Consumer complaint received 2018-03-20
Company: M&T BANK CORPORATION
State: TX
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
I am a resident in XXXX, Tx and my home was flooded during Hurricane Harvey. As a result of this flood, I sustained heavy damages and had to re-construct my home. As a result, I had to spend approximately {$27000.00} to fix the home and it took in excess of 7 months. The federal government placed a moratorium on all outstanding loans on homes that were affected by the flood and mortgage was not owed. M & T Bank is the lender that holds my loan. I paid the XXXX and XXXX loan balance and intend to pay XXXX onward. 

Due to this moratorium, I did not pay the mortgage for 120 days. The total balance owed from not paying the mortgage was {$10000.00}. Of that XXXX, {$9200.00} is interest expenses, so my new principal balance should be {$250000.00}. 

It took a month and a half for M & T Bank to give me a call and provide the new loan package. After the modification decision was made, M & T Bank contacted me and wanted me to verbally agree to a {$18000.00} principal balance increase with zero transparency with regard to a massive {$9000.00} addition to my loan, which is in direct violation of HR 4173 Sec. 1033 a consumer 's right to information, upon request, concerning the consumer financial product or service being obtained for any information relating to any transaction, series of transactions or the account including costs, charges and usage data. I requested paperwork that will show me how they came up to the {$18000.00} balance and why all of a sudden they tacked on an additional {$8700.00}. 

I repeatedly asked for a written break-down of how my principal balance increased from XXXX to XXXX from several representatives. The bank repeatedly refused and repeatedly violated Sec 1033 of the Dodd-Frank act and basically wanted to force me to accept this outlandish principal balance increase without understanding any of the calculations and how they came to that conclusion. My calculation shows an increase of {$9200.00} and their calculation shows ~ {$18000.00}, which proves that they are operating under Sec 1031 of H.R. 4173 article ( a ), section ( d ) subsection ( 1 ). Three of the representatives attempted to explain it to me and I received three different responses and I have zero understanding of the modification, which violates section ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) in its entirety under section ( d ).

I believe their acts also violated Sec 1031 " Prohibiting Unfair, Deceptive or Abusive Acts or Practices. '' Their act of not abiding by Sec 1033 and possibly Sec 1031 is directly in violation to Section ( c ) and ( d ) in its entirety of Sec 1031.

This is predatory lending. These banks are scamming its consumers ( and I am 100 % guaranteed I am not the only one in XXXX ) who have suffered from a major natural disaster and are forcing them to verbally accept ridiculous terms with zero transparency, and providing zero understanding as to why principal balances are increasing so significantly and without basis. I have recorded phone conversations that I am attaching to this complaint. These phone conversations will clearly show that these banks are not being transparent with their consumers and are in violation of multiple Sections under H.R. 4173.

I have recorded phone conversations, a document calculating what the new balance should be and zero documentation from M & T Bank because they refuse to give it to you.

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