Consumer complaint received 2020-11-16
Company: American Financial Resources, Inc.
State: SC
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2020 American Financial Resources, my mortgage company, received my payment for XXXX of {$490.00}. They did not attribute this payment to my mortgage correctly. I have been in communication with the company since XX/XX/2020 after receiving an automated phone call telling me to call them. Per the notes in the letter below, I have sent in a copy of the canceled check to them as requested, showing they deposited the payment. I have continued to send in my monthly mortgage payments in a timely manner as I always have. They have not, as of XX/XX/2020, corrected the mistake. I have received letters from AFR stating that I am delinquent by the amount of {$480.00}, with 2 late fees added of {$14.00} each for a total of late fee charges of {$28.00}, which will continue to accumulate until they correct their mistake. They have also notified the 3 credit reporting agencies, saying I am delinquent on my loan. The only reason that would appear to be true is because they will not credit my XX/XX/2020 payment correctly. The following is a copy of the letter I am sending to my mortgage company, American Financial Resources. I am removing my personal info as instructed by this website. 

" This is a qualified written request under Section 6 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ( RESPA ). 
I am writing to dispute the statement that I missed a payment in XXXX of 2020, this year. I sent a copy of the canceled check your company deposited, but never credited to, my account. I am enclosing a copy of that check with this letter as well. I emailed your company at : XXXX and received a reply message, giving me the ticket # : XXXX redacted ) Furthermore, I have been making my payments with your company through my banks billpay system for years. I received an automated phone call from AFR on XX/XX/XXXX telling me to call them. I did and the person I spoke with told me that you needed a copy of the front and back of the check sent to the email address XXXX. I was also told I would receive a ticket number when they received the email. 

I continued receiving phone calls, so I would call back to follow up. This is a list of the people I spoke with and the gist of the conversations. 

XXXX XXXX spoke with XXXX, he explained the phone calls would continue as the research was not completed. 

XXXX XXXX spoke with XXXX. He said it would take 5 days to complete the research. It had been 6 days, but he didnt have an explanation for why it wasnt completed. When it was completed it would be backdated to the correct date and any late fees would be removed from my account. I should call back in a few days. 

XX/XX/XXXX spoke with XXXX. He could see it in the system, it looked like it was almost finished, should be corrected by Monday XXXX XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX spoke with XXXX. He said I had not sent any information in and that I had not made the payment. I gave him the ticket number which I dont think he even made a note of, then I told him the 3 other conversations I had with other people in the company. He didnt see any notes about that, and stated that I should have uploaded documents to their website. I gave him the email address I sent the evidence to, pointing out that I wouldnt have known about that email if someone with the company hadnt told me about it. He was very short and dismissive about it all. We ended the call. 

XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX I called back and spoke with XXXX. He said he could see I just spoke with someone, but no other notes. I asked to give him my ticket number, he said he didnt need it. I went over my notes with him for each phone call with dates and names. Finally he asked for the ticket number. With the number he found the correct notes. He put me on hold to talk to a manager, but would not let me talk to a manager. He came back and said the manager was entering the rest of the information and it would all be corrected, again by Monday, which is XX/XX/XXXX. 

You have since added a note to my credit report with all 3 agencies stating potentially negative delinquent account, which continues to be on my credit report because this mistake has not been corrected. 
I have hired an attorney to help in the resolution of this mistake your company has made. ( redacted his information which I included in the actual letter to AFR ) I will be forwarding a copy of this letter to the credit bureaus and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, referred to me by the FTC I understand that under Section 6 of RESPA you are required to acknowledge my request within 20 business days and must try to resolve the issue within 60 business days. '' CFPB, please let me know of any followup information you need to help me with this matter. Thank you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation