Consumer complaint received 2022-12-28
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: WI
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Subject : XXXX Citizens Bank XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX RE : Mortgage Loan Number : XXXX Property owner/address : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, La XXXX XXXX WI XXXX Parcel number for property in La XXXX XXXX WI : XXXX Escrow account on Citizens mortgage for property taxes and insurance ( XXXX homeowners policy XXXX Time Line XX/XX/XXXX I met with my accountant and financial advisor. Reviewed XXXX tax strategy : In even-numbered years, I pay two years of property taxes so that I can exceed the IRS standard deduction in order to itemize. 

XX/XX/XXXX The mortgage on XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, La XXXX, WI XXXX is new in XXXX. After my XX/XX/XXXX XXXX tax meeting ( above ), I wanted to verify with Citizens Bank ( the mortgage holder ) that ( 1 ) I was Option 1 for property tax payment ( meaning escrow funds for property tax sent to me as a check to disburse to the City of XXXX  XXXX for property tax payment ) and check the amount to be paid from escrow. 

To answer those questions, XXXX called Citizens ( XXXX ) XXXX, spoke with a tax agent who told me : I was Option XXXX Citizens didnt have the property tax bill, but check will be sent out about XX/XX/XXXX after property tax bills are issued by the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 
The representative said the amount I could expect is {$4800.00}. 
I called the Citizens escrow department using the tax department number ( XXXX ) XXXX, and requested that escrow be removed from my account. The person put in the request and told me I would receive a letter letting me know if I was approved, and would be charged .001 % of principal balance to remove escrow. 
The process for removing escrow would likely take 30 days before completed. 

XX/XX/XXXX I received this message from Citizens Bank about a property tax payment through the Citizens app ( screen shot below ) : The property tax amount of {$3900.00} ( above ) did not match the amount ( {$4800.00} ) quoted during my XX/XX/XXXX call to Citizens. 

Given this information, I was going to be short more than {$900.00}, which I had to come up with on my own, to pay my property taxes. 


XX/XX/XXXX Before calling Citizens about the discrepancy in the property tax amounts, I did some research about balances in my escrow account. 

On my closing statement for the loan, I paid {$2800.00} for property taxes ( {$400.00} x 7 months ) The amount I paid Citizens escrow account for property taxes with my mortgage for the remaining amount was {$400.00} x XXXX {$2000.00}. 

Adding those two numbers together equals : {$4800.00}, which was a few pennies off from what I was quoted by Citizens as the amount available to pay property taxes.

For more than 4 hours, I spoke with Citizens employees in customer service, mortgage services property tax ( 2 times ), escrow, ( 2 times ). No one had any answers and passed me back and forth between the tax and escrow departments. I started asking to escalate the call. Even doing that netted me no answers to the issue. I have pages of notes, but the individuals I have noted include : XXXX XXXX XXXX in customer service, XXXX ( verified it was a check, not an electronic payment, was issued ) XXXX ( insurance department ) ( who got XXXX employee # XXXX XXXX insurance on the line ) XXXX was the hero of this story, he called me back and told me he called the XXXX XXXX Department and was going to talk to the tax department AGAIN ) There were others, but I dont have all the names in my notes. 

Most of the time, however, I was on hold. 

XX/XX/XXXX After all the frustration with my Citizens call, I reached out via text on XXXX to XXXX XXXX a representative at XXXX Bank, who helped me with the original mortgage, before it was sold to Citizens Bank. I sent him the image ( above ) and what I knew so far, and he said he would escalate it to our account rep. 



On XXXX, XXXX texted the following when I asked if he heard anything from Citizens per our account rep they arent able to release further information to me, because the situation has been escalated to the office of the chairman at Citizens bank. I was told a representative from the office of the chairman would personally and directly be in contact with you, however. 


XX/XX/XXXX Since I hadnt received the tax bill from the city nor the promised check from Citizens and it wasnt clear from my XXXX call if I would be receiving a check or a error was made with an electronic payment, I wanted to be sure payment hadnt been made from Citizens to the city in error as damage control. I reached out to the XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX and spoke with XXXX in the Treasurers department and XXXX. Both said there was not a check or amount submitted to them for my property or any othersince tax bills hadnt been sent out yet. 

Also on XXXX. I received call from a woman who said she was a researcher at Citizens Bank at XXXX XXXX. from the number ( XXXX ) XXXX. I was shopping, and didnt have my notes, and didnt catch her name. I gave her the information I remembered. I assumed that call was the escalated call from the chairmans department that XXXX XXXX told me I could expect. 


XX/XX/XXXX I received a call from XXXX in the chairmans department. She said she called me on XXXX and left me a voice mail. She was calling to follow up since she hadnt heard from me. She gave me her phone number ( XXXX ) XXXX. And I reviewed everything above. 

Note about alleged XXXX call ( above ) : Subsequent to speaking with her, I looked for the XXXX voicemail she claimed to leave. I have no record of the call, nor a voicemail on my cell phone on that date from anyone from Citizens or any unknown number. I verified that with XXXX XXXX as well. I only had XXXX calls on XXXX, all of them I can identify. I called XXXX back on XX/XX/XXXX, worried that information about my mortgage was left on someone elses phone. 

In her XX/XX/XXXX call she told me that the research team would be working on it. 

XX/XX/XXXX I received a check from Citizens for {$520.00}, check # XXXX. I don't know why that check was sent. It matches I called XXXX and left a voicemail about it. 

Also, I see a credit for {$3900.00} on Citizen 's app on my phone. 

XX/XX/XXXX XXXX called. I had to end the call because I was caring for my grandchildren. But she said that {$3900.00} had been " returned to Citizens. '' That amount matches the amount of the check No. XXXX that I received and referenced earlier. That also appears on my app as a credit. The app also says under " upcoming '' that " XXXX XX/XX/XXXX '' is still pending for {$4800.00}, which is the original amount I was promised during my first phone call to Citizens on XX/XX/XXXX. I also learned on the call that emails don't really XXXX immediately. I had sent her a screen shot, but she had not received it. I sent her an email containing the information above, with screenshots, but I don't know if she received that one because of the system screening/censoring emails at Citizens before they are delivered. 

XX/XX/XXXX The following message appeared on the Citizen 's app : " Reminder : On XX/XX/XXXX, your payment will increase by {$180.00}. This could be due to a change in your tax and/or insurance payments related to our escrow account or an interest rate adjustment. Please contact us if you have questions. 

Since XXXX does not receive my emails immediately because of the screening/censoring function on Citizen 's email system, I left a series of voice mails on XXXX 's line this morning to ( XXXX ) XXXX. The questions were as follows : XXXX. I read her the notice about the mortgage payment increase of {$180.00}. I asked why specifically this amount was being added to my payment. 
XXXX. Why, specifically was the amount {$3900.00} sent to me. How was that number calculated. Since the same amount was credited to my account, does that make the check invalid? My taxes are due XXXX  XX/XX/XXXX. It's XX/XX/XXXX. 
XXXX. Since emails to Citizens are delayed, did you get my first email with a written description of the problem ( above )? Did you finally get my second email asking about the amount of {$3900.00}? How long does it take for emails to be screened? Hours? Days? Weeks? 
XXXX. I received a check for {$520.00} no XXXX. What, specifically, was that check sent for. Is it still valid? 

Note : The total for the two checks sent is {$4400.00}. Less than the amount {$4800.00}, which was promised to me on the phone on XX/XX/XXXX, and that is posted on the app as pending taxes to be paid. 

XXXX. I had asked that the escrow account be closed, which I received a note saying I could do. But now my payments are increasing ( it must be because of escrow, not loan interest since I have a fixed rate mortgage ). I want to know if she contacted the escrow department and when that can be resolved. I don't want to give them more money -- it might make this worse. 

XXXX. Last call. I asked her to call me today to assure me that she received my messages and would forward those specific questions to her " internal research team. ''

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation