Consumer complaint received 2021-08-20
Company: Mr. Cooper Group Inc.
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
My mortgage was transferred to Mr Cooper on XX/XX/XXXX. I waited a few days to receive my loan number so that I could call customer service and inquire about my property taxes being paid from my escrow account. I explained that my loan had just been transferred and that I would be incurring a penalty for non payment if my property taxes were not paid by XX/XX/XXXX and asked them to make the payment. I was told not to worry that they will make sure to get it done but since they just received the loan they don't have all the information yet and that if for some reason it gets paid later that Mr Cooper would be responsible for paying any late fees as well. I called one more time to talk to another representative before XX/XX/XXXX and brought up again that my property taxes were about to be charged a penalty and asked if I would be responsible for paying it. I was again told that it would not be my responsibility. My property taxes due were {$6000.00}. My escrow balance as of the date of my first mr cooper statement on XX/XX/XXXX was {$12000.00}. That first payment cycle XXXX of my mortgage payment was applied towards my escrow account, so Mr Cooper was accepting payments and maintaining my balance. I called several times after XX/XX/XXXX asking for the taxes to be paid. I was in the process of applying for a HELOC with another company and the non payment of my property taxes was holding up the underwriting process. 

Finally, on XX/XX/XXXX, I personally paid the property taxes along with penalties and interest of {$600.00}. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Mr Cooper to inform of this and requested that the penalties be reimbursed to me and that my escrow account also be closed because over $ XXXX of funds was being held in the account and I was unhappy with the non payment despite my many phone calls. I was told that the penalty reimbursement and the escrow account closing were going to be processed as two separate requests and that they would take different amounts of time since they were separate requests. I was never told that closing my account would have any impact on my ability to be reimbursed the penalties I had paid. I was told to email a receipt of the payment that I made to XXXX and was told they manage the property taxes issues. I included a case number that I was provided by customer service along with the proof of payment I had received via email from XXXX County. I never received a response to this email. 


My escrow account was eventually closed and I received a check for the balance. According to Mr Cooper the date of the closure was XX/XX/XXXX. I called several times to follow up. I was told by one represenetative that they did not even see my request on their records. On XX/XX/XXXX, I was told to email XXXX and explain the situation and send the same proof of payment to them. Because my escrow account was now closed, I was told that the corelogic address was not the appropriate email to direct my issue. I emailed on XX/XX/XXXX. At this point I had repeatedly explained the situation to many representatives. On XX/XX/XXXX I received a response. It mentioned that it was a response for my request made on XX/XX/XXXX ( althought I actually had made it on XX/XX/XXXX ). It said in part, " Please be advised that your account is not escrow to make the payment of your property taxes. 
Therefore, you will be responsible for direct payment of the property taxes. We apologize, but we are unable to reimburse the fee at this time. '' I did not see this email until XX/XX/XXXX, at which point I responded with the below message : " Hi, I just saw this message that my kate fees would not be refunded because my account is not escrowed. My account was in fact escrowed on the date that the taxes were due. I called several times before and after to request that it be paid from my escrow account. I was assured that it would be taken care if and that any late fees were not my responsibility because my taxes were held in the escrow account so it was not my fault. 

I finally paid the taxes myself including the late fee after several failed attempts to get Mr Cooper to send the payment from my escrow account. After paying it myself and because of the terrible experience I had, I requested that my escrow account be closed and refunded to me. At the same time, I requested a refund for the late fees. Several weeks later, I called to follow up and was told that the request was not submitted properly since I no longer had an escrow account. I resubmitted the request and received the attached response. This is ridiculous. I had an escrow account and still had to manage paying it myself. The fees should be refunded. I'm sure if you look into it you will see that the request to close the escrow account was made in XX/XX/XXXX. The late fees were incurred in XX/XX/XXXX. The fees are not my responsibility and I've had so many hassles with Mr Cooper since my loan was transferred here. This is extremely frustrating. 

Please review and I hope you hear back soon with a favorable response. 
Thank you, '' I never received a response to this email. I called again and explained the situation and my frustration that I had not even received a response to my follow up. I was reassured that it would be handled within 7-10 business days. I said that I have been told this 7-10 business days time frame for several months now and that I have been calling since my loan was transferred in XXXX over this issue. The representative apologized and reassured me that it would be handled. 7-10 business days pass, and I again received no follow up response to my request. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called again. I was very upset and said that I need to speak to a manager because I have been calling without any resolution for several months. I was transferred to someone from the Executive Resolutions Team. She looked into to it over the phone. She said something about never having received all of the paperwork from XXXX ( previous mortgage company XXXX when the loan was transferred. She mentioned that the property taxes were in fact due on XX/XX/XXXX, so XXXX should have paid it. I responded that I had an escrow account so that I wouldn't have to deal with this hassle and that it really wasn't my problem to work out their issues with the other mortgage company. I told her that because my payment was no made timely, I was not able to deduct it from my taxes and have spent hours on the phone with no proper follow up, so I just want Mr Cooper to figure it out and get my penalties reimbursed. I was told that she needed more time to research, but that she would definitely have a resolution for me by XX/XX/XXXX, if not sooner. She emailed me with this message : " Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to assist you today. 

I will be your single point of contact until a resolution is found. 

My direct contact number is XXXX, please call me directly if you have any questions. 

I work Monday Friday from XXXXXXXX XXXX ( CST ) to XXXXXXXX XXXX ( CST ) I will return any voicemails left during this time the same day. If you leave a voicemail with me after those hours I will return your call the next business day at my first opportunity '' On XX/XX/XXXX, I had still not heard from her. I emailed her on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, but did not receive a response. I also called her twice during this time, again with no response. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Mr Cooper again, asked for the Executive Resolutions Team, told them the situation and about how I was promised a response but never received any follow up. The person on the phone said it looks like the person that was helping you is out of the office today, but she will be back on XX/XX/XXXX. If she doesn't answer by XXXX, give me a call and I'll help you. I asked her to just look into it for me, but she said I should wait to see if the other team member responds first. I got a call on XX/XX/XXXX from the first Executive Resolutions Team member saying that because I don't have an escrow account, they are not willing to pay the penalties. I asked her if she had conveyed that I had a fully funded escrow account the day the penalties were incurred and that I only closed my escrow account due to the non payment issue. She said she did convey this, but that unfortunately they would not pay because my escrow account was closed. She suggested that I email XXXX with an explanation. She said she can't guarantee that I will get the fees, but that she knows that they look into things a little more deeply. This is the same email address I had sent a request to on XX/XX/XXXX. This company is giving me a runaround on what is clearly their error.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation