Consumer complaint received 2022-04-16
Company: RUOFF MORTGAGE
State: OH
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Investigation took more than 30 days

Complaint:
On or about XXXX XXXX, we were written to notify us that our mortgage loan servicing was being transferred from Ruoff Mortgage ( XXXX or the Company ) to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I was told by a friend that works for Ruoff that the loans were being force-sold due to an audit completed at Ruoff which required all loans be transferred so that the mortgage Company could create its own servicing platform. In the flurry of communication over the subsequent 60 days there were notifications from both Ruoff and XXXX XXXX about direction of payments, etc. In an attempt to confirm that my automatic payments would not continue to be sent to the wrong servicer, I cancelled the XXXX payment believing that XXXX was the first month that was to be directed to XXXX XXXX XXXX However, the communication apparently stated that the loan was being transferred on XX/XX/XXXX and that the next payment ( XXXX ) would go to the new bank. I did note that in the plethora of communication from XXXX there was clear direction that any payment issues/errors during the transition and for a 60-day window thereafter would be forgiven during the process. As soon as I received notification from XXXX at the end of XXXX about the missed payment, I made both payments ( XXXX & XXXX ) for a total {$4300.00} which was initiated through my bank ACH platform and delivered to XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. However, the previous servicer, XXXXRuoff, did not ever technically receive the XXXX payment and therefore put a 30-day late pay notification on my credit report. I have since spoken to my contact at Ruoff who mentioned that he had heard of a number of complaints from family and friends who had various payment/transfer issues and some that were still outstanding months after the transition. I believe this was part of a broader problem caused solely by XXXXRuoff selling the servicing of these loans as I have had no payment issues with Ruoff since the loan was opened on XX/XX/XXXX. Additionally, I have owned a home since XX/XX/XXXX and have never had a late payment at any point. Its worth noting that in nearly 18 years owning homes, I can not recall having had a mortgage loan servicer change any other time. 

I have no record of communication from Ruoff/XXXX either in written form or voicemails from XXXX XXXX attempting to report or resolve the payment issue. In todays era of spam marketing calls, any financial institution looking to take negative credit action against a Borrower should be required to provide at least a voicemail indicating the need for a call back. I do not know if they attempted to contact me as there were no voicemails, but the volume of phishing/spam calls necessitates that I only return calls from Unknown numbers in the event they leave a detailed message legitimizing the need to return a call. The late payment was simply a mistake resulting solely from the sale of the mortgage servicing as I have had no payment issues and was able to resolve the problem immediately upon notification from the ( new ) mortgage servicer.

Company public response: Company believes the complaint provided an opportunity to answer consumer's questions
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation