Consumer complaint received 2017-08-11
Company: Ocwen Financial Corporation
State: VA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
In spring of XX/XX/XXXX, I started receiving phone calls from OCWEN attempting to collect on a debt. I was overseas on a military XXXX, and not regularly receiving my statements in the mail, as they are sent to my home address. Due to the travel intensive schedule, and austere locations of my XXXX, I simply paid OCWEN the amounts they said were due to bring my account up to date, as I did not have access to the resources necessary to investigate the details of the discrepancies. Two months later, the calls began again. This time, I spoke to OCWEN, and ensured that I was paying well in advance of my due date for each month 's bill. I had already set up auto payment through my bank, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, to ensure my bills were always paid on time, but after this incident, I paid one month in advance, in addition to what OCWEN claimed was delinquent, and set my auto-payment for {$10.00} more than my monthly amount due ( in case there was a fluctuation in my payment amount due ), and I scheduled for it to be paid on the first of every month, even though my payment was not due until the XXXX of each month, so I would always have time to correct a problem before the bill was late. I also filled out a form I obtained from OCWEN, specifically telling OCWEN to apply any additional/excess funds beyond the billed amount/amount due to the principal of the loan. I marked the box that stated this was to continue for each over-payment, indefinitely, or until change it. I did not have any issues with OCWEN again until XX/XX/XXXX. When I received my XX/XX/XXXX statement, which was produced on XX/XX/XXXX, it listed the last payment received, amount, etc., and that I had a balance due of {$0.00} dollars. My bank statement showed my XX/XX/XXXX Payment of {$560.00} had been sent, as scheduled, on XX/XX/XXXX, because XX/XX/XXXX was not a business day. When I received my XX/XX/XXXX statement, dated XX/XX/XXXX, it stated I had an Amount Due IMMEDIATELY of {$550.00}, as well a balance due on XX/XX/XXXX for {$560.00}, resulting in a total amount due of {$1100.00}. By this time, my wife and I had applied for a new mortgage, to purchase a new house in a new location, which required a copy of my current mortgage statements. She was already living in the new location, and had taken my XX/XX/XXXX OCWEN statement with her after a visit, before I had an opportunity to investigate the discrepancy. My payments continued as scheduled, and arrived each month on the 1st business day of each month, to be applied to my amount due on XX/XX/XXXX. When I received my XXXX statement, it listed a Past Amount Due IMMEDIATELY of {$560.00}, the exact amount due on XX/XX/XXXX, which had been paid XX/XX/XXXX. It also showed a balance due on XX/XX/XXXX of {$560.00}, for a total amount due of {$1100.00}. At this point, we were in the middle of packing our old house, getting it ready to sell, and move to our new house, which included a myriad of additional difficulties and issues that needed immediate attention, not to mention coordination for the move, kids ' schools letting out for summer, being a single parent household, and my pending retirement from 22 years of military service. I simply did not have the time, or energy to dig into the details of these continued discrepancies at that moment, and paid the full amount of {$1100.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. Knowing that I would soon be selling the house for which OCWEN owns this loan/line of credit/2nd mortgage, I was confident this would be the last of the continuing issues with this mortgage company. Of course, this did not prevent me from having to have a conference call with my new lender, and OCWEN, to explain that I was not delinquent on my payments, and never had been. The OCWEN representative during that call confirmed that I had not been late on my payments, and my account was up to date, even though the billing statements suggest otherwise. My XX/XX/XXXX Statement arrived showing I owed {$550.00}, due on XX/XX/XXXX. I checked my bank records to ensure my payment had been made, which it had been, on XX/XX/XXXX, in the amount of {$560.00}, to be applied to my amount due on XX/XX/XXXX. Since the statement was printed on XX/XX/XXXX I did not concern myself with the listed balance due, knowing it had been paid. My XXXX statement arrived, having been printed on XX/XX/XXXX. It showed a Past Amount Due IMMEDIATELY of {$550.00}, and a current amount due of {$570.00}, for a total amount due by  XX/XX/XXXX of {$1100.00}. I 've since moved into my new house, and having had enough of OCWEN 's billing nonsense, I decided to look into my records as to why this continues to happen. I noticed several discrepancies and inconsistencies in my billing statements, to include a payment made on XX/XX/XXXX of {$560.00} to be applied to my balance due on XX/XX/XXXX, that had only {$6.00} of the {$560.00} applied to the balance due. The remaining {$550.00} of that payment was placed in " Suspense '', according to the statement. Just to refresh everyone 's memory, the Past Amount Due IMMEDIATELY listed on the following statement dated XX/XX/XXXX, is for {$550.00}. I called OCWEN on XX/XX/XXXX to address these issues, and it was n't until I brought up the incorrectly applied payment for the amount due on XX/XX/XXXX, which was paid on XX/XX/XXXX that they acknowledged any issue or inconsistency. I was then told that the discrepancies on my bill were due to the fact that my payments arrive on the XXXX of each month, and the bill is produced on the XXXX of each month. When I explained that I was paying 20 days in advance of the due date, and 30 days in advance off the the next billing statement being produced, this explanation was simply not possible. I further advised the OCWEN representative that I had specifically filed a form they sent me in XX/XX/XXXX,  specifically directing them to apply any excess funds/overpayments to my principle balance. After putting me on hold, the representative told me that the only recourse I had was for her to submit a request to another department of the institution, to have those incorrectly allocated funds from XX/XX/XXXX 's payment applied to my XX/XX/XXXX amount due, and that it would leave me with a balance of $ XXXX due XX/XX/XXXX, even though the payment for XX/XX/XXXX has already been made, as of XX/XX/XXXX, in the amount of {$560.00}. OCWEN has been consistently failing to apply my monthly payments correctly. I have all of these statements, and bank payment information from when it started to become a problem again this year, and will be obtaining all of my statements for the history of the loan. Unfortunately, I am unable to get my banking statements for last year, or beyond, though the similarities between these incidents leaves no doubt in my mind they have been incorrectly applying my monthly payments for the life of this account. I have paid them the double amounts on at least four separate occasions, and will gather the required documentation to determine exactly how many times I have had to deal with this from OCWEN, as I estimate it has cost me in excess of at least {$2500.00} additional dollars over what I actually owe them for my account to be current, though I will not be surprised to discover the actual amount to be higher. Possibly significantly higher. The conversation on XX/XX/XXXX with OCWEN ended without resolution to this continuing issue, and I 'll simply be ignoring their future statements, and/or claims that I am delinquent on my account. The house that coincides for this loan is listed for sale, and OCWEN will get their money when house is sold. During my research of these discrepancies, I came across an article explaining that CFPB was suing OCWEN for incorrectly applying customer payments, among other things such as information omitted from statements, and decided to report my problems, so additional evidence can be provided to prove their continued mishandling of customer accounts and money. I 'm sure I already know the answer to my next question, but I 'll ask it anyway. What sort of recourse do I have with OCWEN for their mismanagement of my account, and money I have paid them beyond what I actually owe? I am electing not to attach my billing statements from OCWEN, because they already have the exact same ones, which clearly outline the discrepancies. Unless some sort of financial restitution is a possible outcome, I 'd rather not waste any more of my time on OCWEN.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation