Consumer complaint received 2017-12-21
Company: Ditech Financial LLC
State: TX
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I have a mortgage that is serviced by Ditech ( https :  //www.ditech.com/ ). I 've noticed a flaw in Ditech 's online payment process, that I believe to be an intentional act of deception to increase their own revenue in a way that a consumer ( borrower ) would never notice. Let me explain : When initiating an online payment on Ditech 's customer portal, the main welcome screen after logging in will show my current mortgage balance. If my payment is late, or there are any other applicable fee 's, this number will reflect them. 

Now, I click the green button to " Make An Online Payment '', and I 'm redirected to a screen with my past payment history. Here I see a ledger of my prior payments. I then click continue and I 've arrived at the Electronic Payment form which has my payment amount pre-populated for me. Maybe you 're thinking, " How nice of Ditech to make it easy and pre-populate my payment amount ''. WRONG! Yes, that would be convenient assuming I did n't have any late fee 's, but let 's assume I 'm making a late payment. Their form will still only display my monthly payment without penalties and fee 's. Nowhere on the payment form does it show anything about late fee 's. What 's worse is, the total payment field can not be edited, but they do include an " additional amount '' field where you can add to your payment. 

Ok. So I login. I see that I owe {$1600.00} from my main welcome screen. 

*Click* Make Electronic Payment > Continue > Electronic Payment Form. *Click* I see that my payment amount is pre-populated, but this number says {$1600.00}. Huh? 

*Click* Back Arrow, Back Arrow, Back Arrow *Click* Ah, I see, I owe some late fee 's. 

*Click* Forward Arrow, Forward Arrow, Forward Arrow *Click* Now I add that amount in the " additional amount '' box underneath " payment amount '' and everything is copacetic. 

How many people do you think completely miss the fact that they must manually add in their late fee 's? Making a payment in a hurry, I would imagine a very large number of people click through each of the screens without even realizing that Ditech wo n't include the late fee 's on their pre-populated " payment amount '' box. 

By leaving the {$50.00} late fee off, next month that late fee will grow and grow..and grow, leaving Ditech with a nice little bonus. Multiply that by the amount of loans they service and it probably adds up to a very large number. 

They have a very sophisticated portal, so I can not imagine this being a technical limitation. I mean, all they would need to do is pull a different number into the form ( instead of the monthly payment, pull the current balance ). Alternatively, they could include my late fee amount on the payment form, in red. 

They are a massive company that has been in business for a while, so I do n't see this being an accident either. It looks, smells, and feels like deception.

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