Consumer complaint received 2019-09-27
Company: PLANET HOME LENDING, LLC
State: GA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage

Complaint:
Step 1 : What is this complaint about?

Loss of interest rate during refinance, due to process failure and negligence.

Step 2 : What type of problem are you having?

Given incorrect information by customer service and failure of the company to follow explicit instructions from the customer.

Step 3 : What happened? 
On Friday, XX/XX/2019, at XXXXhrs I received a call from my closing attorney regarding my closing scheduled for XXXX on Monday the XX/XX/XXXX. She had done final checks on the closing disclosures and found out that Planet Home had failed to pay the county taxes on schedule, which changes my cash to close from {$370.00} to over {$4800.00}. 

I called Planet Home Customer Service at XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, to discuss the issue. They told me that this resulted from them receiving a payoff request within 30 days of when the taxes were scheduled to be paid and that their policy was to not make that payment if the payoff was received in that time frame. They asked if I wanted them to go ahead and make the payment. I told them not to make the payment, that I would discuss it with my closing attorney and If I needed them to do that, then I would contact them again and instruct them to do so. 

After discussing it with my attorney, we determined that we could get a new payoff statement and account for the taxes in the closing. The lender sent a new payoff request Monday morning, XX/XX/XXXX. My Wife and I called in and discussed this with Planet Home on Monday morning, XX/XX/XXXX, and found out that I, as the loan holder, had to send in a specific request, hand signed by me, specifically requesting a netted payoff, in order to have the escrow money included in the payoff amount, this reducing the overall payoff. This would have completely solved the issue with the taxes.

Planet Home stated that it takes 3 days minimum to get a payoff statement and they would not be able to get this completed in time for my closing. We discussed this with the attorney and the lender and determined that my rate lock expired on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX. She suggested that we could sign the loan as is, and adjust the closing disclosures when the new payoff statement was received. If there were any glitches in the process we had a 3 day Right to Cancel. We chose to accept this option and give Planet Home time to do the statement properly. 

On Wed, XX/XX/XXXX, we received the new payoff statement, which was not a netted payoff and did not account for the escrow funds. I again called Planet Home, and was told that they " do not '' include escrow funds in payoff statements. I explained what the representative told me on Monday regarding the process for a netted payoff and asked why this was not done according to my request and their instructions. They were not able to give me a satisfactory answer. I then asked for the exact amount in the Escrow so that I could discuss further remedies with my attorney, and was told that there was {$1800.00} instead of the {$5200.00} that should have been in the account. I asked for details and was told that they had made disbursement of fund to pay county taxes on Tuesday,XX/XX/XXXX. I asked why that was made since I had specifically stated to them to not make that payment and had accounted for it in the closing, and had requested a netted payoff which should have included those funds. I was told that Planet Home does not stop tax payments from escrow funds simply because a payoff statement was issued because they are legally bound to make that payment. This contradicted what I was told on the previous Friday. 

I then called my attorney back to discuss options and determined that it may not be feasible to remedy this situation satisfactorily. 

I called back to Planet Home again and asked for a supervisor. Once I got a supervisor, I asked him why my request for my tax payment to be held off was ignored, and he reiterated that that was not their process, and he was not sure why I was told that. The implication I took was that I should never have been given that option in the first place. I should have been told when the payment was scheduled to be made. I then asked him why my request for a netted payoff had been ignored, and he stated that the payoff request was made by a third party and did not request a netted payoff, nor did it contain an authorization for a netted payoff from me. When i asked him specifically if there was a letter attached to it with my signature on it, he opened the file and confirmed that there was no authorization letter. He then noticed a second request submitted on Monday, submitted by me, which included my authorization letter and specifically requested a netted payoff, which was never opened and acknowledged. 

As a result of not being given proper information by the company, I was unable to make informed decisions about my refinance of this loan. Because of the failure to follow specific instructions and pay attention to the requests submitted, I was forced to either come out of pocket over {$4800.00} for closing costs or lose the interest rate which I had locked in. Since I did not have {$5000.00} in liquid cash at the end of the month, and was only expecting to need less than {$500.00} to close, I was left with no choice but to exercise my Right to Cancel and lost my interest rate. This cost me {$200.00} per month decrease in my mortgage payment, amounting to {$69000.00} over the remaining life of the loan. This is a direct result of Planet Home 's actions and inactions.

Step 4 : What company is this complaint about? 
Planet Home Lending , LLC Monday Friday XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ET Toll Free : XXXX Payoff Fax : XXXX Email : XXXX Mailing Address : Planet Home Lending , LLC XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, CT XXXX Step 5 : Who are the people involved? 
No Specific Names, Customer Service Department only, as I was told that I was not allowed to speak directly with the Payoff Department.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation