Consumer complaint received 2022-07-20
Company: Flagstar Bank, N.A.
State: NJ
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Hi, On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a new escrow analysis from my mortgage lender Flagstar detailing what seems to me an erroneous analysis of my property taxes because, I own a XXXX  and when I purchased the XXXX last year XX/XX/XXXX, the property tax reflected was {$4200.00}. However, what Flagstar sent me was a property tax of {$9800.00} and an escrow shortage of {$7400.00}. I called flagstar immediately and asked to speak to someone in escrow or property taxes. After I reached someone in property tax department, I explained the issue and the individual told me that my taxes of {$9800.00} looked accurate. 


After persistently reiterating that the property tax was wrong and mentioning what I had seen on my mortgage closing ledger. I was told that I needed to reach out to my county tax office and ask for my tax bills for last year and this year. I do want to mention that my original mortgage loan was done by XXXX XXXX and it was transferred to flagstar. 

I went ahead and reached out to XXXX XXXX tax office and was told that I could view XXXX  copies of my property tax bill online, which I did. My last year 's taxes reflected exactly what was on my closing ledger which was XXXX and this year XXXX to next year XXXX is going to be {$4.00}, XXXX which is a difference {$36.00}. I sent both copies of my tax bill for last year and this year to flagstar. After waiting XXXX XXXX I placed another call and spoke again with the property tax department, At first the agent who I spoke to was convinced that the shortage amount was accurate based on unknown reason I could not understand however after patiently going over the bills with her. She came to understand there might be an issue and asked me what my property id number was and I told her and she responded that it looks like they had the wrong number which meant flagstar had been paying the wrong taxes using my escrow. 


The customer service agent created a case number and told me they were going to correct the property tax XXXX  and i asked her if they were also going to correct the escrow shortage issue and she assured me that it was going to be done. She said, it would take a few days but flagstar was going to resolve it. 

A few days later, I placed another call to flagstar and I was told they are still working on it. However, it's been a month, when I called the today i was told they had resolved the issue and had corrected the property tax id and everything was resolved. I looked online and my escrow analysis was still wrong and they still stated that owe them escrow shortage of {$5400.00}. Again, I called and i was told that was accurate again my a new agent but again, i persistently explained to her that it wasn't the case but she still wasn't able to help me. So, she transferred to a supervisor who after reviewing the case said that she has to inform the property tax department to investigate but it is going to take XXXX weeks but my mortgage is due on XX/XX/XXXX with a wrong due amount. 


At this point, I do not trust flagstar nor do I see their property tax department resolving this issue in a timely fashion and i don't have the money to pay an additional {$500.00} on top of my current mortgage with my financial situation. I have never been late on my payments.

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