Consumer complaint received 2019-06-11
Company: PHH Mortgage Services Corporation
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
As of XX/XX/2019 PHH Mortgage Services purchased my HELOC loan from XXXX. I was informed of this in writing prior to XX/XX/2019. The communication I received informed me that nothing would change and my loan would continue to be serviced. On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted PHH Mortgage Services because I was not able to pay my mortgage on line. I was informed everything would be fixed by XX/XX/XXXX. It is now XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX EDT and I have been on hold with PHH Mortgage Services for XXXX waiting for the correct person to answer. I originally called the phone number posted all over the website and XXXX told me that I have a HELOC and I called the wrong number. I told him that was the only number and that all I wanted to do was pay this months payment so that interest wouldn't keep adding up. He informed me that he couldn't do anything with HELOC mortgages. However, when I called on XX/XX/XXXX, the same exact number, the person was able to tell me all about the XXXX transfer process. I asked to speak with a supervisor and XXXX eventually came on the line and informed me that there was nothing he could do. My only option was to be transferred back in to the queue and wait for someone else to take the call. I told him " Why can't you get someone to help me? '' After much discussion he informed me " It's the policy ''. He did admit that the agents and supervisors are all in the same room as him but policy is policy. 

While I understand that they claim there are no late fees or negative hits to your credit score for 60 days, they are continuing to charge over 8 % interest on the outstanding balance. This balance would have been decreased and the amount of interest would have been reduced had they taken the payment when I wanted to pay them. It doesn't seem fair to the consumer for a mortgage company to be allowed to refuse to accept payment but then continue to charge interest on the outstanding balance. They are unfairly advantaging themselves by refusing to let consumers pay in a timely manner.

Then to refuse to address the issue or provide any tools or resources for the consumer to be able to correct this injustice doesn't seem fair. It may only be {$50.00} or {$60.00} to the consumer but when you add it up for all of their loans they are making a LOT of money by refusing to accept payment from the consumer. I feel that this type of practice should be illegal. If a company is not able to process a payment in a timely manner they should also not be able to charge interest on the outstanding balance until they can accept payment on that loan. Their is no incentive for the lender to take money from consumers who regularly pay their bills on time to quickly provide methods for them to pay their bills. The lender has all of the upside. The regular paying customers will still pay but will also pay them additional interest. 

It's now XXXX and I'm still on hold waiting to speak with someone to take my payment! It is now XXXX and after exactly 4 hours the call was disconnected. 

I know this agency was set up to help the consumer have a voice against the misdeeds of the large lenders. I hope this is something that you will actively investigate. If legislation needs to be passed to protect the consumer from these types of abuses I would be glad to start contacting people in Congress to urge them to help the consumer to be treated fairly.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation