Consumer complaint received 2015-08-18
Company: NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE LLC
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Loan servicing, payments, escrow account

Complaint:
Nationstar Mortgage Demands 50 % Escrow Account 'Cushion ' vs 20 % After I refinanced my mortgage with XXXX they immediately sold off my loan to Nationstar Mortgage , LLC in Texas . After being with NS for over a year they sent me an 'Annual Escrow Analysis Disclosure Statement ' and increasing my Escrow account payments citing the allowable RESPA 'cushion '. After the annual disbursements of XXXX taxes & Insurance totaling {$10000.00} and payments I made totaling {$10000.00} my escrow balance = ( {$130.00} ). 
My monthly mortgage payment is ; PRINCIPAL & INTEREST : $ XXXXXXXXESCROW : $ XXXXXXXXTOTAL : $ XXXXXXXXThe same week, I received a Statement from XXXX XXXX Assessor dated XX/XX/XXXX = NO CHANGE IN PROPERTY TAXES {$9700.00} for the period XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. 

Nationstar gave me XXXX weeks notice before my next mortgage payment to choose the following ; ESCROW SHORTAGE PAYMENT OPTIONS : I understand that my tax and/or insurance has increased and that my escrow account is short {$3600.00}. I have enclosed a check for XXXX ; OPTION 1 : Pay {$3600.00}, the total shortage amount. I understand that if this is received by XX/XX/XXXX my monthly mortgage payment will be {$2900.00}, starting XX/XX/XXXX. 

OPTION 2 : XXXX part of the shortage. 

" You do not need to do anything if you want to have all of your shortage divided evenly among the next XXXX months. " On the same notice, Nationstar is also increasing the monthly escrow payment by {$110.00} per month x XXXX months = {$1300.00} = TOTAL 'CUSHION ' of {$5000.00} = 47 % of annual Escrow Disbursements vs 17 % allowed by RESPA . 

To confuse the issue and make it impossible for the 'Escrow Department Customer Service ' to understand ; Nationstar has provided a table to 'justify ' their demands ' stating the 'lowest running balance ' of ( {$1900.00} ) in XX/XX/XXXX allows Nationstar to demand and additional RESPA cushion of ( {$1700.00} ) = {$3600.00} to bring the account to {$0.00} balance after disbursement of RE taxes. 

Why then, is Nationstar also demanding an additional {$1300.00}? 

On XXXX XXXX, I called the Nationstar Escrow Department and spoke for over an hour to a Customer Service Agent AND his Supervisor. I got XXXX completely different explanations for the amounts demaned by Nationstar ; 1. The Customer Service Agent just read off of the Notice that I had been sent and had no idea what the 'allowable maximum by RESPA ' was - Nationstar 's accountants were correct, and I was not calculating it correctly! He laughed at me and at that time, I demanded to speak to his Supervisor ; 2. Escrow Department Supervisor stated after putting me on hold for over XXXX minutes to look at my account, that I owed Nationstar over {$4700.00} because my payments for the previous year went to to Principal and Interest ONLY and NO Escrow. At that time, I demanded a full printout of my 1 year with Nationstar Mortgage. 

The following day, on XXXX XXXX, I made the XXXX payment of {$2800.00} Principal + Interenst + Actual Escrow + {$130.00} ACTUAL escrow shortage = $ XXXXXXXXThe following week, Nationstar stated in writing that my payment was NOT credited to Principal, Interest, Escrow or Escrow Shortage as I had requested but 100 % of my money was IN SUSPENSE, the mortgage was over XXXX days late, reported to the Credit Burea , and IN DEFAULT due to insufficient payment amount! 

Is this a legal action against a Borrower? 
Who do I contact in the State of California for help? 
MUST I hire a lawyer? 

Thank you!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation