Consumer complaint received 2018-03-07
Company: REGIONS FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Due to Regions corporate inability to take care of a dedicated customer such as myself, they have crippled my ability to buy a home for my family. An annual late fee added to a Heloc home set my loan into back pay. A fee they no longer charge customers on heloc loans. I have proven my prompt monthly payments for years, never a day late as it is on autopay, and due to their lack of customer communication they have destroyed my credit. My score was an XXXX when last pulled prior to this incident. Last credit report pulled showed me at an astronomical drop to XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX supplied by the three credit bureaus. Employees at the local port orange bank have stated that there are many problems with my account and online access, and have tried to fight my case to their Regions corporate. They have recently had to reopen my case due to the continued inappropriate care of my account again. I am still not receiving statements, even though I have asked multiple times. They are also not supplying statements on line, nor can the bank pull statements to help me, even with request to the IT department. I have also not received communication via their corporate or customer service call, even though I have requested it multiple times. This all was uncovered when I was surprisingly declined for a home loan. With my 25 % saved up to put down, and not a thought that I had any bad marks on my credit, I was shocked to find out that an account I have religiously paid was the only flaw keeping me from getting my family a new home. The following information will provide intricate details of this issue. 
This event started with me applying for a loan for my new home and the loan agent telling me due to the issues with Regions bank I could not be given a loanThat is when the phone calls to Regions bank started on XX/XX/XXXX. The first call I was on the phone for 2 hours. I spoke to the mortgage department where the representative, XXXX, stated all she could do to help is remove the last 2 late fees. Then she transferred me to collections and stated they would be the only ones that could help me remove the rest of the late fees dating back to XX/XX/XXXX. I was then transferred to XXXX in collections. I was told she could not help me get these removed that I had to contact customer service. What she did tell me is that to pay on the {$680.00} of accrued back fees to get my account to date. In looking at my account she told me that the issue started in XX/XX/XXXX, with an applied {$50.00} annual fee. She told me that they were sending me statements, which is not true. I have not received a statement in over a year. I did however call regions with an address change 2 years ago which was not portrayed in the system. When talking to one of the departments about this they told me I had to contact 3 departments to have all addresses changed in the system. I asked why I was never emailed or called or in any way alerted to the issue. The collections department stated they sent statements and they do not have to send emails or call as a follow up. I was amazed at the lack of customer concern by Regions, especially for a customer that was consistent on their payments for the entirety of this loan. This call took two hours. Later that day, after my work meeting, I called in and spoke to Customer service representative, XXXX, as directed to do. She then told me I had to speak to the mortgage department again, and transferred me to XXXX. She was not able to help me, and became irritated. I asked to speak to her manager which she transferred me to, XXXX XXXX, team leader. He was not able to tell me anything other than what the other collection agents said, and then became very short tempered and started speaking slang after I asked to speak to his manager to help me rectify this detrimental problem. It was then that he told me I didnt even deserve to have my two late fees removed earlier by his employee XXXX, and that she would be spoken to about it. When I again asked to speak to his superior, he said she wasnt at her desk and asked me if I would like to hold. I held for 20 minutes. He came back to the line and said she still wasnt at her desk, and asked if I wanted to hold again, which I agreed to and was placed on hold for another 25 minutes. When he came back to the line I asked for her name and number because I had to board the plane. This call took almost 3 hours. After getting no help from the phone mortgage team, I decided to go into Regions first thing the following morning on XX/XX/XXXX. The Regions team at XXXX XXXX was very apologetic for the way the Regions team treated me on the phone, and understanding of my spent hours with them and concern that this issue was being dismissed without any help to rectify my credit score and account standing. Making it impossible for me to be  approved for a loan for my new home. It was then that I supplied all my statements showing dedicated, always before due date, payments consistently made and proven via on line transactions through XXXX  XXXX XXXX since XX/XX/XXXX. Also with proof that I had plenty of funds to pay my loan as well as a down payment for 20 % of the loan I was applying for. I expressed my interest in applying for a loan through Regions for the condo I am trying to purchase for my family home. XXXX XXXX then dug into my case and tried to help me rectify this issue. It was also discovered that my two late fees that were granted credit previously by XXXX were removed after the phone call with XXXX. The mere fact that I have not been contacted other than their said possible attempts by mail does not constitute as Regions said relationship banking for a dedicated client like myself to Regions since XXXX. It was discovered during my visits to Regions that this all occurred due to a {$50.00} annual fee, and that this fee is no longer accessed to loyal customers such as myself for Heloc loans. I went back to the bank on XX/XX/XXXX and was told to pay and get my account back to good standings so corporate would see I had every intention on being a good customer. I paid the XXXX for all late fees and accrued money on the account. I also opened a savings account. I then waited for them to further contact the corporate headquarters. I asked during my visit to make sure my address was correct in the system as I wanted paper statements sent to me. I was assured it was. I have yet to receive a paper statement. I called weekly as well as emailing with no answer back from their corporate. I visited the bank again in XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX, with no answer back on my account. I then forwarded the situation to XXXX XXXX XXXX, Regions Vice president and Consumer banking manager, on XX/XX/XXXX. She did not reply. I was told in XX/XX/XXXX that my situation did not look promising, but still I received no definitive answer and continued to call with no prevail. On XX/XX/XXXX I received a call from the XXXX XXXX agent. I called back, and they said my account was paid and nothing was wrong. I then received another call on XX/XX/XXXX from the collections department. I spoke to XXXX and she said she didnt know why my number was on the collections list, and that my account isnt overdue. She also noted the payment isnt even due until XX/XX/XXXX, so this made no sense that I was contacted. She also said they had a new dialing system and that it was calling wrong numbers, and mine must be one of the wrong numbers it was dialing. Not trusting Regions bank, I went on my online account, since I still had not received a statement to look at. Online I could not access my statement only my account history, and saw that they put a late fee on my account in XXXX and it increased my payment over the amount I was having deducted monthly from my bank account. The amount I pay is over what was due to add protection and pay my loan off quicker. I was not able to obtain a statement online, so I called XXXX to find out what was going on with my account. She put a ticket in to obtain my statements on XX/XX/XXXX since she could not get them online as well. She still has not received them, and she works for the bank. I went back into the XXXX XXXX branch on XX/XX/XXXX, and sat until I could speak to the XXXX supervisor, XXXX XXXX. He was not able to see what was happening in my account either. I asked him about finding an answer to the initial problem that jeopardized my credit as well as this new issue. I then sent XXXX XXXX XXXX, Regions Vice president and Consumer banking manager an email. I have yet to receive a response from her throughout this entire process, even though I have requested her to contact or meet with me. Since my last visit I have called and emailed twice a week until XXXX was able to bring me in and talk to me on XX/XX/XXXX. He told me corporate said the bank was not at fault and could do nothing to help redeem my credit. He noted my account was past due {$260.00}, which I can not see online and do not receive statements to be able to obtain this information. It is also not showing in Regions system according to the collections team. XXXX was also not able to pull a statement and had to again request it from Regions IT. He verified that they had the right address for me, but that they were not sending me statements, even though my account had been changed to do so multiple times. He also noted that my Heloc loan was not showing on my home page to receive statements or email notifications, even though it had been changed in his system. My account is now in back payment again, and I can not get an answer from Regions Corporate as to why it is. If employees from the institution cant get my statements, how am I supposed to be able to stay on top of this account? It was at this meeting with XXXX that I was finally offered the ability to make variable payments to prevent this from happening in the future. However, if I was receiving statements or notifications, these problems would have never happened. I am signing up for this variable payment to protect myself from Regions. However, this does not correct the damage they have done and continue to do to my account and credit.

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