Consumer complaint received 2017-08-09
Company: SUN WEST MORTGAGE COMPANY, INC.
State: TN
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
We closed on our home on XX/XX/XXXX with Sun West Mortgage Company ( " Sun West ''  ) as our mortgage provider. We decided to escrow our county land tax, FHA insurance, home owner 's insurance, etc. We made our monthly mortgage payments. In XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX ( letter dated XX/XX/XXXX ) we received an " Annual Escrow Account Disclosure Statement '' letter, including projections for the coming year. On this letter, it stated that there was a surplus of {$610.00} in our escrow account and that the surplus would be returned to us. On or about XX/XX/XXXX, Sun West issued us a check for an escrow surplus of {$610.00}. Once we received the check, we deposited it into our local banking account. We continued to make our mortgage payments monthly. On or about XX/XX/XXXX, we received a notice from the XXXX XXXX Trustees Office concerning our land taxes. The notice stated that our land taxes had not been paid for the XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX calendar years. The notice also stated that it was believed that Sun West was actually paying our neighbors taxes. We immediately notified Sun West of this issue. Our taxes were paid in full on or about XX/XX/XXXX. In XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX ( letter dated XX/XX/XXXX ), we received another Annual Escrow Account Disclosure Statement, including projections for the upcoming year. We were shocked to see that we now had a deficit in our escrow account of {$860.00}. We immediately called Sun West to discuss this as well as other issues that we were confused about. After many discussions with Sun West, we received a packet in the mail regarding all of our concerns, and Sun Wests formal responses to them. While two concerns were properly addressed, we felt that the initial concern our large deficit in our escrow account was not. On page 1 of the packet, Sun West admits that It was found that due to an inadvertent administrative error on the part of Sun Wests tax payment processing vendor XXXX, the parcel information for the subject property was incorrectly reported for your loan. As a result of this error, the property taxes were paid for a different property ( our neighbors property ) for the years XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX.  Sun West sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience caused to you due to this situation. On pages 3-4 of the same packet, Sun Wests response can be found in regards to Concern 1 Why did Sun West send a refund check if Sun West did not want you to cash it. Their response is as follows The refund of {$610.00} did not belong to you as it was calculated on the basis of tax payments made for the property belonging to ( our neighbors ). ( pg 4 ) However, as explained earlier, Sun West was notified of the discrepancy in the parcel information for the subject property on or about XX/XX/XXXX. This meant that the analysis completed on XX/XX/XXXX was completed with the incorrect parcel information for the subject property and thus was null and void. It is our position that the deficit in our escrow account has been directly caused by the mismanagement of our mortgage and escrow accounts by Sun West and their tax payment processing vendor XXXX. Due to their administrative error, Sun West and XXXX are directly responsible for the taxes being paid incorrectly, the initial escrow account surplus and resulting check for {$610.00}, and now this deficit caused by the surplus check and the tax differential between our property and our neighbors. The administrative error has had a direct impact on why our escrow account has such a large deficit at this time. We do not feel as though we are responsible for Sun West and XXXX errors which resulted in this situation described within this complaint. Please see attached documents for reference.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation