Consumer complaint received 2018-03-14
Company: LoanCare, LLC
State: NY
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
The company failed to reimburse me for the payment of my Local XXXX   Tax that I paid directly on XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$2400.00}. XXXX I sent an email on XX/XX/XXXX with the request for refund of my escrow in this amount, along with the receipt showing payment, exactly as I had been instructed by The company to do. 
My email was acknowledged on that same date as per Please note : duplicate inquiries may prolong the time for resolution. The reference/ticket number is XXXX. 
I did everything that I was supposed to do, and when I had not heard anything weeks after my Annual Escrow Account Disclosure Statement, and there was no notation I could find on this statement, other than what looked like The company made the disbursement in XXXX and nothing shown of my disbursement, I called The company on XXXX XXXX to inquire. 
What follows is a record of the travesty of inept and sometimes rude responses I endured during my many attempts to resolve this situation : On XX/XX/XXXX after multiple prompts, a 17-minute hold, followed by a transfer to the Escrow Department, I was finally speaking with XXXX # XXXX. XXXX confirmed that there was in fact a record in the system showing on my account that my tax payment had been verified. She further confirmed that there was a record of my conversation in XXXX and that I had been informed that reimbursement would be issued around XX/XX/XXXX. 
She said that she would have to send a message to the Tax Department, that she had no authority to do anything, and that there was no access for anyone outside to contact the Tax Department. She said that someone from that department would call me back within 24 hours and verified both my home and cell phone numbers. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, having not received a call, I called the XXXX number again. This time I went through all the prompts and stayed on hold for XXXX minutes. After explaining everything again the CS agent began confirming everything I had already been told, when she added It looks like here that we also made a payment in XXXX in error. We will have to send a request to the county to refund us. As soon as we receive it we can issue you a check. 
I expressed that that was NOT OK! And I asked for my call to be escalated to a supervisor or manager that could address my problem. After many more holds, I was finally connected to XXXX # XXXX who assured me she was part of the Management team. She confirmed that someone had indeed also paid in error on XX/XX/XXXX and reiterated that they needed to contact the county to obtain a refund and that they would issue same to me as soon as they received theirs. 
I explained that I had taken a personal loan from a friend to pay this, based on the information I had been given by the company in good faith, and knowing that I did everything correctly, with the agreement she would be paid back by the first week in XXXX. I said that it was not acceptable that my money was being withheld due to the companys error and I wanted my refund issue immediately. XXXX # XXXX assured me that they do not do that, but she would escalate my request and see if there was anything she could do to get authorization to make an exception. She said she would get back to me within 24 hours. I told her that I had already been promised a call back, and she responded that it was not by her, that she was in management, and that I would get a call back. 
I waited On XX/XX/XXXX, I again dialed the XXXX number, went through the que prompts, remained on hold or 14 minutes. My call was picked up by *someone, and I am frustrated to realize that I failed to record her name and ID. 
* I would like to add this specifically, as I know that this call was recorded and she was especially rude. 
I kept asking her to transfer me to XXXX, or another manager, but she just kept talking over me and telling me everything that I already knew. Again, I told her that this had already been escalated to the management team and that XXXX was supposed to call me back and had not, so could she PLEASE transfer me to a manager, if not XXXX. She very rudely told me again that I would get my money when they got theirs from the county, and that it would not change anything to speak to anyone else. I told her that I did not accept that and demanded to be transferred. I was put on hold and the call dropped about 5 minutes later. 
I redialed. I went through all the prompts and stayed on hold for 36 minutes. 
Finally, XXXX # XXXX answered and she listened to everything, apologized, and promised to transfer me to the management team. I was then on hold for another 38 minutes and finally the line was answered by XXXX # XXXX who said he was not in the management team, but he listened patiently, apologized and explained that if a call is on hold for that long it will be rerouted. He promised he would help me get to someone and he would not leave me until he found a manager available. 
XXXX put me on hold for 24 minutes, but he picked me back up when he had Manager XXXX XXXX # XXXX on the line. 
XXXX XXXX listened to me completely, confirmed everything up until then, and added that she could see that XXXX had sent an escalation request, but had not yet been answered which is probably why she had not called me. XXXX also stated that she could not see anything on the county website, but they would try to push for the county to expedite their refund so they could then release the funds to me. 
She also confirmed that unfortunately, nothing else could really be done and that they would not issue my refund until they received the money from the county.

I told her that that was unacceptable. I said that they had no right to hold my money because they messed up, and that they needed to do the right thing. 
I also told her that if this was their final word on it, that I was not sure what I would do, but that it would not be accepted and ignored. I then told her that I would pay back my friend instead of paying my mortgage payment for XXXX, she asked how much that was, and I told her that it would leave a {$330.00} balance due me that I would deduct from the XXXX payment and they could keep my refund check. 
She said that would not be good because in XXXX, I would owe both months and I would have a missed payment and a short payment. I told her I would catch up whenever I did finally get my refund. She explained that they would not issue me a refund while I had a balance due on my account. I told her then they would have to apply the refund to my account. 
I explained that as regrettable as it is to resort to this, it appeared there was no other solution and that I would absolutely do whatever I needed to, so that my friend was paid back the money she loaned me from her daughters tuition. 
There was absolutely no way I was going to make it my friends problem that the company refused to do the right thing. XXXX said that if that were to have to happen she would flag my account to reflect the issue and not have my account reported negatively. I thanked her. 
She also said that she was still going to try to help me and would call me back. 
When I reminded her that I knew what that meant, she gave me her direct telephone number and promised she would get back to me. 
At the end of the day, XXXX did call me. She told me she had sent a message to the Big Guy and that she would get back to me as soon as she heard back. 
She said that she expected a response and that once it got up that far, it was usually responded to quickly.

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