Consumer complaint received 2019-12-02
Company: Flagstar Bank, N.A.
State: NJ
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Previous Loan # XXXX Current Loan # XXXX 1 ) On XX/XX/XXXX. A mortgage and ownership transaction were closed on XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

2 ) The home came out of a previously expired tax abatement ( tax discount ) in which additional taxes were soon due the current tax year. Note : this caused a delay in closing, because of this complication. 

3 ) Monies from Home Seller were held in escrow with Title Agent at closing specifically for the payment of the inflated taxes. 

4 ) On or about XX/XX/XXXX Title Agent made a payment of {$4500.00} on behalf of homeowner for current taxes due. 

5 ) On or about, XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX made a duplicate payment of, XXXX-creating an unnecessary escrow shortage. 

6 ) Tax Assessor held on to duplicate payments and applied them to next qtr. taxes. 

7 ) On XX/XX/XXXX an Escrow Analysis was performed by XXXX XXXX XXXX and was sent to homeowner. 

8 ) In that Escrow Analysis, XXXX XXXX XXXX servicer, erroneously conflated pre-abatement taxes with post abatement taxes in their escrow analysis creating a significant shortage. The also predicted a beginning Escrow balance ( XX/XX/XXXX ) of XXXX. In reality, this balance was XXXX 9 ) On or about XX/XX/XXXX, I messaged XXXX XXXX XXXX to reevaluate their escrow analysis based on county records. No action was apparently performed and no response. 

10 ) On XX/XX/XXXX, mortgage servicer was change from XXXX XXXX to Flagstar Bank 11 ) Flagstar bank rolled over the previous shortage into their system, increasing my monthly payment to XXXX 12 ) On or about XX/XX/XXXX XXXX Tax assessor sent a ONE-TIME abatement-EXT bill of ( {$1600.00} ) 13 ) On or about XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, Title agent made two payments were made in amount of {$1600.00} 14 ) Between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, on several occasions, Homeowner called and engaged in Online chat with Flagstar bank requesting that taxes be reviewed, and another Escrow analysis should be performed. In that conversation the Bank said that it required a cushion of two months of taxes and insurance 15 ) On or about XX/XX/XXXX Flagstar Bank made a duplicate payment of {$1600.00} to local tax assessor. Creating an unnecessary escrow shortage 16 ) Duplicated payment was applied to next qrt taxes, which were reduced to {$1200.00} 17 ) On or about XX/XX/XXXX, Flagstar bank conduct a second escrow analysis stating that I had secondary shortage of XXXX increasing my payment again, to XXXX!!! as XX/XX/XXXX. 

I have two shortages of XXXX and XXXX. Combined shortage of {$6200.00}. Monthly payment has went from XXXX to XXXX an increase of approx. 496/month. This is not acceptable. 





Homeowner Summary : Taxes estimated at closing : {$11000.00} XXXX Taxes : {$11000.00} Projected : Tax shortage : {$200.00} Prior owner abatement Exp bill : {$1600.00} ( ONE TIME ) Prior owner abatement Exp paid : {$1600.00} via TITLE AGENT Insurance : XXXX Current taxes due as XXXX XXXX : {$0.00} Taxes Due as XX/XX/XXXX : {$0.00} Q1 Tax bill date : taxes due as XXXX XXXX : {$1200.00} Q2 Tax bill date : taxes due as XXXX XXXX : {$2800.00} Q3 Tax bill date : taxes due as XXXX XXXX : $ unknown- not billed- can not use previous year due to abatement expired catch-up billing. Please consult tax authority. 
Q4 Tax bill date : taxes due as XXXX XXXX : $ unknown- not billed- can not use previous year due to abatement expired catch-up billing. Please consult tax authority.

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