Consumer complaint received 2016-08-24
Company: U.S. BANCORP
State: MO
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit
Issue: Loan servicing, payments, escrow account

Complaint:
I have XXXX loans with USBank : a Mortgage and HELOC. XX/XX/2012, I refinanced my mortgage to obtain a lower interest rate of 3.75 %. Due to the decline in housing values, USBank was unable to roll my HELOC into the new 30 year fixed mortgage. The HELOC was a revolving, variable rate line that could be used or paid down over a period of 10 years and then it would mature and convert to a close ended loan for the next 20 years. When I refinanced, they closed the heloc and told me that I could make interest only payments ( which would vary based on the principal amount ), or I could pay interest plus principal. I would not be able to use this line unless values went up and they re evaluated it. The interest only payments were approximately $ XXXX-XXXX per month due on the first. If they were not received by XX/XX/XXXX, there was a {$25.00} late fee assessed. My intent was to pay this loan off, so I began paying about $ XXXX monthly. Since USbank doesnt allow e-payments, I had my bank ( which was ironically USBank ) mail a check to arrive on XXXX. Over a period of 4 years, 18 times USBank charged me a {$25.00} late fee as they " processed and credited '' my payment after XXXX, even though they received it and often cashed it. Many times, the check would clear my bank with a USBank Stamp dated XX/XX/XXXX,XX/XX/XXXX,XX/XX/XXXX,XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX but they still charged me late fees and would wait to post it later, citing " it sometimes takes us several days of processing time ''. I called them multiple times to attempt to resolve the issue and they advised me to mail the payment a week earlier. So I did. Three times that they received and processed the payment prior to the first, they applied it to interest up to the first of the month it was due, and the balance to principle but then charged me a late fee because they did n't receive a payment on the first. I have spent hours talking with them, sharing the details with the branch management, all the while dealing with harrassing collection calls ( sometimes up to 10 per day ). 

The bottom line of my complaint is the following : I have paid almost double the minimum and they received my checks during the grace period. 
I believe that they are intentionally holding my checks so that they can charge late fees. 
The balance on this HELOC is not going down. I paid {$24000.00} over 4 years and yet it was reduced from {$78000.00} to {$72000.00}. 
I believe that my payments have been misapplied for the past 4 years. 
USBank does n't provide any detail on where the money is being applied in a statement or online. They are mysterious about the posting of my payments and I seem to get a different answer each time I speak to someone. I feel that they have used deceptive practices with this loan by failing to apply payments in a timely manner, or to show details on interest, principle reduction. They failed to disclose the terms after the re-finance and created a situation in which it was impossible to pay this loan off, putting me in a negative financial situation.

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