Consumer complaint received 2022-03-20
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: GA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
My loan was previously handled by BB & T which then merged with SunTrust to form Truist. To my knowledge I had been making all my mortgage payments. While making my XXXX payment ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I asked the bank teller if they could provide me the Form 1098 so I could finish filing my federal taxes as I did not receive it in the mail. I was given a telephone number to call to get this form. I received a call back the following day ( XX/XX/XXXX ). However, instead of being able to provide the tax form information they notified me that I had defaulted on my load, incurred several months of late fees, and that I had been reported to the credit bureau ( damaging my credit score ). They initial told me that I missed a payment in XXXX. Fortunately, I kept my receipts and could dispute this. They then informed me I have underpaid my mortgage starting in XXXX due to an increase of {$2.00} for escrow. However, the bank failed to notify me by mail, email, or phone that my payments have changed. Further, the individuals I have spoken with could not inform me how the bank ever attempted to contact me about this change in payment. I have been going to the bank, in person, every month to make my scheduled mortgage payments without a single notification. I attempted to file a credit dispute on XX/XX/XXXX ; however, the supervisor of who I was talking with stated I could not put in my dispute that Truist misplaced my XX/XX/XXXX payment. Then, they stated they were unable to file the dispute and told me to call the customer care service the next day. The following day ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I called and the initial person I talked with said she filed a credit dispute and waived all the late changes to zero out my balance. However, we got disconnected before she could provide me with the information on Form 1098. As I did not receive a call back from Truist after we were disconnected, so I called back to try and get the information from the Form 1098 for my taxes. However, the next individual I talked with essentially repeated the initial issue from XX/XX/XXXX. She said I missed a payment in XXXX but that was not reported to the credit bureau, but my late payments were sent to collection. She also informed me that there was no case file associated with my account, no credit dispute had been filed according to their records, and I still retained all my late fees. So, I asked her to create a case number and provide it to me and file a credit dispute. So mentioned she could not waive all the late fees because of the merger with BB & T, somehow putting their error back on me. She then put me on hold to contact her supervisor about the current issues with Truist. After roughly 30-40 minutes on hold I was kicked back to the opening menu. I then talked with the individual who originally set up the load with BB & T to ask for clarification and help resolving this issue. He asked me to sit tight while he looks into and will reach back out to me directly. After this phone call, I recalled the mortgage line again to try and get the Form 1098 for my taxes. I asked them to correct my mailing address to our current address ( the same as where the mortgage ), because I feared it was listed as the original property we lived in prior to moving to our current address. This is something I had checked personally at the bank on XX/XX/XXXX, because on my receipts it still printed our address as the the properties we lived in before the mortgage. They then agreed to mail the Form 1098 for my taxes and I should receive it within 10 business days. The following day the mortgage broker ( XX/XX/XXXX ) reached out to me via phone and told me he contacted people within Truist to help resolve this situation. To date, ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I have received no word from Truist on my situation and I still have not received Form 1098 for my taxes. However, they did mail me a new mortgage statement claiming I owe {$4400.00} ( which includes an entire past due payment ), have been collecting my late fees ( which I never received a notice about ) each month from my payments. So, after I contacted the bank they were suddenly able to tell me about fees and demand an extra months payment but unable to contact me directly. I have no clarity if they fixed my credit dispute, or the status. I now essentially owe 2 mortgage payments on XX/XX/XXXX without any notice as to WHY. This seems like they made a mistake in not contacting me for {$2.00} and instead chose to collect an extra {$78.00} per month and demand an extra payment, while still hurting my credit ensuring I will be unable to leave this bank in the future and get a competitive mortgage rate. This is a PREDATORY behavior by a bank to collect extra fees and charges without even notifying the client.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation