Consumer complaint received 2016-10-02
Company: BB&T CORPORATION
State: NJ
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit
Issue: Loan servicing, payments, escrow account

Complaint:
I had an equity line of credit for {$180000.00} and a checking account with Susquehanna National Bank at one of their branches in XXXX, NJ XXXX. Both accounts had always been current. In XXXX, XXXX, Branch Bank & Trust Co. of XXXX, NC, bought Susquehanna and converted its accounts to BB & T accounts on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. On that date, Susquehanna sent me a final statement for the equity loan that showed a balance of {$160000.00}, a " past due '' amount of {$550.00} which was at that time not yet past due but represented the interest for the month of XXXX that Susquehanna would normally have transferred from my checking account by the end of XXXX. I also showed an " interest charged '' of {$55.00} which was the interest accrued for the first six days of that XXXX. On XXXX XXXX, BB & T sent me its statement for that equity loan and listed the " previous account balance '' as zero, but the proper credit limit of {$180000.00} and a " credit available '' of {$11000.00}. Deducting the latter from the former yielded the correct " previous balance '' of {$160000.00}. They also showed my " total payments '' of {$550.00} which they had deducted from my checking account on XXXX XXXX, just as Susquehanna would have done. However, the BB & T " account summary '' showed " total finance charges '' of {$420.00} and a " new account balance '' of {$160000.00} although this should have been {$160000.00}, or {$600.00} less. 

I noticed this difference only in late XXXX, XXXX, when I was questioning a mystery {$20.00} of " fees/charges '' that BB & T kept listing every month in the " Account Status '' just above that " Summary '', adding it to the " previous account balance '' and removing it from the " New account balance ''. My local " XXXX '' explained to me that this was a fee for removing the name of my late wife from that equity account, but that did not make sense because my wife had died in XXXX, XXXX, and I had informed Susquehanna of that within weeks of her death, so I found it strange that BB & T would charge me almost four years later for something Susquehanna had done long ago. Also, it turned out that the {$20.00} was actually two fees of {$10.00} each, as if my wife had died twice. 
I corresponded at length with my local XXXX about the {$600.00} added to my balance and found out that BB & T had added the {$55.00} of Susquehanna interest from the partial month of XXXX, XXXX, to its own interest of {$420.00} which it had listed as " total finance charges '' on its first statement. Together these two interest charges amount to {$470.00} which BB & T had listed in the " account status '' as {$470.00} as " current amount due '' with a due date of XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. Adding this {$470.00} to the reconstructed starting balance of {$160000.00} produces the total of {$160000.00} which BB & T showed as the " new account balance ''. However, this new balance ignored the " total payments '' of XXXX which I had made to pay the XXXX interest and which BB & T had deducted from my checking account and listed in the " account summary '' but without crediting this payment to my equity loan. If they had properly credited this payment to the equity loan, its balance would have been {$160000.00}. However, BB & T does not agree with this basic arithmetic and maintains that the {$550.00} did not need to be deducted from that balance. 

My local Branch Banker escalated this dispute to BB & T 's complaint resolution center, but the Senior Specialist there also told me wrongly, and in contradiction to all basic banking rules, that " '' Regular interest payments would not reflect as a deduction from the principle balance shown on your monthly statement. '' However, the " Principal Balance '' is each month the " New Account Balance '', and that number should reflect both the new charges for interst and cash advances as well as the payments I made against that balance. 

I want my {$550.00} payment deducted from that balance. Thank you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation