Consumer complaint received 2018-07-19
Company: SUNTRUST BANKS, INC.
State: MN
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I received a letter on XX/XX/XXXX from Sun Trust Mortgage noting a shortage in my escrow of roughly {$940.00}. I recently purchased my home and closed on XX/XX/2018 and through my closing company was under the impression that my escrow was collected with a small cushion so that there would NOT be any surprises. I called Sun Trust and spoke to a representative who confirmed with me that my account only had a few {$200.00} some dollars in it and was short the {$940.00} so Sun Trust had to pay my county taxes for me and there for I needed to pay the deficit back. The letter stated that if I did nothing about this the shortage would start to be pulled out of my account at of XX/XX/2018. I also apparently had the option to write a check to them in the full amount to prevent the monthly increase. 
From this information I then called my Closing company : XXXX XXXX ( NMLS # XXXX5 ) Branch Manager XXXXXXXX XXXX   XXXX XXXX XXXX ( NMLS # XXXX ) XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, MN XXXX XXXX XXXX told me that this rarely happens and he has never heard of it happening, he looked into the closing document and then called XXXX XXXX to confirm that they had received the payment at closing. XXXX called me back quickly and confirmed that XXXX XXXX had received the check as well as one from Sun Trust which they sent back to Sun Trust as the amount had already been paid. 

I called Sun Trust customer help again and explained the situation again, the person told me that they were still showing a shortage in my escrow but then sent me to the tax department. The gentleman I spoke to in the tax department confirmed that they had in face received the check back from XXXX XXXX and were processing it. He didn't say when they received the check but assured me that because they had the check I WOULD NOT have the additional amount pulled out of my bi-monthly payment. 

On XX/XX/XXXX the amount pulled DID include the deficit - this was NOT what the statement dated XX/XX/XXXX claimed as it clearly stated that the amount would NOT be pulled until XX/XX/XXXX. This is also not what the representative told me from Sun Trust and was very upsetting. 

I then called Sun Trust again, spoke to another customer service representative who confirmed that the " missing '' tax monies were showing up in my account. Upon further conversation she noted that the company only does a once a year escrow review. 

When I returned home that day I received my XXXX Statement, NOT a notice that additional tax monies were credited to my account and noting that stated they were sorry for giving me a nightmare of a situation by sending an increase notice less than 3 months into owning my house. This was the XXXX statement, it noted on one line from XX/XX/XXXX that there was a repay escrow advance of - {$70.00} but then on XX/XX/XXXX a line item stated Tax Refund was listed in the amount of {$1200.00}. The amount Due was not the regular monthly payment of {$1200.00} but rather the amount that was given in the shortage notice of {$1300.00}. So the Tax Refund noted was NOT applied to my shortage. 

Apparently I have to ASK for a review of my escrow as this is not something that is done on an annual basis. So had I not called I would continue to be billed the higher amount for funds that I've already paid that would be just sitting in an account not of my own or of my wishing. 
This is not good business and I am not happy as to how this was handled and all the duress it has caused me especially as I'm still trying to settle down from the circumstances that lead me to the need to purchase a house.

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