Consumer complaint received 2019-01-16
Company: TCF NATIONAL BANK
State: MI
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
I got a mortgage in XX/XX/XXXX from TCF Bank, I signed up for the " Command Protection '' which was explained to me as a job loss protection insurance policy. My mortgage person explained to me that in case of job loss TCF would make payments until I had obtained other employment. Of course to an extent, but it was some assurance that if something did happen and I did lose my job TCF would work with me. The charge for this was {$32.00} per month. Well in XX/XX/XXXX the unthinkable happened. I was a XXXX  XXXX for ten years with a local Michigan department. I was unlawfully terminated by a corrupt police administration. If you doubt me there is a current court case against the department brought on by 3 XXXX XXXX   who were unlawfully terminated by our department. I applied for unemployment however myself and other officers were denied by my XXXX XXXX department. My family was in a tough spot, however we still made our mortgage payments. In XX/XX/XXXX I called to ask if TCF could help us with making one mortgage payment and to see if some of our late fees could be waived. At first the customer service rep said not to worry that we were covered by the command protection. She said I could get some fees waived and I could get back on track no problem. She gave me a number to call, however I left repeated messages and never got a call back. After a week I called back the original person I had talked to. She now said I didn't qualify because I wasn't on unemployment. Well I explained to her that I was denied. Luckily around the same time, someone made an offer on our house and we sold it otherwise we probably would have gone into foreclosure. I complained to TCF about why I was paying {$32.00} per month for something sold to me as job loss mortgage payment protection, and then when I need it I did not qualify! I asked for my money back since XX/XX/XXXX because since it seemed like a scam and I couldn't use it anyways, they said no way would they give me any money back and in fact charged me {$32.00} one more time before my house sold! I want all my money back for this useless " Command Protection '' product and the public should know that it's almost impossible to get any help from TCF Bank if you run into problems paying your mortgage. If they would have helped us out on just one payment, it would have meant the world to me and my family, but they couldn't even help us one bit. I want all my money back. Over the course of my mortgage, I counted up {$6100.00} in " Command Protection '' fees that I paid for a service / protection policy I could not use. TCF will lie and say it's not " insurance ''. My mortgage rep called it insurance and sometimes on my statement it was described as insurance. This " Command Protection '' was explained to me as a protection for me and my family NOT an extra income stream for TCF Bank. I have my statements to show the charges that I can email. The statement was too big of a file to upload here on this page.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation