Consumer complaint received 2017-10-20
Company: Ditech Financial LLC
State: WI
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
1 ) My email to the company XX/XX/XXXX ( also attached ) : " This represents the 29th contact I have made since XX/XX/XXXX in an attempt to resolve an issue regarding the application of additional payments made in XX/XX/XXXX. Responses to phone calls ( one lasting more than 30 minutes ) and email through the secure message center have been neither timely nor comprehensible. Communication has been difficult at best. Questions on the phone are often met with silence or a subject change and have yet to be answered by mail when repeated. I received your XX/XX/XXXX response which states you are still gathering evidence. This is unacceptable.
Either Ditech employees are incompetent or the information provided to customers is intentionally confusing and incomplete. Based on more than 632 consumer complaints lodged against you at http : XXXX, my vote is leaning toward the latter. 

Please review the attached. My contention is that Ditechs choice in applying the XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX payments in XX/XX/XXXX from the additional monies submitted ( {$57000.00} total ) in XX/XX/XXXX, resulted in excessive interest and inadequate principal reduction resulting in more than {$1700.00} in your favor. 

I questioned this via a Secure Message, and Ditechs response was to perform one of several re-allocations, none of which made sense to me ( see payment history online for further details ). The first reallocation removed BOTH th

e XX/XX/XXXX & XX/XX/XXXX payments and charged a late fee for XX/XX/XXXX. An agreement by phone on XX/XX/XXXX stipulated that two payments were to be deducted from the {$57000.00} since originally the online system indicated another payment was not due until XX/XX/XXXX when the payments were made.
A spreadsheet received on XX/XX/XXXX from XXXX XXXX as a result of a phone inquiry showed a principal balance of {$150000.00} at one point, but my original loan amount was only {$71000.00}. This spreadsheet was supposed to explain what was done and why it was done. This was not clear to me at all. Payoff quotes provided online between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX have also been inconsistent. 

I believe you did not reduce interest or principal until XX/XX/XXXX, even though you had {$56000.00} in additional principal in XX/XX/XXXX. Your kind attention to a prompt, timely, and reasonable resolution is requested immediately.
More than 90 days have passed since my initial inquiry on this matter. " 2 ) On XX/XX/XXXX, they sent me the same information as previously sent on XX/XX/XXXX - with additional generic information about actuarial-type interest, with no further reduction in the principal balance. They have not provided specific information about how the interest is calculated each month ( on what day of the month/payment cycle is it calculated, and which principal balance is used - end of month, average daily, etc. ) despite numerous requests for this information in the secure message center, by phone, and by email to customer service. As of XX/XX/XXXX, no resolution.
3 ) I made 2 payments in XX/XX/XXXX : one from my bank account on XX/XX/XXXX, which I was not sure would make it before a late fee was incurred on XX/XX/XXXX, so I made the 2nd payment on their website on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I see on the website that the second payment was placed in " Unapplied Funds '' even though their website states if there is enough additional $ for a full payment they will apply it to the loan, otherwise it will stay in unapplied funds until a full payment amount is reached and then they will apply it.
Since XX/XX/XXXX, I have never had a bank/mortgage NOT apply extra $ to principal, and all banks have a way to specify additional principal or escrow or even " other '' with space to describe it. 

This company does not. On their website, it allows for only " additional amount ''. They implied it was my fault the allocation of additional monies was done incorrectly because " you should have written it on the back of the payment coupon '', even though all payments under review have been made online without a payment coupon. I never requested a " reallocation '' - that was another implied accusation ( you asked for it, so it 's your fault it 's wrong ). All I did was question why the reduction in principal and interest was not greater. 

The website also showed on XX/XX/XXXX " This account is not eligible for a payoff quote '' even though I have obtained many other online quotes previously. So, I call to request that the 2nd payment be applied immediately and email the same request to CS. After 41 minutes on he phone with XXXX, I still did not get specific information on how interest is calculated nor a explanation as to why a payoff quote is not available ( she does n't " understand why it wo n't let me do this [ get a quote ] ', nor why the extra payment was considered unapplied funds, nor how the problem might be resolved, other than to say she put in for a " reallocation '', and that might take " up to 5 business days ''.
Today, XX/XX/XXXX, on the website, the 2 payments show as one amount, and the first payment is reversed. Why they simply did not show a 2nd payment is beyond me. It still states on the website " This account is not eligible for a payoff quote ''. 

XXXX told me she was n't working today, but that she would call me " back Saturday ( tomorrow ), or if not Saturday, then Monday ''. When I tried to reach her at the extension she gave me later in the day yesterday I was told by the CS rep who answered that it just kept " ringing and ringing, so she 's probably on another call. '' Bottom line, they either do not know what they are doing or they operate intentionally to benefit their interests. Please see the attached pages that show the {$1700.00} difference. 

I am XXXX years old. I tried to refinance last year. They yanked me around from XX/XX/XXXX- XX/XX/XXXX last year on a so-called HARP loan, initiated before I retired in XX/XX/XXXX, asking for income verification which HARP does not require, then insisting I needed an appraisal ( which also was supposedly not necessary for HARP ) for {$630.00}, and when I complained about the price as being {$200.00} more than the going rate, they said it was not their fault - appraisals were contracted out, I could not get my own, and " anyway, if the loan closes, you will get it back as a credit ''. 

The loan did not close and was declined in XX/XX/XXXX because they could not obtain employment verification because I had retired! My credit score was XXXX when I started the process. Obviously, as of that moment, I wanted to pay this off and be rid of them for life, but they are making this next to impossible. I do not feel I have been treated fairly. 

Thank You for your help - maybe there is hope!

Company public response: Company believes the complaint is the result of a misunderstanding
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation