Consumer complaint received 2019-08-13
Company: M&T BANK CORPORATION
State: MI
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I had a water loss claim in XXXX of XXXX, my insurance company paid {$76000.00} and I started work with a contractor in XXXX of XXXX. He was supposed to be finished in XXXX of XXXX but as of today the job is not finished and It has been approx. 6 months since the contractor has been at the property or done any work, and it remains only 75 % complete. I have sent 3 certified letters to the contractor, there has been no reply to me and the last certified letter was returned to me, undeliverable. I have forwarded the certified letters and documentation to M & T/XXXX and have put in for an exception, twice, and have been denied twice. 
The contractor has abandoned this job and will not be finishing, XXXX/M & T refuse to acknowledge this and allow me to finish, telling me that I must sue the contractor or submit a mutual termination letter. Yet M & T/XXXX should bear responsibility for this situation because the inspector, that they sent in XXXX of XXXX, improperly reported the home at 100 % complete. The last draw of {$16000.00} was released from M & TXXXX after the inaccurate100 % inspection, however, I refused to hand it over to the contractor as we were discussing the items that remained to be done at the home and, it was only after he completed them, or came to an agreement with me so that I could complete them, that I would release it, but then he disappeared and the funds are frozen at XXXX XXXX in a non-customer account, and they require documentation from M & T before they will release the check. M & T/XXXX wont acknowledge this and they continue to state that there is nothing they can do about it. 
Per the above stated facts, when I realized that the job was not complete, I attempted to negotiate with the contractor, my negotiation attempts spanned XXXX and XXXX, but the contractor had already left the job and returned to Florida the first week of XXXX and, has made no attempt to return to complete this job. Upon, realizing that he was not going to finish or negotiate with me, I requested a re-inspection. At this re-inspection, the status was REVERSED to 75 %. He was informed of this reversal on XX/XX/XXXX and has not been heard from since and has not replied to any of my correspondence. In addition to this, I can not ask the Michigan State Contractor Board for assistance because the contractor is not licensed in the State of Michigan, and Michigan does not have reciprocity with any other state, so technically, the contractor was not licensed to work on my home. This begs the question, is the agreement even valid? I have confirmed with the Michigan State Licensing Board ( LARA ), the Michigan State Attorney Generals office, and three different Michigan Real Estate Lawyers that, the contractor can not pursue legal action and can not put a lien on the home, yet M & T/XXXX refuses to acknowledge this. 

Every time I call into M & T/XXXX, I am told that I can not talk to the same person Ive spoken with before, therefore I have to go over the situation, from the beginning, and I get a different response and different information, each time. On several occasions, I have also been denied the opportunity to speak with specific supervisors upon requesting it, and I've also been denied the opportunity to speak with M & T Corporate, upon requesting it. 
The resolutions department attempted to reach out to the contractor and, like myself, was unsuccessful, stating that the phone number seems as if it may be disconnected ( fast busy signal ) Today I decided to do deeper research in an attempt to find the contractor, and I discovered that the contractor is seriously ill with XXXX and receiving XXXX and XXXX treatments. There are several fundraisers set up for him, each one talks about the fact that he " has been out of work and will be out of work for some time '' https : XXXX https : XXXX https : XXXX Upon finding this news out I called into M & T again and they stated that they can't confirm his illness so they can do nothing. I asked what they would accept as confirmation and they stated the same thing, a mutual termination letter or a court order. 

I am not willing to sue someone who has XXXX. 

M & T has the power to terminate this contract and I am requesting that M & T corporate get involved and immediately acknowledge that this contractor has abandoned this job and will not be finishing, terminate the contract, and do whats necessary in order to allow me to finish the repairs on the home.

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 monetary relief