Consumer complaint received 2018-11-09
Company: Ditech Financial LLC
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Ditech Financial LLC has mishandled my mortgage escrow account by not only paying the property taxes on the property for which they hold the mortgage but also paying taxes on another property that I do not own, in another state out of my escrow account. The taxes on this other property are more than the taxes on my actual property ( over {$5000.00} ). 
As a result, I have a significant escrow shortage which is causing my mortgage payment to increase dramatically effective XX/XX/2018. The increase in my monthly mortgage payment is more than my current escrow payment. Ditech has acknowledged the error and is working to resolve it but nonetheless, my mortgage payment will still be increased for up to 90 days, until they get the funds back that they mistakenly paid to the additional taxing authority. Once they get the funds back, they will re-analyze my account and will correct my mortgage payment. I am being told that this could take up to 90 days. I have been working diligently with Ditech for over a month now in order to resolve the issue before the mortgage payment increase takes effect, but with only 2 weeks left, I am not reassured by their efforts or answers. Essentially, I am being financially penalized in the form of an increased mortgage payment for their negligence in handling my funds. 

I have told Ditech that come XX/XX/XXXX, I will continue to pay my current mortgage amount until this matter is adequately resolved and they can give me an accurate disposition of my escrow account. Ditech has informed me that I am free to do that but any short payment of my mortgage beyond 30 days will be reported to the Credit Bureaus. 

I have never missed nor been late with a payment with Ditech. My account is otherwise in good standing. By my calculations, Ditech actually owes me a refund on my escrow forXX/XX/2018, not the other way around. 

I initially made Ditech aware of the issue on XX/XX/XXXX and they chose to sit on the issue for nearly a month before taking steps to resolve it. 

Timeline of events : XX/XX/2018 -- Received my escrow statement dated XX/XX/2018 via US mail and noticed the error. 

XX/XX/2018 -- I contacted Ditech Customer Service and spoke to XXXX. He informed me that the issue would be reported to their Tax Department. He gave me their phone number to follow up. 

XX/XX/2018 -- I spoke with XXXX in the Ditech Tax Department. She acknowledged the error and indicated that they would begin an investigation on the issue. 

XX/XX/2018 -- I checked my online account with Ditech and saw no change. I contacted the Tax Department again and spoke to XXXX. She indicated that the analysis had not yet been completed and that she was escalating to her Supervisor, Mr. XXXX XXXX. I asked to speak with him, but he was not available. XXXX informed me that I should call back after 5 business days to check on the status. 

XX/XX/2018 -- Online account now reflects new mortgage payment amount ( {$1000.00} more than my current payment ) due on XX/XX/XXXX. I spent over an hour on the phone being transferred around Ditech trying to resolve the matter. I spoke to a representative in the Tax Department ( I neglected to get a name this time ) and was informed that the analysis was completed on XX/XX/2018 and that they were attempting to get a refund from the taxing authority. In the meantime, she was happy to inform me that my mortgage payment would only increase by approximately {$600.00} per month instead of by over {$1000.00} per month until they got the funds back from the taxing authority. I told her that it was still unacceptable that my mortgage payment should be increased at all due to their error. She told me that the Tax Department has no control over my monthly payment and transferred me to a Customer Service supervisor -- XXXX. XXXX informed me that until the Tax Department released the money from my escrow they could not change my mortgage payment. I indicated to XXXX that I wish to continue to pay my current monthly payment until the issue was resolved and she told me I was free to do that, but I would be reported to the Credit Bureaus for any short-payment over 30 days. I was passed back to the Tax Department and spoke to XXXX. XXXX told me that until they got the funds back there was nothing they could do and that it could take up to 90 days for that to happen. Again, I was told that only Customer Service could influence and adjustment to my monthly payment. I was once again transferred back to XXXX and then spoke to her supervisor - XXXX. XXXX was somewhat more helpful in at least informing me that the transfer was initiated on XXXX and could take up to 90 days, but again indicated that there was nothing that they could do about my XXXX payment ( or thereafter ) until the funds were received. She told me to call back before making my XXXX mortgage payment to see if the matter had been resolved. 

While it is true that the taxes on the property I DO own have increased this year by {$1400.00} and I will happily accept an increased payment congruent to that increase once they can give me an accurate assessment of my escrow account, but I will not accept a > 100 % increase in escrow due to Ditech paying over {$5000.00} in taxes on a property that I don't own, in another state out of MY funds. I understand how escrow works. If this had been a matter of the taxes on the property that I DO own being under-estimated I would willingly accept it. But it is clear ( and acknowledged by Ditech ) that this is their error. For that, I should not be penalized. 

My fundamental complaint is 2 issues : 1. Ditech 's blatant negligence and mishandling of my escrow account 2.  Unfairly penalizing me with a significantly increased monthly mortgage payment despite acknowledging their error. It is not my problem that they mishandled MY money and I should not need to wait for them to get the money back for this matter to be corrected. Ditech Financial LLC needs to correct their policy in the interest of consumer protection I intend to continue to pay my CURRENT monthly mortgage until this matter is resolved and I would like to understand how I can avoid the error made by Ditech negatively impacting my credit rating if it comes to that. 

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you need any more information on this matter.

Company public response: Company believes complaint is the result of an isolated error
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation