Consumer complaint received 2021-01-19
Company: Dovenmuehle Mortgage, Inc.
State: TX
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I am writing today to file a formal, written complaint against Dovenmuehle Mortgage XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, IL, XXXX ) for collecting tax and insurance funds in an escrow account, and then failing to meet its obligation to obtain the relevant bills and pay them using the funds I have provided in my escrow account. 

Specifically, on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I received a letter ( dated XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX from Dovenmuehle Mortgage stating they could not pay the county taxes from my escrow account because they have not received the tax bills. After receiving that letter and investigating, I found that Dovenmuehle DID NOT request the tax bills from the county tax assessor. Once I learned that, I immediately faxed the tax bills to Dovenmuehle on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, and again on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. After receiving no acknowledgement that Dovenmuehle received the tax bills, I called the company on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX, each time asking whether they had received and processed the tax bills. In each phone call I was informed that they " could not find them '' and they haven't been paid, even though I faxed them twice to the number provided XXXX XXXX ) in the XXXX XXXX, XXXX, letter. In my phone call of XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I asked if Dovenmuehle would notify me when the tax bills are paid, and was told " no, we don't do that, we have no way of contacting you. '' I found that line of reasoning very confusing as the company holds my mortgage and clearly knows my physical address, email address, and telephone number. I then asked if, in the future, they would request tax bills from the county, they replied " no, we don't do that. '' When asked if they will notify me when the current taxes have been paid from my escrow account, they again stated, " no, we don't do that. '' My taxes are due to XXXX XXXX, Texas no later than XXXX XXXX, XXXX, and, at this point, I have no way to pay those taxes because Dovenmuehle is holding {$11000.00} in the escrow account and refuses to pay the tax bills, which I have supplied to them twice already. 

My escrow account with Dovenmuehle currently has a balance of {$11000.00} that is supposed to be used to pay my taxes XXXX by XX/XX/XXXX ) and insurance. Dovenmuehle, however, is either trying to steal that money or is absolutely incompetent and can't perform a simple task such as paying taxes from the escrow account set up and funded specifically for that purpose. 

I simply want Dovenmuehle to either pay the taxes by XX/XX/XXXX or give me back the {$11000.00} in my escrow account. 

If Dovenmuehle does not pay my taxes soon, I am going to have to pay the roughly {$8000.00} in taxes out of pocket, and then try to get the escrow funds back from Dovenmuehle. 

I have also been informed over the phone that my mortgage is being transferred to another lender as of XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX I had to learn that via a phone call on XXXX XXXX as Dovenmuehle has not provided any written notification about this transfer ). This matter is extremely timely as I will likely be unable to access those escrow funds once the mortgage has been transferred. 

Thank you for your time and assistance in this matter.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation