Consumer complaint received 2020-01-10
Company: Ocwen Financial Corporation
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Complaint is against : PHH Mortgage XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, NJ XXXX Complaint 1 : Failure to comply with their Fiduciary responsibility and pay Property Taxes in a timely manner ( XXXX XXXX ) from the existing Escrow account, exposing customer to higher taxes by no fault of the property owner or the amount in the escrow account.. 
Complaint 2 : Tax Department failed to comply with their responsibilities both Fiduciary and Corporate by  refusing to communicate with its customers on their failure to pay taxes out of Escrow account when due.

My mortgage was sold by PHH Mortgage in XXXX to XXXX but it is still being serviced by PHH, Loan No. XXXX. They have had the tax bill for the property since XXXXt.Bill due in XXXX, they did not pay it, even though its a Mortgage they have serviced since its inception in XXXX. I have been asking them since XXXX why they have not paid the bill. Customer service is in the XXXX, they had no information every time I called. They say they must contact the tax department, that is still in NJ. The PHH Tax Dept will not take calls or emails from customers. They did not respond to me or to the customer service teams in XXXX when I was made aware that they had not paid the taxes and contacted customer service. I have received no communication from PHH, PHH Tax Department or XXXX related to the escrow account or the tax bill. 
Yesterday a supervisor found a note that the tax department put a do not pay-hold on the tax bill in XXXX, no one ever informed me of this before. They show by their actions total disregard for their customers. Right now, its over {$100.00} more in taxes that I have to pay by having missed the XXXX payment and the amount increases every month until delinquency in XXXX. I have a Mortgage Refinance closing date of XX/XX/XXXX. I am afraid I will pay the tax bill at the closing and they will pay it as part of closing out the loan after the XXXX. Or worst they will hold on to the escrow balance and it will be a long drawn fight to get the escrow funds to me. This is the outcome I fear from all of their actions on this matter. The present balance in the escrow account is more than the tax bill, so that does not justify their actions, and as I have already mentioned they have not sent one piece of communication related to the escrow balance or the tax bill. If its not clear my complaint is : this company is not responsive to its customers, it has not moved at all on the request for an answer, its customer service reps and supervisors are nothing more than a delay tactic, for the company. They do not have the interest of their customers at heart. They are so unresponsive to its customer 's that they refuse to let me talk to the Tax Department in NJ who has the responsibility to pay the bill and is who ( I finally now know ) put the stop payment request or direction on the account or the bill. The PHH Tax Department and by association all of PHH has no respect for its customers, if it does not have the common courtesy to communicate with its customer 's over their actions. 
Complaint Actions 1-Given how negligent they have been in their fiduciary duties with the escrow account, penalize them whatever is appropriate by NJ and Federal laws and statutes and investigate if this is now a common practice to use their customer 's escrow funds for other money making ventures. Or to have customers pay more fees along with the higher tax bills by paying late. 2-Given the timing of the refinance closing I don't want them to pay the taxes unless its this week, XX/XX/XXXX, with assurances and details of the transfer/payment. 3-Contact the PHH Tax Department in XXXX XXXX, NJ that will not take my call or communicate with me and have them send me via wire/money transfer the amount in Escrow immediately, as I don't trust that they will follow through on point no. 2. 4-Pay me the difference between the tax bill of XXXX {$3500.00} and the tax bill of XXXX {$3600.00}, from their funds, its their inaction that leads to the higher payment, that should not come out of my pocket.. Tax bill is attached in the complaint filing.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation