Her response was, " if you choose to do that, you will no longer be working with me and you will be contacted by someone else that will take over your case ''. She asked if that's how I want to proceed, to which I said yes and she said okay, then this conversation is over. 

As of XX/XX/XXXX, I have not been contacted by anyone at Caliber Loans.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation