Consumer complaint received 2018-02-26
Company: United Shore Financial Services, LLC
State: MI
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Im writing to express my deepest frustrations. I am a new customer a Veteran. I refinanced my VA loan with XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) in the fall of XXXX and I have had nothing but problems since that time. What I thought was going to be a great experience, utilizing a VA home loan, has turned out to be nothing short of disastrous and frankly, incredibly disappointing. The refinance process was seamless and the close was as expected, uneventful. Then the problems began. As expected, I received my first billing notice for my first mortgage payment in XX/XX/XXXX. I paid that bill on time. I have paid every monthly billing since loan inception, on time. XXXX XXXX, I started receiving no less than 10 pieces of mail each week about how I missed a payment and was behind. On top of the excessive amounts of mail, I began receiving excessive amounts of phone calls - collection calls - about a late payment. Out of fear that something had happened to my account, I reviewed my banking records carefully and was concerned that maybe I inadvertently paid my prior lender my XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX mortgage payments. I verified that I did pay XXXX, as required, and every payment had been made timely. I have confirmed this with every customer service representative I have spoken with. 
I called XXXX and verified that both of those payments were received timely and had been applied to my account. At no time during that initial call was I made aware of a billing error on UWs part. Then, in late XXXX or early XXXX, in one of the far too many letters and phone calls I was receiving, one such letter ( see attached ) advised me that XXXX had made a billing error and that my first payment should have been made in XXXX, rather than XXXX, as XXXX billed. In fact, XXXX sent me a letter via XXXX with two {$50.00} XXXX gift cards for the inconveniences XXXX had caused me. I have spent countless hours on the phone on hold then being transferred from department to department within XXXX trying to understand my mortgage and the XXXX error. In XXXX, I finally demanded my call be escalated and I spoke with a Supervisor XXXX who was the first person who actually tried explaining to me and working with me to understand what the confusions was. To my surprise, XXXX advise me that I should just double up on my mortgage to overcome this XXXX error to get my mortgage caught up. The nerve! I was caught up. I advised XXXX that I was a single mother, veteran and it was right before XXXX. The thought of doubling up on a mortgage was scary because, frankly, who can afford to do that during the holidays? Rather than XXXX making an honest attempt at fixing their error such as offering to modify the loan to extend it out one month to accommodate their billing error - suddenly I found myself on the receiving ends of demands to make double payments. I offered to add more into my monthly payment to get this issue resolved within 6 months and I was told in no uncertain terms that that would not work, additional monies each month would not get captured in XXXX systems correctly and would simply be added as additional payments toward the principal of my mortgage. So, I find myself getting excessive amounts of unwanted and unnecessary calls and notices that my mortgage is in default. This is Absurd when it has been a documented UW error, not mine. Each time I have called XXXX, I have waited on hold for more than 1 hour. On two occasions, both calls lasted more than 2 hours. Who has this kind of time to address a highly profitable lenders clerical mistake? Each time I have called I have reminded the XXXX employee that I am a Veteran, single mother, and that I have felt taken advantage of. Apparently XXXX does not care. Eventually, I agreed to make an additional payment by XX/XX/XXXX to resolve XXXX mistake. 
I have been advised multiple times via phone that this has been captured on my account and, in fact, Ive also asked each time to ensure that no negative reports would be made to the credit bureaus and that no late fees would be assessed to my account as this was clearly XXXX  billing error which theyre trying to cover up and make me pay for. I was and have been completely disappointed in XXXX billing practices and customer service. 
Recently, I decided that I would take advantage of the two {$50.00} XXXX gift cards ( # XXXX / # XXXX ) which XXXX sent me as a small token for UWMs billing error. The letter clearly states that the cards were active upon receipt so I thought nothing of it and placed the cards in my wallet. I attempted to use these cards at various locations such as the grocery store and gas stations, each time they were both declined. XXXX completely embarrassed me publicly on multiple occasions due to these bogus gift cards! Were they both intended for public humiliation? On a whim, I called the number on the back of each and both were empty and had no balance. The nerve of XXXX to make a significant billing mistake, offer no conciliatory remedies other than a demands to double up on my payment followed up by repeated loan default demand letters and make matters worse by sending me two bogus gift cards as tokens to compensate for billing errors. XXXX customer service representatives, robo calls, stationery and postage has wasted more time and money than the cost of one of my mortgage payments all in an effort to correct their billing mistake. 
I am incredibly disappointed and will be sure to tell my XXXX  friends ( and anyone else who will listen ) that XXXX is NOT the lender to go to. This seemingly simple mistake could have been resolved in a much better manner. In fact, why not extend the mortgage out 1 month rather than forcing me to pay double for UWMs mistake? This is absurd! UWMs incompetence in accurate billing has been emphasized by their incompetence to appease a customer. Bogus gifts cards to cover up a billing mistake speaks volumes for your business. I have done nothing but waste my time with XXXX and I look forward to moving my loan elsewhere to a lender who truly cares about their customers, XXXX  At the earliest opportunity, I will do so. If this is the way XXXX treats its XXXX customers, XXXX definitely does not deserve my business. 
Your account servicing and customer service procedures are less than stellar! 
I am an Incredibly disappointed customer.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation