Consumer complaint received 2023-04-19
Company: AmeriHome Mortgage Company, LLC
State: WI
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I am a homeowner in XXXX County, Wisconsin. XXXX County allows for taxes to be paid in a lump sum or in XXXX XXXXnstallments throughout the next year. They will accept either a payment to the annual amount or a XXXX payment by XXXX, but the latter results in additional due dates on XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. This is reflected in the copy of my XXXX  tax bill, publicly available online through XXXX Countys website : XXXX : XXXX? XXXX & XXXX In XXXX I closed on my current home with XXXX XXXX who are not the subject of this complaint. My escrow account was created with the intent of paying my XXXX tax bill in quarterly payments. It was set to disburse a XXXX amount of the tax on XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. This is recorded in my Initial Escrow Disclosure as part of my closing documents. 

XXXX XXXX sold my mortgage to Amerihome in XXXX of XXXX. My escrow rolled over to them with a balance of {$3500.00}. Another {$630.00} was added from the XXXX payment on XXXX once the loan was received by Amerihome. The balance was then {$4100.00}. 

Amerihome then received a tax bill from the county. The bill, which is linked above, delineates the monthly payment plan clearly and states that either a XXXX payment or Annual payment is due by XXXX. Amerihome pays the annual amount on XXXX driving my escrow account into a - {$2800.00} balance. They then advance me {$2800.00} to meet the imbalance. 

On XXXX Amerihome generated a letter asking me to specify how I elect to have my taxes paid, identifying that XXXX County allows for installment payments. On that communication Amerihome indicated that my election, per their records, was for annual payment. At that time I had made no election with Amerihome, and my Initial Escrow Disclosure was clear that the escrow account was organized for quarterly payments. 

On XXXX Amerihome finishes escrow analysis for my account, at which point the overdraft of my escrow comes to my attention. The letter states that my account has a balance of - {$4200.00} due to the need to {$6900.00} to my taxing authority. The analysis shows my predicted quarterly payments from the Initial Disclosure, but provides no explanation as to why an annual payment was made. 

The escrow analysis statement also indicates my escrow payment will increase to meet the difference between the estimated total tax of {$6700.00} and the actual total tax of {$6900.00}. I have no complaint or issue with this increase. 

I call Amerihome, and the Customer Service Representative indicates that the annual payment was paid because it was required by XXXX County. They also state that my balance was {$2800.00} at time of payment which is why my overdraft was - {$4200.00}. 

The conversation with Amerihomes Customer Service Representative prompts me to contact XXXX XXXX, as at that time I expected an issue in communicating my quarterly elections from XXXX XXXX  to Amerihome. I work with the same loan officer who managed the closing process of my home. Eventually XXXX XXXX prompts Amerihome to adopt my installment tax strategy, and the tax disbursement schedule for the XXXX tax year is changed to reflect this plan. XXXX XXXX tells me that Amerihome has told them I need to initiate an escrow reanalysis. This process takes until midXXXX. 

I call Amerihome and request escrow reanalysis. That second analysis is complete on XXXX. It now indicates that I owed Amerihome- {$2800.00} due to the lump sum annual tax payment made by Amerihome on XXXX. My XXXX and XXXX escrow payments have been applied to this balance. The remaining balance of - {$1500.00} will be recovered by increasing my monthly payment. There is still nothing addressing the fundamental error that an annual payment was made by Amerihome against the Initial Escrow Disclosure.

Throughout this time I have contacted Amerihome frequently. I have requested a case number, or a consistent point of contact, but been told that it is impossible for them to provide anything of the sort. I requested escalation to either the Escrow Analysis Team or a Supervisor and was consistently told that was not possible. The Customer Service Representatives to whom I have spoken have placed requests to modify my monthly payment for XXXX to the previous amount until the issue with my escrow account can be resolved. This was not approved. I was advised to discontinue my automatic payments instead of paying the increased amount while the issue with my escrow was looked into. This would make my payment late, but not incur a fee until after XXXX. I followed this advice. 

One Customer Service Representative requested a reimbursement from XXXX County. They told me that even though it was Amerihomes error that the annual payment was made, the debt resulting from that payment can only be removed from my account if the county refunded what was paid. I voiced the opinion that XXXX County was under no obligation to reimburse taxes, and that their decision whether to do so has no bearing on the issue at hand. I was told that because Amerihome was out money that money either had to come from XXXX County or myself, even though the inciting incident for the advance was Amerihomes own inexplicable decision to pay the annual amount of my taxes all at once. Predictably, XXXX County did not refund any money. 

The resolutions to these work requests were in no way communicated to me despite my requests to be contacted once they resolved. 

Other Customer Service Representatives have told me that they pay only what XXXX Count Communicated to them needed to be paid. They insist this was the annual amount. When I request a copy of the communication that XXXX County provided to Amerihome, which apparently differed from the publicly available record, I was told that I could not be furnished with the document. 

One representative told me to create a secure message documenting this issue, to be responded to in 3-5 business days. I sent this communication on XXXX. I amended it to include the solution and schedule of payments presented in the proposed solution portion of this complaint. As of submitting this request the message has received no reply. 

One customer service representative did create a work order that I be contacted by a supervisor before end of date on XXXX. During this call it was requested that I upload a copy of my suggested solution as a .pdf to the messaging center. The supervisor to whom I spoke said that they will present the letter to the escrow team, but could not guarantee that the schedule of payments would be adopted. I was told I could not speak to an escrow team member directly. The team should respond within 3-5 business days. 

The team contacted did not respond either via message center or contact through a customer service agent. I called back at the end of that period and was told a new work order on my account had been initiated for XXXX. This was after the XXXX due date for my mortgage payment after which a late fee would be applied. When I mentioned this to the agent they offered to forward me to another area of Amerihome where I could request that the payment be delayed by a month. Not wanting my payment to be construed as accepting the debt I asked to be forward and was dumped into an automated phone tree which requested for my extension or to hold for the front desk ; but holding only prompted the message to replay. This occurred both times I called the number and resulted in my payment of XXXX mortgage despite the increased amount. 

When I contacted Amerihome on XXXX the customer service agent told me that research had been conducted on my account and that it had determined that the correct tax amount was paid. I attempted to explain my position once again, noting that the crux of the issue had not in any way been addressed. The reply was that I could leave additional information in the message center. The message center in which my XXXX message had received a we are working on it reply on XXXX before eliciting no other response. No, I could not speak to the research team directly. No, the CS agent could do nothing to help with my account. 

I speak in generalities regarding these interactions, but if needed I can provide recordings of each call. I do not have records of my interactions with the Chat team. 

To reiterate, my central complaint is that the escrow account was overdrawn without need and against instruction. The debt resulting from this overdraft is being recouped by increasing my monthly payment when it could be paid by my standard escrow payments ( as demonstrated in my proposed solution ). Additionally, the customer support provided by Amerihome is contradictory, unfamiliar with the internal processes of the company, unable to interpret the escrow analysis statements, gives varying recommendations, and is not set-up to provide continuous support on a complex issues. 

To wit, the escrow analysis by Amerihome seems only to compare the projected amount of the escrow against the actual amount. They see a shortage and try to pass that on to me. At no point is the reason for the shortage addressed or understood. Most of the representatives to whom I speak assume I do not understand my own Countys property tax payment options and refuse to advance the conversation beyond a condescending explanation that I needed to pay my taxes and there was not enough money. No one can provide an explanation as to why my Initial Escrow Disbursement plan was ignored and an annual payment, not required by the county, was made. This apparently includes annotations left by Amerihomes own tax analysis specialists ( sic ) read to me on XXXX. 

This is not to mention that the original analysis of my account resulted in the wrong figure being used for my debt, an easily identifiable mistake that would not have been caught or rectified without my intervention. In summary, Amerihomes mismanagement of the account results in my financial detriment and they have no interest in acknowledging their culpability in the situation. 

The treatment almost seems malicious; creating a system designed to wait out my patience and ignore my problem. However, I do not want to assign malice where incompetence is a reasonable explanation.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation