Consumer complaint received 2019-04-22
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: MA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
My problem involves three ( 3 ) separate financial institutions : Citimortgage, XXXX XXXX, and XXXX XXXX XXXX that have seemingly inadvertently, and yet nonetheless harmfully, prejudiced my financial well-being, my credit status, and my good name. 

I feel that at this point I have exhausted the avenues of resolution dictated by policies of each of the three involved financial institutions individually. 

A significant part of the problem would appear to be that the respective institutions do appear not talk to one another. 

Each has advised me to seek satisfaction from the other when the most cursory analysis of the issue reveals that it has been the handoffs of my account between the institutions wherein the major problems lie. 

More specifically : erroneous information about the status my account and its prior servicing by Citimortgage much of which servicing deviated radically from accepted practices has been passed between the involved institutions, making my good faith attempts set the record straight a XXXX nightmare of buck-passing between the institutions. 

It is only after weeks of silence and unresponsiveness on the part of the respective institutions that, on advice of counsel, I now solicit assistance at a higher level. 

In brief, the problem arose when Citimortgage purported to sell my mortgage account to a new servicer, XXXX XXXX, in XXXX of XXXX without properly noticing me. ( The mortgage account was subsequently transferred to XXXX XXXX  XXXX in XXXX of XXXX. ) Even without proper notice from Citimortgage, the magnitude of the ensuing problems should never have been allowed to grow to the extent it did had Citimortgage simply adhered to its own stated policies not to mention the most fundamental, commonsensical bookkeeping practices. 

Unfortunately, Citimortgage has acted in an inexplicable and irregular manner with respect to both the servicing, and the putative transfer of my loan to the successor servicer ( XXXX XXXX ). 

By stonewalling me in my earnest efforts to resolve the problem amicably ( and by its own prescribed problem-resolution procedures ) Citimortgage is exponentially compounding its malfeasance. 

Text of relevant correspondence between myself and Citimortgage and the successor loan servicer ( XXXX XXXX and XXXX ) is supplied below. It constitutes an accurate, blow-by-blow, recapitulation of the basic circumstances of my case. 

My respectful request to the CFPB is to intercede with the relevant financial institutions ( Citimortrgage, XXXX XXXX, XXXX ) in a manner as to effect the prompt return to me of : 1. {$16000.00}, plus or minus the amount Citimorrtgage erroneously represented to XXXX XXXX as the total of my purported " delinquent payments '', and that XXXX subsequently demanded of me to prevent my property from going into foreclosure ; 2. {$4900.00} for " forced insurance '' erroneously charged to me by XXXX XXXX, owing to Citmortgage 's failure to provide relevant information to the successor loan servicer about preexisting insurance on my property. 

CASE SYNOPSIS : Re : CitiMortgage ( Citi ) irregular bookkeeping practices re : my loan # XXX XXXX. The occasion of this written communication is the stonewalling by Citi customer services of my good faith efforts to seek clarification of its actions in reference to its history of servicing the above-referenced loan actions that have caused me financial and emotional duress, as well as prejudiced my credit standing and good name. 

2. In my ( recorded ) telephone call with XXXX in Citi customer services on XXXX, I was advised that my account with CitiMortgage was now closed ( and in fact had been " closed '' since XXXX of XXXX ) and that communications with Citi seeking said clarification of its actions with regard to its servicing the loan, as well as the return to me of over twenty ( 20 ) months of installment payments ( totaling in excess of {$16000.00} ) improperly accepted by Citi, would perforce need to be addressed in writing to its legal department and that no one could help me on the phone. 

3. This unfriendly and dismissive posture on Citis part was bewildering to me inasmuch as review of my financial records for the past two years revealed that Citi had accepted, without fail, automatic installment payments of {$1600.00} each month for the entire interval, and was continuing to do so at the present time and indeed continued to do so until I canceled the automatic payments this month ( XX/XX/XXXX ). In all, Citi accepted twenty-six ( 26 ) monthly payments of {$1600.00} each after it had purportedly closed out my account. 

4. XXXX represented that my loan had been transferred to XXXX XXXX in XXXX, XXXX, and that I should have known of this fact via a so-called Good-bye letter purportedly sent by CITI via USPS to the address of the property ( where I no longer resided ). 

5. It was, and is, the height of hypocrisy on Citis part to purport that I should have known that the loan had been transferred to another servicer when Citi itself wasnt aware that it had transferred the loan : why else would Citi continue accept automatic payments for 26 months after the purported transfer in violation of its own stated policy that it may do so for a maximum of three ( 3 ) months ( and is obligated to convey any such additional payments received to the new mortgage servicer )? 

6. I have consulted with multiple financial experts ( and my attorney ) regarding Citis behavior in this matter. Among the comments I have received to date are : Citi should have noticed you of the transfer by certified mail. Citi should have emailed you. This is unprecedented. This is inexplicable. Its bizarre. I dont see how it was not overseen and stopped. Ive never seen anything like it in my life. 

7. My position is that Citi must immediately : A. Provide a prompt and transparent history of all transactions it has undertaken with respect to the servicing of this loan during the past twenty-six months : via a thorough, blow-by-blow written accounting of what funds Citi has accepted from me, what funds Citi has conveyed to the successor loan servicer, the reasons Citi conveyed funds to the new loan servicer for many months beyond its own 3-month grace period, the reasons Citi abruptly stopped conveying to the successor loan servicer substantial funds it continued to accept from me, the reasons Citi continued to convey someof the funds it continued to accept from me to the successor loan servicer ( as tax deposits ), the reasons Citi failed to notice me by certified mail ( or email or both ) of its purported transfer of my account for over two yearsafter it should have been aware of irregularities in its servicing of the loan, and the reasons Citi represents my account as closed when in fact, Citi has been effectively servicing my account ( through various transactions with both me and the successor loan servicer ) up to the present date. 

B. Immediately restore to me any and all funds Citi has improperly accepted as automatic payments for nearly two years after purportedly transferring the loan to a successor servicer more specifically, any and all funds that Citi did not convey to the successor loan servicer, and that Citi can not show evidence of my accepting as refunds from Citi. 

C. Make me whole again by immediately taking whatever steps may be necessary to unwind and erase any and all adverse credit reporting Citi may have undertaken with regard to its servicing of this loan as well as any and all adverse credit reporting that Citi may be indirectly responsible for by causing any and all successor loan servicers to erroneously believe that I did not continue to make regular monthly payments timely, and in utter good faith, during the entire life of this loan. 

As a courtesy to the Citi legal department I provide, below, a somewhat more detailed chronology of events as I understand them. 

Given Citis present posture of stonewalling my good faith efforts to clear up this unfortunate matter, this chronology is necessarily based on ( 1 ) my own records, and ( 2 ) information provided me as a courtesy by the successor loan servicer, XXXX XXXX. 

I am the owner a property on XXX. 

CITImortgage ( CITI ) was the mortgage servicer for years, and has been a de facto co-servicer of this loan until the present month ( XX/XX/XXXX ) at which time I stopped making automatic monthly payments on the loan to Citi. 

To assure no risk of a late loan payment, and to avoid any risk of potential adverse effect of my payment of this loan on my credit rating, I took three precautionary measures : 1. I arranged for monthly automatic payments via my regular bank, XXX Bank ; 2. I arranged to routinely pay in excess ofthe requisite payment of interest + principal ; 3. I arranged to pay the installments a full month in advance, so that in the event of any problem with a payment, a de facto additional grace period of 30 days would automatically kick in. 

In the course of preparing my Income Tax figures for XXXX, some disturbing facts about the history of the servicing of my loan account by CITI came to light matters that I am still trying to unwind and seek satisfaction for. 

Among the facts that came to light in XXXX of this year : CITI purportedly transferred the servicing of my loan account to another servicer, XXXX XXXX in XXXX of XXXX. 

CITI engaged in bookkeeping practices, and conveyed information and funds pertaining to my account to the successor servicer XXXX XXXX, in such an irregular manner as to prejudice XXXX XXXX against me erroneously portraying me as a delinquent client, and injuring my credit rating and good name. 

CITIs irregular bookkeeping practices have further caused me financial and emotional hardship by improperly accepting and withholding automatic payments from my regular bank account in a manner as to give the illusion that purportedly overdue payments of over {$16000.00} have accrued necessitating my borrowing said funds on an emergency basis to pay down this totally erroneous arrearage, and to prevent foreclosure proceedings against my property. 

Crucial facts of the case include the following : 1. I have NEVER missed making a monthly mortgage payment or supplemental escrow payment during the life of this mortgage. 

2. Even if CITI purports to have transferred the loan to a successor servicer, the incontrovertible fact remains that CITI has continued to accept automatic payments from my bank account for the entire interval in question : amounting to two years and two months or until I cancelled the automatic payments last week, in XX/XX/XXXX. 

3. For eleven ( 11 ) months from XXXX through XXXX CITI conveyed monthly mortgage payments it accepted through my automatic payment service to the successor mortgage servicer XXXX XXXX in violation of its own stated policy of limiting such conveyance of loan payments to three ( 3 ) months after transfer of the loan to a new servicer. 

4. For eight ( 8 ) ADDITIONAL months AFTER XXXX i.e., from XXXX through XXXX CITI continued to convey funds to XXXX XXXX ( in the amounts of {$140.00}, {$600.00}, and {$1200.00} ) as tax deposits that it clearly derived from my continuing automatic monthly payments. 

5. However, despite continuing to accept my regular monthly automatic payments, and making said tax deposits to XXXX XXXX from XXXX through XXXX, CITI failed to convey my principal + interest payments to XXXX XXXX after XXXX, causing XXXX XXXX to erroneously consider my account delinquent after XXXX. 

6. Thus, for twenty ( 20 ) months AFTER CITI purported to transfer the servicing of my loan to XXXX XXXX, CITI continued to act as a de facto servicer of my loan by continuing to accept monthly mortgage payments from me via automatic payment through my regular bank, and by subsequently conveying all of those funds ( from XXXX through XXXX ), or some of the funds ( from XXXX through XXXX ), to the successor loan servicer. 

7. In fact, CITI continued to accept monthly mortgage payments from me until XX/XX/XXXX, at which time I canceled the automatic payment service in my regular bank. 

8. The illusion that my mortgage was somehow in delinquency occasioned by CITIs irregular bookkeeping practices was subsequently passed on to XXXX XXXX, resulting ultimately in a one-time demand payment in excess of {$16000.00} to bring my account current, and to avoid foreclosure on the property. 

9. Of course that entire sum had ALREADY been drawn down from my regular checking account by XXXX but not properly conveyed to the successor loan servicer. Thus, I was forced to pay over {$16000.00} TWICE to prevent further damage to my credit standing and good name. 

10. CITI has given no explanation of why it drew down over {$16000.00} in monthly payments on my loan that it failed to convey to the successor loan servicer, nor of the disposition of those funds 11. Only in XXXX of this year and only after I begin making inquiries as to my account status with CITI did CITI make any acknowledgement that it had improperly accepted thousands of dollars in automatic payments from me : by sending me the following perplexing advisory via email : We are writing to inform you that your recent request for a refund has been processed, and you will receive your check by mail in 7-10 days. 

At that time, I had no inkling of CITIs irregular bookkeeping practices in servicing of my loan. I had made no request for a refund. Consequently, I had no idea what CITI was referencing in this email to me. 

I received subsequent advisories from CITI in each of the intervening months after XX/XX/XXXX, and checks from CITI returning what now amounts to three {$1600.00} automatic payments improperly accepted by CITI in XXXX. 

Not understanding the provenance of these checks and with CITI customer service advising me that I no longer had an account there ( and hence it could not talk to me ) I did not deposit the checks until upon advice of counsel, in XX/XX/XXXX. 

12. Oddly, despite possessing my email address during the entire duration of its servicing of my loan account, CITI made no effort whatsoever to communicate via email with me prior to the commencement of my investigation into its bookkeeping practices ( in XXXX of this year ). 

13. In the event that CITI purports to have sent advisories on the status of my loan, or refund checks ( purportedly returning automatic monthly installments it improperly accepted in XXXX ), via USPS to the address of the property, I would represent : A. That I was not properly noticed of the transfer of the loan to a successor servicer ; B. That CITI itself was clearly unaware that it had transferred the loan for it continued to act as de facto co-servicer of the loan ( along with XXXX XXXX ) for twenty ( 20 ) months AFTER the purported transfer ; C. That it is incumbent upon CITI to offer incontrovertible proof of my having accepted ( i.e., cashed ) any and all purported refund checks ( totaling in excess of {$16000.00} ) if CITI is to make any claim that it has returned this amount to me, and that it is not currently owing this amount. 

14. I have invariably acted in utter good faith in acquitting my obligations with respect to repayment this loan. ( In fact, I have never missed a single payment, nor had a single late payment. ) 15. Notwithstanding rationalizations and self-exculpatory excuses on the part of any mortgage servicer to the effect that it may have followed industry procedure, the fact remains that it is the arabesque and opaque machinations of the mortgage industry beyond the XXXX of even the consumer with a XXXX XXXX that bear principal responsibility for the tragicomedy of errors in the servicing of my loan, and for the injuries that I have suffered as a direct consequence. 

Re : Refund for erroneous property insurance charges ( " Forced Insurance '' ) Re : Loan # XXX I have submitted to XXXX XXXX XXXX evidence of property insurance ( secured through my own insurance agent ) on my property to prevent duplicate ( " forced '' ) insurance in XXXX. 

I have also submitted to XXXX XXXX evidence of prior property insurance on my property, to demonstrate that the property was continuously insured during the entirety of XXXX XXXX XXXX interval of servicing the loan. 

The customer services rep at XXXX XXXX advised me to submit the same to XXXX, along with a cc of my letter to XXXX XXXX disputing prior forced insurance charges by XXXX XXXX totaling {$4900.00} and requesting a prompt refund for those erroneous charges. 

Although XXXX XXXX erroneously charged me those funds, the customer services rep instructed me that it is XXXX 's responsibility to refund them, not XXXX XXXX XXXX inasmuch as XXXX XXXX is " no longer servicing the loan '', but rather that XXXX is now the loan servicer. 

In my letter to XXXX XXXX, provided hereunder, I point out that CITI seriously mismanaged my account failing to provide XXXX XXXX not only funds it accepted in from me during XXXX XXXX 's interval servicing the loan, but also evidence of the property 's being continuously insured for as long as I have owned it. In fact, the XXXX XXXX customer services rep told me that CITI erroneously provided XXXX XXXX no evidence of the property 's being insured during the entire interval XXXX (! ) Text of letter to XXXX XXXX : Re : Refund of erroneous property insurance charges RE : Loan # XXX To Whom It May Concern : 1. XXXX XXXX serviced a loan on my property at XXX from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX as successor servicer to CitiMortgage XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

2. I am calling into account mismanagement of my account by CITI, which engaged in multiple bookkeeping irregularities, withheld funds inappropriately, failed to notice me properly of actions it took with respect to my account, and conveyed to XXXX XXXX erroneous information about my account including characterizing it as delinquent when in fact CITI had drawn down via automatic payment monthly payments from my checking account for every month that XXXX XXXX serviced the loan as CITIs successor. 

3. Many of the monthly payments CITI conveyed to XXXX XXXX. Many it did not. 

4. CITI apparently failed to communicate to XXXX XXXX that my property was continuously insured by my own insurance agency, without interruption, for the entire time that CITI serviced the loan AND for the entire time that CITI co-serviced the loan with XXXX XXXX. 

5. I have discussed these issues at length with XXXX XXXX service representatives, who have characterized CITIs mismanagement of my loan ( including during the interval that XXXX XXXX was the nominal successor servicer of the loan, but during which time CITI continued to accept my monthly automatic payments and convey them in whole, or in part, to XXXX XXXX ) as nothing short of bizarre, unprecedented, and inexplicable. 

6. XXXX XXXX service representatives have kindly supplied me with transaction logs covering money in and money out of my account while XXXX XXXX acted as successor servicer to CITI.

7. In reviewing the logs ( q.v. ), I was shocked to see that two ( 2 ) separate HAZARD SFR disbursements were made ( one on XXXX, and one on XXXX ) totaling {$4900.00}. 

8. I respectfully request prompt refund to me of this entire amount, inasmuch as : A. I have carried comprehensive property insurance for the entire interval I have owned this property, including the entire time XXXX XXXX serviced the loan. 
B. Any lack of information to this effect would be the fault of CITI, which misrepresented the status of my loan to XXXX XXXX.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation