Consumer complaint received 2020-07-25
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
My wife and I have had a mortgage on our condo since XX/XX/XXXX. From XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX the mortgage was held by Franklin American Mortgage Company - Franklin was acquired by Citizens One Home Loans and Citizens has held and serviced our mortgage since XX/XX/XXXX. 

In XX/XX/XXXX we applied to Franklin for the PMI requirement to be removed - Franklin responded by email and informed us that all three of their criteria were met - minimum two years into mortgage, minimum 20 % equity in home, and all payments on-time - so our request to remove PMI insurance was approved. We anticipated that this would reduce our monthly mortgage payment from {$1200.00} to approximately {$1000.00}. 
However, Franklin informed us that our escrow balance was low ( this was due to our XXXX property tax increase - XXXX was paid under the previous owner homestead exemption ) - as a result, instead of a {$200.00} reduction from PMI removal, our monthly payment would actually increase to {$1200.00}. BUT, if we agreed to make a one-time payment of {$1200.00} to escrow, our new monthly payment would be {$1100.00} - we made this payment, and it was credited to our escrow account on XX/XX/XXXX. 
Then, a week later, we were advised that Franklin American had been acquired by Citizens, and that Citizens would handle our loan effective XX/XX/XXXX. We made our first payment of {$1100.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. 

THIS IS WHERE THE NIGHTMARE BEGAN, AND IS ON-GOING. Citizens did not post our XXXX payment to principal, interest and escrow - they posted the entire {$1100.00} to escrow, then sent a late notice for {$1200.00}. I called, spoke to a Citizens customer service rep, who assured me the mistake would be corrected in 7-10 days - it was not. On XX/XX/XXXX, I paid our XXXX payment of {$1100.00} - Citizens did not deposit this, but instead returned it, then sent a late notice for {$2300.00} ( 2 x {$1100.00} ). I called again, twice more, same story, same result. I have continued to pay my monthly mortgage payment of {$1100.00} on XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, and this week will pay XXXX. 

I wrote a detailed letter on XX/XX/XXXX to the Manager of Customer Service - I received a form letter dtd XXXX saying they would investigate and reply within 30 days - they did not. I received another letter dtd XXXX stating that they are still looking at the problem and will respond on XX/XX/XXXX - to date they have not. In the meantime, Citizens has accepted our XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX payments, but continues to send late notices and threats of foreclosure. The application of those payments is also incorrect - they are not applying the proper portion of those payments to principal. 
Another complication is our desire to pay down this mortgage as soon as possible. In XXXX we paid > {$40000.00} additional principal. Because Citizens seems to have no idea what they're doing, I have held > {$18000.00} in a savings account that I would LIKE to apply to principal - which of course is costing us additional interest. 

My XX/XX/XXXX letter to Citizens, with all attachments, is enclosed, as well as the XXXX and XXXX letters from Citizens. Clearly this company has no regard for their customers or any type of problem resolution. Your help will be most appreciated!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation