Consumer complaint received 2021-01-28
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: MN
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
We are in the process of selling our home and our title company has been trying to get a payoff quote from Fifth Third since XX/XX/XXXX. We were supposed to close on XX/XX/XXXX, however, without a payoff quote, the underwriter for the buyer can not proceed without risk since they would need to pay the disbursements. 

Title company called Fifth Third on XX/XX/XXXX to request the payoff, quoted 2 business days and would be faxed. Not received. 

Title company called Fifth Third on XX/XX/XXXX to check in status, confirmed it was not received and had to request another payoff, quoted 2 business days and would be faxed. Not received. 

I called in on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke to an agent saying the fax was not received and they said they need to request another payoff, quoted 2 business days and would be faxed. Not received I called on XX/XX/XXXX and confirmed a payoff had been requested and it went out on the XXXX. When I told them the fax was not received, agent said I would have to request a new payoff. At that time, I told the agent this is now our fourth request and I had to escalate to a supervisor and spoke to XXXX. They said they see the payoff, was able to download and was planning to fax it to me that day. I received a call back from XXXX asking me to call back in to speak to a supervisor because there was a reason why it could not be faxed. I received an apology from XXXX on the fact this was not caught earlier and should have been escalated as it clearly shows we have called in for multiple requests in just 2-3 weeks. 

I called back and spoke to an agent and asked her to let me speak with a supervisor. The agent did not listen and continued to try to explain to me why it took 2 business days. I told her, I already spoke to a supervisor and another agent earlier that had explained that to me. I again asked for a supervisor which she then connected me with XXXX. XXXX reviewed and confirmed that since it is a manual payoff quote, it has to be mailed. I asked if why does it need to be re-done when the payoff quote requested was through XXXX and should be the same as the previously requested quotes that the previous supervisor was able to pull up. XXXX proceeded to tell me this was their process. She also shared that they are not notified if a request was denied or not. I asked her to make an exception because at this point we were in danger of not being able to close on XX/XX/XXXX. When I asked her if this could be expedited, she proceeded to tell me there is no phone number or contact with the processing department that generates the payoff quotes. She apologized and said she would follow this since this now sits with their supervisor team and this would take 3 business days. 

We learned that if we can't get the payoff and close by XXXX, we will need a new payoff. 
I called back afternoon of XX/XX/XXXX, asked to speak to a supervisor, XXXX this time. She was able to review the notes and confirmed for me if I requested a payoff quote through XXXX, that would not affect the existing request for payoff in the chance we would receive it in time. She was able to now tell me I could have it mailed directly to my title company if I chose to. She submitted the request for me. 

It is now XX/XX/XXXX with no payoff quotes received to date. We learned that the buyer 's lock expires today and if they can't close, they will incur re-lock fees. This is something we now may have to pay for due to Fifth third 's incompetency of being able to send a payoff quote. 

To date, we have requested 5 payoff quotes to be faxed and mailed. 
There are multiple issues here in process that I want to call out : - How many requests and not received calls do they need to receive to understand when to escalate an issue? 
- They did not understand their own processes when it came to creating a manual payoff - Comment about not being able to connect with the processing center is unacceptable. Saying they don't even have a phone number to call seems counterproductive if there is an issue - Not being able to notify a customer if a request was denied. If we had known it would need to be mailed earlier, we could have requested this back on our first request to avoid the waiting and the re-requesting we have had to do - Sense of urgency is non-existent. There was no empathy with regular agents when it came to understanding how this could cause an issue if we could not close on the original close date of XX/XX/XXXX. This has now caused hardship on not just us but the buyers, who should not have to deal with this incompetency. 
- I have concerns the delay will allow them to add more fees which would incur more revenue for them which is unfair and unnecessary. If we had been able to close in time, disbursement to Fifth Third is $ XXXX from the sale.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation