Consumer complaint received 2019-03-26
Company: SANTANDER BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: IN
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
For over 11 years Santander bank has received an automatic payment from my checking account for the amount to cover my mortgage. The money has always been there and was there in XXXX of 2018 when Santander bank stopped accepting the automatic payment. After a few months of the mortgage payments accumulating in my checking account, I realized from the high balance that there must be a problem. I called Santander bank and explained that this payment had come out for the last 11 years but that apparently it hadn't recently and that I needed to get them paid and get that payment set back up again. At this time I was informed that my home was already in foreclosure and then I would need to submit a formal request for reinstatement and get the associated reinstatement fees paid so that we could move forward. I did exactly that. 
The next communication I received from Santander bank was a mortgage statement which included a reinstatement amount as well as detailed instructions as to how the funds must be sent and where they should be sent. 
Within a couple of days of receiving this statement, I went and got certified funds equaling the amount requested on the statement from Santander and mailed it as directed.

About 3 weeks later I received the letter from Santander stating they head received my payment and were returning the funds for 2 reasons : 1 ) the amount was not sufficient to cover all expenses associated with the debt 2 ) personal checks are not accepted. 
However, no funds accompanied the letter. 
Since the funds I had sent weren't included, and since I knew for sure I had sent certified funds, not a personal check, and had just received the reinstatement amount from Santander themselves, I called to inquire. 
I spoke with XXXX in the mortgage disposition department and was told that the amounts on the Santander statements weren't actually correct and that for reinstatement I needed a reinstatement amount that came directly from their attorneys, XXXX XXXX. He asked that I again submit a written letter requesting the reinstatement amounts and assured me that he personally would see to it that once my request was received it would be quickly answered with the proper reinstatement letter. 
Then, about a week later, I received the reinstatement letter from XXXX XXXX. The amount due listed on this this reinstatement letter was indeed higher. The this point, I called back to XXXX in Santander 's mortgage disposition department. XXXX told me he was able to hang on to my first check and that it would be acceptable for me to send an additional payment equal to the amount of the difference and that by doing so, as promised in the reinstatement letter from XXXX XXXX, my loan would be reinstated. So, I went back to my local bank, got a cashier 's check to meet the certified funds requirement and mailed it as directed by both XXXX XXXX and XXXX in mortgage disposition. 
A couple of weeks later I get receive the letter from Santander stating that they did received my payment but were returning the funds and proceeding with foreclosure for 2 reasons : 1 ) the funds were not enough to cover the debt 2 ) personal checks are not accepted.

Since receiving that letter I have been in contact with both Santander and XXXX XXXX on over a dozen occasions. Neither can tell me where these funds are at this point or why they aren't honoring the reinstatement amounts they have sent me. At this point, after working on this rather constantly for the last 3 months, my home is scheduled for sale on XX/XX/XXXX of this year. 
For the last 2 days I have worked wirelessly to find someone to represent me in this matter. I have followed my lender and my lenders attorneys instructions to the tea and they continue to tell me to hang in there and they'll get this worked out. However, with little over 3 weeks until the scheduled sheriff sale, I'm in absolute panic mode. Any information that might be able to help me save my home would be very much appreciated!

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