Consumer complaint received 2018-07-17
Company: PROVIDENT FUNDING ASSOCIATES
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
About 9 months ago my XXXX mortgage was acquired by a new Mortgage Servicer named XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

Provident 's contact information is : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX - Loan Servicing XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, CA XXXX XXXX I changed my online billpay account for the month of XX/XX/XXXX, so I made two payments from two different bill pay accounts for my entire XX/XX/XXXX Payment which is for at least {$1600.00}. My payments ( which in sum constituted the full XX/XX/XXXX Payment and some principal reduction ) were all received by Provident BEFORE a late charge could be imposed. 

The first bill pay payment was made by check iao {$500.00} and was mailed on XX/XX/XXXX and received on XX/XX/XXXX by Provident. 

The second bill pay payment was made IAO {$1200.00} and was electronically received by Provident on XX/XX/XXXX. 

I called Provident today, XX/XX/2018, and spoke with " XXXX '' and further escalated the call to Supervisor " XXXX ''. Both Provident representatives indicated that Provident could not accept a partial payment, they cited a company policy to benefit their shareholders, and therefore both payments were returned and I was charged a late fee IAO {$81.00} on the XX/XX/XXXX. 

I advised both XXXX and XXXX that I had to change bill pay providers for the month of XX/XX/XXXX and that with my prior XXXX servicer allowed for splitting payments without issue. XXXX would put a partial payment in a " suspense '' account and credit the full payment once the balance was received. I have never received a late charge or been late on a mortgage payment. As of today, XX/XX/2018 ... neither of the two bill pay payments have been returned to me from either bill pay entity ( check or electronic ) ... so the only way for me to know that there was a problem would have had to have come from Provident, but Provident chose to do nothing. I asked XXXX and XXXX to waive the late charge since I had in fact made my XX/XX/XXXX payment on time and they said absolutely not and they indicated that their shareholders needed this late charge revenue. I further asked Manger XXXX if he could give me the names Provident 's regulators and he refused and said he did not know that Provident was even regulated.

Furthermore, I asked if Provident could have let me know that there was a problem with my XX/XX/XXXXpayment ( Provident has my phone and text message number and email ) ... and they confirmed that they had my email and contact information, but refused to use it. They said that they had too many mortgages to service to actually call me, text me, or email me to let me know that there was a problem with my XX/XX/XXXX payment .... keep in mind that I could have potentially fixed the problem before facing a late charge. But instead, Provident conveniently chose to remain silent because it was going to benefit them with this late charge revenue ... Provident confirmed that they received the check for {$500.00} on XX/XX/XXXX ... and literally let 6 business days pass with no action on their part ( XXXX said they mailed me a letter, which I have not yet received ) ..., but they do it this way so they could collect a late charge revenue. 

This really feels like a fraudulent scam to me ... borderline theft. If you steal a little from a lot of people it starts to really add up. My {$81.00} late fee from Provident will not kill me, but I began thinking .... I am probably not the only one this has happened too ... and sure enough I XXXX it and you can find similar complaints about biweekly or partial payment to Provident. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX   They also indicated that they do not accept bi weekly payments ... .. so anyone who wants to send a payment every two weeks they will just flat reject, but sit on this information, so they can collect late charge revenue. I think this also only benefits Provident ... and they should give notice that as a servicer they chose not to accept partial or biweekly payments because they want to make that late charge revenue.

I think this is a very slimy business practice .... and for the record I did not choose to do business with Provident ... my mortgage was sold to them from XXXX / XXXX. Also, even though my funds have not been returned to me I have made another payment for XXXX, which will be received by Provident tomorrow ... XX/XX/2018. So, as of tomorrow I am two days late, but out of pocket for two mortgage payments.

I think this would be a tempting one for the CFPB, Treasury, Fed, or state finance regulators to investigate further ... these late charges can really start to add up ... I bet if a regulator sent out a subpoena asking for all partial payment late charge records from Provident you might find a very interesting pattern here. This Provident activity reminds me of XXXX XXXX and the " Pay Day '' lending scam ... that I saw on XXXX Season 1 episode 2 of XXXX XXXX. 

Keep in mind this Provident is a company were I don't even get a monthly mortgage statement from ( I used to with XXXX  ) ... they have given me instead a little coupon book, but they are technologically savvy because a monthly statement is generated online and they do have online account access for me to use. I did log in to Provident after Provident received and returned the {$500.00} check ( before the late charge ) to check on the status of payment and there was no mention of a problem of my {$500.00} XX/XX/XXXX payment ... they could have flagged the account and mentioned that my first payment was returned .... I think this is really just a revenue generating feature ... but it is definitely slimy. I think the regulators should just step on this behavior hard to put an end to it quickly.

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