Consumer complaint received 2019-02-20
Company: Flagstar Bank, N.A.
State: WI
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Flagstar failed and refused to answer 4-5 emails to the dedicated email address : XXXX to : ServicingManagement [ XXXX ], XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX with XXXX letter to Office of President attached letter to the office of the president also sent to Flagstar Office of Compliance to revoke my acceptance of how Flagstar paid my tax escrow thru a 3rd party vendor, XXXX XXXX. In XXXX I revoked acceptance by letter XXXX, XXXX renewed XX/XX/XXXX. Flagstar by letter dated XX/XX/XXXX made untrue, deceptive and misleading statements ; misstated the law and said opting out of the 3rd party vendor payment was " not an option '' letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, in disregard and contrary to Ch XXXX. Flagstar intentionally ignored my direct payment request pursuant to Ch XXXX of Wis. Stats. My XXXX taxes were not paid timely ; they were paid in XXXX thru and by the 3rd party vendor I revoked acceptance. Accordingly I sent those multiple emails, again, to correct the errors and get an explanation why ; Flagstar failed and refused to reply to any inquiry whether by letter or multiple emails ; two XXXX letters [ XX/XX/XXXX ] one to the Office of the President, one to Office of Compliance, same date which Flagstar failed and refused to answer all toward changing my tax escrow options pursuant to sec 138.52 5m 3. ( a ) I have copies of all XXXX & XXXX emails, letters and addresses A fair resolution to this matter : Flagstar should be sanctioned for innocent or intentional misleading and inaccurate statements of the law ; pay incidental and consequential damages for intentionally ignoring payment requests options authorized by Ch XXXX ; sanctioned for ignoring, failing and refusing to answer legitimate inquiries and being obstructive and dilatory and simply not telling the truth and removed from any approved listing for servicing VA loans. 

I have additional information available to submit via e-mail. 

Flagstar has a broad history of complaints, obstructive dilatory behavior ( s ) and institutional indifference toward mortgagors. See : 338 complaints on one ( 1 ) site XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( 5m ) ( a ) In this subsection, escrow agent '' means a person who receives escrow payments on behalf of itself or another person.

( b ) 1. Except as provided in par. ( e ), if an escrow is required to assure the payment of property taxes, a bank, credit union, savings bank , savings and loan association or mortgage banker which originates a loan on or after XX/XX/XXXX, shall, before the loan closing, provide the borrower with a written notice clearly stating that the borrower may require the escrow agent to make payments in any manner specified in subd. 3. from the amount escrowed to pay property taxes and the responsibilities of the borrower and escrow agent as provided in subds. 4. and 5.

2. Except as provided in par. ( e ), if an escrow is required to assure the payment of property taxes for a loan originated before XX/XX/XXXX, the escrow agent shall send, by XX/XX/XXXX, written notice to the borrower clearly stating that the borrower may require the escrow agent to make payments in any manner specified in subd. 3. from the amount escrowed to pay property taxes and the responsibilities of the borrower and escrow agent as provided in subds. 4. and 5.

3. Except as provided in par. ( e ), a borrower may require an escrow agent who receives escrow payments to assure the payment of the borrower 's property taxes to do any of the following, if the borrower notifies the escrow agent as provided in subd. 4. and if the borrower is current in his or her loan payments : a. Except as provided in subd. 3m., by XX/XX/XXXX, send to the borrower a check in the amount of the funds held in escrow for the payment of property taxes, made payable to the borrower and the town, city or village treasurer authorized to collect the tax. 
b. Pay the property taxes by XX/XX/XXXX, if the escrow agent has received a tax statement for that property by XX/XX/XXXX. 
c. Pay the property taxes when due. 
3m. In its sole discretion, an escrow agent may send a check under subd. 3. a. that is made payable only to the borrower.

4. To require the escrow agent to make payments in any of the manners specified in subd. 3., the  borrower shall send, by XX/XX/XXXX, written notice to the escrow agent specifying the manner, from the 3 choices under subd. 3., that the borrower wants the escrow agent to make payments. Except as provided in subd. 5. b., once notified, the escrow agent shall annually make payments in that manner unless the borrower is not current in his or her loan payments or unless otherwise notified in writing by the borrower by XX/XX/XXXX. 
5.

a. If the borrower chooses to receive payments as provided in subd. 3. a. or receives payment under subd. 3m., the borrower shall annually, by XX/XX/XXXX, send to the person to whom the borrower makes his or her loan payments a copy of the receipt for paid property taxes. 
b. If the borrower fails to comply with subd. 5. a., the borrower loses the option of receiving payments that year in the manner specified in subd. 3. a. During the next year, the borrower may again receive payments under subd. 3. a. if the borrower renotifies the escrow agent by sending written notice to the escrow agent by XX/XX/XXXX of the next year and if the borrower is current in his or her loan payments. 
6. If the borrower sends the check received under subd. 3. a. to the town, city or village treasurer after the county has assumed responsibility for collecting property taxes, the town, city or village treasurer shall accept the check and pay over to the county treasurer the amount of the check. If the amount of the check sent by the borrower to the town, city or village treasurer exceeds the amount of property taxes owed by the borrower, the town, city or village treasurer shall refund the excess amount to the borrower and, if the county has assumed responsibility for collecting property taxes, pay over to the county treasurer the remaining amount of the check.

( c ) A borrower may establish an escrow account required for the payment of taxes and insurance in a financial institution, as defined in s. 710.05 ( 1 ) ( c ), of the borrower 's choice if the escrow agent fails to comply with par. ( b ) 3., unless the lender or person to whom the loan is sold or released demonstrates that the financial institution is incapable of servicing the escrow account.

( d ) If a borrower establishes an escrow account under par. ( c ), the borrower shall annually, by XX/XX/XXXX, send to the person to whom the borrower makes his or her loan payments verification of the amounts which the borrower deposited in the escrow account during the previous 12 months and copies of receipts for taxes and insurance paid during the previous 12 months. 
( e ) Paragraphs ( b ) to ( d ) do not apply to an escrow required in connection with a loan to assure the payment of property taxes, whether the loan is originated before, on or after XX/XX/XXXX, if it is the practice of the escrow agent to, by XX/XX/XXXX, pay to the borrower the amount held in escrow for the payment of property taxes or to send the borrower a check in the amount of the funds held in escrow for the payment of property taxes, made payable to the borrower and the treasurer authorized to collect the tax. If the escrow agent in any year chooses not to make the payment by XX/XX/XXXX for any reason other than because the borrower is not current in his or her loan payments, the escrow agent shall send, by XX/XX/XXXX of that year, written notice to the borrower clearly stating that the borrower may require the escrow agent to make payments in any manner specified in par. ( b ) 3. from the amount escrowed to pay property taxes and the responsibilities of the borrower and escrow agent as provided in par. ( b ) 4. and 5.

138.057 Penalties. Any lender who intentionally violates s. 138.053, 138.055 or 138.056 is liable to the borrower for all excess interest collected, plus interest thereon at the rate of 5 percent per year. In addition, the borrower may recover actual damages, including incidental and consequential damages, sustained by reason of the violation.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation