Consumer complaint received 2021-09-27
Company: Ocwen Financial Corporation
State: RI
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I have been communicating with my mortgage service provider ( PHH Mortgage ) concerning delinquent payments from my mortgage escrow account for payment of property tax on a house. This problem started in XXXX when my wife and I were first notified of the delinquent payments - 2 missed quarters of property tax payments for XXXX. At that time, my wife and I contacted my service provider and provided them information concerning the delinquent tax payments ( by email on XX/XX/XXXX ) and they assured me it would be rectified. Last week we were contacted by the town that property tax payments for XXXX were still delinquent and although one quarterly payment was made by the service provider for XXXX it was applied to a portion of the the past due amounts for XXXX, resulting in the XXXX tax payments now being delinquent. 

The text of the email ( account no and property address deleted from text ) I sent to the service provider last week is provided below with the details of the issue. I just called them back today XXXXXXXX ( they did not call me yet as promised ) and they said that the property tax and penalties has still not been paid for XXXX and XXXX years. 

To : XXXX Date : XX/XX/XXXX Sub : Notice of errors in servicing escrow loan # XXXXXXXX attn XXXX Dear XXXX, As per our phone conversation XX/XX/XXXX, this is to officially notify you of errors in servicing our escrow account for the loan number mentioned in the subject line above for the mortgage on the property located at ( address deleted ). As you are aware, this is a follow up to my previous calls to PHH in XX/XX/XXXX regarding the error and delinquent payments for the XX/XX/XXXX tax year where two quarterly payments were missed. 
Apparently, these XXXX tax payments have still not been fully resolved and continue to accrue penalty interest ( as shown in the " XXXX tax bill '' account attached ). The XXXX tax year bill is also now delinquent as the payment made by PHH from escrow in XX/XX/XXXX of {$800.00} ( as shown in the attached escrow account statement, and received by the town in XXXX ( as shown in the attachment labeled " XXXX tax bill '' ) for the first quarterly payment due on the XXXX tax bill ), was applied to the delinquent amount due for the XXXX tax year. PHH therefore, now has delinquent tax bills for XXXX and XXXX totaling {$2000.00} that are due. 

Attached are three documents : The document labeled " XXXX tax bill '' shows a delinquent amount still due as of XX/XX/XXXX of {$1100.00} which includes the tax due plus interest due, as yet unpaid by PHH. 
The document labeled " XXXX tax bill '' shows the town applied the first quarter XXXX payment from PHH of {$800.00} and received by the town on XX/XX/XXXX was transferred to pay some of the amount overdue on the XXXX tax bill account and was not applied to the first quarter payment of XXXX. The XXXX tax bill statement shows the " transfer '' on XX/XX/XXXX. The tax collector explained that they can not apply any of the payments received for the current tax year until the balance on the previous year are paid in full. The current XXXX tax bill therefore is now also overdue ( the first quarterly payment of {$800.00} as well as interest accrued of {$96.00} ) for a total due for XXXX of {$900.00}. 
The document labeled XXXX escrow account XX/XX/XXXX I downloaded from my account information on the PHH website which clearly shows no payments " actual '' made for the third and fourth quarters of the town 's XXXX tax year ( XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX ) and that only one payment made dated in the escrow account as XX/XX/XXXX, and show on the town tax bill statement as XX/XX/XXXX ). 

My wife and I called the ( name of town deleted ) town tax collector who explained to us what is summarized above and sent the current balance due statements that are attached. She stated that if you send payment for both delinquent bills in the sum total amount of {$2000.00}, the property tax for XXXX will be settled and the XXXX will be also then up to date. She said that if your escrow department has any questions, they can call her directly in the USA at ( tel no deleted ). She will not be available tomorrow but will be in on Monday XX/XX/XXXX. 

I look forward to your promised call on Monday to provide me with an update on resolving this problem. I also would like assurance that any interest payments made to the town for the delinquent payments caused by your errors will not be charged to my account. 

XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation