Consumer complaint received 2021-12-29
Company: GUARANTEED RATE INC.
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I refinanced and closed the mortgage with Guaranteed Rate in XX/XX/XXXX for my condo property. One of the major conditions to close is to have all valid property HO6 condo insurance and HOA property insurance. 

After the loan closed, starting XX/XX/XXXX without my knowledge, Guaranteed Rate placed on my mortgage a Lender Placed insurance. In the middle of XX/XX/XXXX, I received the 1st letter from Guaranteed Rate asking for documents of property insurance to my surprise since these documents must be in their possession for them to close and finance the loan in the first place. The only channel for providing information is their online site at ihaveinsurance.com or mail. I provided the HO6  to them by both sending a physical copy through mail and through uploading to their website. I received an automated emails saying Documents received and will be processed. 
By mid XXXX, I received another letter from Guaranteed Rate with the same content and say if I do not do so they will proceed to purchase the outrageous {$2600.00} property insurance and charge me accordingly. I then contacted Insurance department and was asked to upload the same HO6 documents to them on the website and again received confirmation of document received and processed. I assume the matter is close because there was nothing else that I could have done for something that is Guaranteed Rate 's own failure of maintain their own records. 

Early XXXX, I received a letter saying they place the forced insurance of {$2600.00} on loan and this has started since XX/XX/XXXX. I called the Insurance department and this time they said they need the HOA master insurance policy and ask me to upload it again online. I did so and thought this time the matter would be resolved. 

Mid XXXX, I received a letter saying my mortgage payment will go up an extra XXXX $ a month for the cost of insurance in an escrow account to them as a direct result of lender placed insurance. I contacted the Insurance department again and this time they said they have not received any documents from me. They also refused to provide me any physical email address to send these documents again to make sure they receive it. I uploaded the docs again, this time with both HO6 old and new documents, HOA master old and new insurance. Again, received the automatic confirmation. The customer service person also asked for direct contact of my HOA to ask them to fax over directly the HOA insurance documents that I already uploaded. I assume the matters end there. 

Mid XXXX, I received the new mortgage statement for XX/XX/XXXX that says my mortgage payment will go up another {$540.00} starting XXXX XXXX. By now, it definitely seems to me that this company is trying to prevent me from updating my record so that they can force the expensive insurance on me. I called their insurance department again and again the answer is that they got zero documents from me. They told me to upload the information again and refused to provide me with any alternative to resolve the issue. When I threatened to file a complaint against the company and in the end the customer service people agreed to give me their XXXX so that I can send over the documentation. I sent over 2 emails to the said email address with all information of old and renewed HO6 policy, old and renewed HOA insurance to show that there is absolutely no gap in my insurance and the customer service person assured me that this has gone through. 

On XXXX XXXX, I received an automated email saying they now received additional documents that I provided 2 weeks ago. This goes to show they lied to me about how they gon na expedite this matter. I email back and asked if they will promptly remove their wrong Lender place insurance on my loan but no response. I then call the Insurance department again, this time they say they only got the newer HOA policy XXXX XXXX XXXX and not the XXXX XXXX XXXX. I was beyond frustrated. I said I am willing to send over again one more time the documents to get this resolved today because I dont want to pay a lot more monies on my next payment, knowing it is gon na extremely difficult to try and get the money back from such loan servicer/lender. They told me to go and upload the information online and that they could not provide me any email address to send documents to. I expressed my anger and that I will immediately file a complaint that this company is trying to scam me and force me into buying that lender place insurance at an outrageous amount of {$2600.00} a year. They then said they will escalate and when the service person talked to the manager for 5 minutes. They come back and said they now have located all the insurance documents needed. When I asked if they will remove the lender placed insurance, the answer is not a straight forward answer that they will definitely do it for me, especially before XXXX XXXX when my mortgage payment goes up due to wrong lender placed insurance being forced on me. When I asked who can I ask who should I talk to regarding removing the increase in mortgage amount they could not give me any contact to escalate this. My only option is to hope that this time they take pity on me and release me from their effort to entrap me with this ridiculous insurance. I doubt that they will do anything or communicate to me when they remove ( if they remove ) the wrong lender placed insurance in time for me to avoid payment the increased mortgage amount starting XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. If I only pay the right mortgage amount that might cause negative impact on my credit score but I do pay the increased amount, it might take me 12 months to try and claim this amount back given it took me 4 months hopelessly trying to resolve the insurance issue. 

I file this complaint in hope that should this Company fail me again and I am forced to take the financial loss this would evidence my effort and how wrong they have been treating their customer and how they have tried to trap customer with their preffered and unreasonable lender place insurance.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation