Consumer complaint received 2022-04-20
Company: GUARANTEED RATE INC.
State: NC
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Complaint on Mortgage company : Guaranteed Rate Mail Stop XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX, IL XXXX From : XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 
XXXX XXXX, Nc XXXX Mortgage Loan Number : XXXX I am writing this with much thought and I am hoping someone would be able to assist me. We are at the point where we have no other option than to seek legal counsel at this point. I have done my due diligence and then some to fix this issue. It is still not resolved. I found out on XX/XX/XXXX as to the true reason this issue has not been fixed. I was told that our account is on hold due to our loan being sold to another lender or servicing company. It's now been 71 days and still, nothing has changed. 

RESPA 12 C.F.R. 1024.35 This is what I sent my Mortgage Company today : this is the 2nd service error letter i have mailed out to them. 

I am writing to request a correction be made immediately of the error we contacted you about back in XXXX describing the below in regard to the mortgage on my property at XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX Nc XXXXYour have made a mistake during the process of estimating our property taxes for the next year, which has in turn caused our monthly mortgage payment to increase to a payment amount that we did not agree to nor can we afford. We can not afford to pay over {$300.00} more!!!!!!!!!!! 


2nd letter of Escrow Errors : I mailed a certified letter to your servicing Co. to the address listed for correspondence. We were sent a letter from Guaranteed Rate labeled Escrow Account Projection for the coming year. While reviewing this letter we saw that it states that last year our anticipated payments from our escrow account would equal {$3200.00} and this is not a correct reflection of our taxes needed in our escrow account. 

We contacted the XXXX XXXX tax department and obtained the current property record card, Deed, and Plat. With a statement from our county tax officer stating our bill without any tax increase in XX/XX/XXXX will be {$1500.00} based on the tax value of {$200000.00} which is reflected on your Property Record Card. I emailed and mailed all of this information to you by certified mail back in XXXX. You have not received a letter from them about a past bill or anything that has not been paid. It shows clearly through our deed and other items that the property was taxed in the amount of {$1500.00} was paid by your servicing company on XX/XX/XXXX. 

We see that we are being charged a total of {$3200.00} for our escrow due to a mistake being made on your end and that this has affected our mortgage payment monthly by {$300.00} + of an increase in our monthly payment. Agian i have voiced that we can not pay this. You are putting our family in a horrible nightmare financial situation. This should have been taken care of in a reasonable amount of time. You askin for 15 more days I reject. 

We are already dealing with anxiety from inflation of gas and food pricing and now we have this added to the anxiety of our home and family. I believe you have broken the law in the course of doing business with me, under RESPA. Particularly Section 1XXXX of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act which is there to provide me protection as a borrower with an escrow account. My lender is supposed to stay in compliance with RESPA, they can not keep more than 1/6 of my annual property tax and insurance payment as a cushion in my escrow account at any one time. Each month the lender may require a borrower to pay into the escrow account no more than 1/12 of the total of all disbursements payable during the year, plus an amount necessary to pay for any shortage in the account. Of which there is none. In addition, the lender may require a cushion, not to exceed an amount equal to 1/6 of the total disbursements for the year. The lender must perform an escrow account analysis of which you have done once during the year and notify borrowers of any shortage. Any excess of {$50.00} or more must be returned to me as soon as possible. 

I have done my due diligence and then some to fix this issue. It is still not resolved. I found out on XX/XX/XXXX as to the reason this issue has not been fixed. I was told that our account is on hold due to our loan being sold to another lender or servicing company. It's now been 71 days since and still, nothing has changed. We are still overpaying what we are supposed to be into our escrow account. We now have overpaid as of XXXX over $ XXXX than what our escrow account is required to have by federal law. 

Correspondence : We received a letter on XXXX stating our projected escrow account from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX had doubled due to our taxes. This is the reason for the increase in our monthly payment by approximately over $ XXXX a month. 

I called them on XX/XX/XXXX and was told that I would need to mail in proof and documentation about our taxes and that you were opening up an request to have this addressed that day for us. I called the XXXX XXXX  tax that same day and they sent me everything I needed to prove that our taxes were not the amount Guranteed Rate was projecting. I contacted the County tax department and they said everything is current and correct and that they do not understand why you have made this mistake. I am not supposed to send them a tax bill since it is sent directly to my mortgage servicer which is you. I mailed a certified letter on XX/XX/XXXX, as well as emailed this to you. 

We received a letter on XX/XX/XXXX stating that their records indicate that our property is currently undivided and listed by the tax authority as to be apportioned ( TBA ). And stated that without a tax bill, we can not assume any loss should the tax bill become delinquent. Apportionment in Real Estate. 

To be apportioned means that a portion of property taxes that are earned by local government before closing, but not yet paid because it is not yet due, will be paid by the seller in the form of a credit against the purchase price. We contacted the XXXX XXXX tax department and obtained the current property record card, Deed, and Plat. With a statement from our county tax officer stating our bill without any tax increase in XX/XX/XXXX will be {$1500.00} based on the tax value of {$200000.00} which is reflected on your Property Record Card. I emailed and mailed all of this information to you by certified mail back in XXXX. You have not received a letter from them about a past bill or anything that has not been paid. It shows clearly through our deed and other items that the property was taxed in the amount of {$1500.00} was paid by your servicing company on XX/XX/XXXX. 

The letter proceeded to state that any loss of discount or penalties incurred will be paid from our escrow account. 

I am not supposed to send you a tax bill since it is sent directly to you mortgage servicer by the county tax office. However, I had already contacted our county tax department and they did not and have not sent you a tax bill other than the ones you have already paid for XXXX and they do not have anything of the sort listed for our property. There is no issue about our taxes at all and they are not sure where Guaranteed rate has messed up but, it is not on their end. 

We received a letter on XXXX stating that they received our inquiry ( I'm guessing by the one I sent by certified mail ) and that they are reviewing our account. This is something that they were already supposed to be looking into at this point and taking care of. 

We received another letter on XX/XX/XXXX that stated they received our inquiry for our property taxes and have reviewed our account and that all changes and adjustments have been completed. That was a lie!! They have not been completed. 

Then we received another letter on XX/XX/XXXX stating that they are advising us that they will need an additional 15 days to respond to our inquiry regarding our property because they have not completed their investigation of the error and that they will respond no later than XXXX. 

I have called every single week since this began and have been told a new analysis is being run and that they will fix it. They have told me to call back 2 days, then 4 days but every time I call they tell me that it's being taken care of but, we have been paying an extra {$300.00} for escrow every month since. 

I called you on XX/XX/XXXX and was told that they still have not fixed this issue and that the reason was that our account has been adjusted and taken care of is because it is in the process of being sold since XXXX and that this was the cause for the delay. 

We are a 1 income family. I have spent hours and hours out of my time addressing this and I am tired. This is just ridiculous. 

We have contacted CSPB as well as other state and federal agencies we were referred to. I have kept all documentation as well as what days and times I have called you, our conversations about this issue and you have multiple times told me that you are placing a rush on it ( each person is unaware of how to even help me ) over the phone. 


We are requesting that you seek to correct this error asap to reflect our actual tax bill for the years of XXXX, XXXX and XXXX. It should reflect the escrow deduction to be {$1500.00} for property taxes and that you issue us a refund for the additional overcharged amount to us immediately. As well has make sure our account is in proper order to reflect our 2022 monthly deduction into escrow for the correct amount. 

Sincerely, XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX- XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation