Consumer complaint received 2021-08-02
Company: Mr. Cooper Group Inc.
State: MA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I am writing today regarding an almost 6 month long ongoing issue with Mr. Cooper and my mortgage loan with them. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I received notification from Mr. Cooper that they created an escrow account connected with my mortgage loan due to non-payment of taxes. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent a letter and documentation ( See Pages 1-6 on attached document : XXXX_Proof of Property Tax Payments ) to the correspondence address they provided in the notification which included proof that my taxes were indeed paid to the City of XXXX, with the last quarterly payment issued on XX/XX/XXXX for the XX/XX/XXXX payment. I requested in this letter that the escrow account be removed from my mortgage loan, and that they seek a refund from the City of XXXX for funds that have paid erroneously. 

After 6 weeks of no response, I called Mr. Cooper and was connected with an individual in the tax department. I explained the issue at hand and was informed that my initial correspondence was never received. She then directed me to send the information via email and provided me with two ( 2 ) email addresses ( XXXX and XXXX ). 

I sent the documentation that same day, XX/XX/XXXX ; followed up on XX/XX/XXXX, then again on XX/XX/XXXX and again on XX/XX/XXXX, receiving no response from either email address at all. 

I then decided to contact the company through their email system on the Mr. Cooper website. I received notification to the effect of this will be reviewed and you will be contacted, but that never happened either. 

After these repeated attempts via mail, email and phone calls, I finally managed to speak to XXXX XXXX on the Executive Resolutions Team on Friday, XX/XX/XXXX approximately 4 MONTHS after my first communication to Mr. Cooper. 

After some time on the phone, she informed me that City of XXXX sent Mr. Cooper a bill for unpaid taxes back to XXXX. I found this astounding since I have never received any notification from the city via letter nor in my quarterly tax bill that any taxes were unpaid from 2 years prior. I can assure you that there is no municipality that would allow unpaid taxes linger for over 2 years. 

I then immediately downloaded proof of payment for taxes in XXXX from my XXXX XXXX account and sent them to her. She assured me that this would rectify the situation and that I would be notified of such resolution within 3-5 business days. 


With no response within that time, I reached out to her again on Monday XX/XX/XXXX, to which she responded that the tax team has verified XXXX property taxes were already paid, and a refund due escrow. Estimated time of refund is 6-8 weeks. The request to remove taxes from escrow has been escalated. Hopefully there will be answer by end of business XX/XX/XXXX. 

Again, with no response, I followed up again on XX/XX/XXXX, to which XXXX responded I apologize for the delay in getting back to you. Because the taxes were delinquent at the time you made the payment taxes will remain in escrow. If you would like to escalate this further, send an email to XXXX. Include all details regarding the XXXX taxes. ( See attached document : Email Correspondence Between XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX ). After 5 frustrating months, I was referred back to the email address to which I first corresponded, with no response. 

Upon receiving XXXX useless response, I called her immediately, only to get her voicemail. I then pressed 0 as directed to reach another Executive Resolutions Team representative. I spoke with a gentleman named XXXX. I quickly explained my situation and asked to speak with a manager. He put me on hold for 10 minutes to try and find one and then informed me that they were all in a meeting, and that he would have a manager call me back within 24-48 hours. I have not received that phone call. 

There are no delinquent taxes on my account with the City of XXXX ( See pages 7-26 on attached document : XXXX_Proof of Property Tax Payments ). This documentation shows a summary of the payments, as well as the actual statement withdrawals taken from my XXXX XXXX account starting in XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX. There are no missing payments. 

Also included is a copy of the XX/XX/XXXX Tax Bill from the City of XXXX which shows a credit due to overpayment on the account, since the taxes have been paid up to date by me ( See page 27 on attached document : XXXX_Proof of Property Tax Payments ). The XX/XX/XXXX payment that was automatically sent from my XXXX XXXX account was returned to me with a note that they could not accept payment on an account with a credit balance. The credit is due to Mr. Cooper sending tax payments that were not due, as there were no delinquent or missing tax payments. 

In the meantime, I have continued to pay my monthly mortgage in the amount of {$1300.00}, however these payments have been paid to escrow and subsequently sent to the City of XXXX ( I was just notified of a payment being sent for the XX/XX/XXXX payment ). This has resulted in my mortgage loan not being paid in full ( even though I have the monthly payments ) and has now affected my excellent credit rating, which has now plummeted over 72 points, leaving me in a poor credit rating position, by no fault of my actions. 



I DEMAND the following actions be taken immediately : The escrow account be removed from my mortgage loan account ; The monthly payments that I have made be re-applied to my mortgage account in full ; Mr. Cooper to correct their reporting to the credit bureau in order to reinstate my good credit standing as it was prior to this debacle ; Mr. Cooper should coordinate a refund from the City of XXXX for taxes paid. I will pay the city the taxes owed directly. I WILL NOT PAY MR. COOPER FOR THE TAXES THAT THEY HAVE PAID IN ERROR. This is Mr. Coopers problem. They will need to fix it. 

This is a demonstration of gross business practices on the part of Mr. Cooper. Not being able to speak with someone directly and have the issue dealt with promptly is just pure incompetence and disgusting disregard for your customers. Further finding out that Mr. Cooper, formerly known as Nationstar Mortgage, just recently agreed to settle an action commenced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ( ccd here ) for {$91.00} million to resolve allegations surrounding mortgage servicing misconduct and deceptive practices that resulted in financial harm to borrowers, makes this even more egregious that you continue to deceive and defraud your customers. 

6 months of this. How pathetic. 

I look forward to your immediate response.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation