Consumer complaint received 2018-01-08
Company: PNC Bank N.A.
State: VA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I have a mortgage with PNC. In XX/XX/XXXX I got a notice from the bank that my homeowners ' insurance with XXXX ( bought thru XXXX ) had been cancelled because the Bank had neglected to pay the premium. 

The loan number is XXXX. The property address is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, VA XXXX. My phone number is XXXX. My name is XXXX XXXX. Email is XXXX. The property address is my home address The insurance number for the cancelled XXXX policy was XXXX. 

As a result of receiving that notice, I went over to the bank and inquired as to what was going on. I was told that the policy had been paid and that the letter I received was in error. I thought the problem had been resolved but it had not. I received no notice of further problems until XX/XX/XXXX -- one year later when I received a series of snail mails to my house. At the time the snail mails began, I was out of town and did not return until XX/XX/XXXX. When I saw the emails, I immediately began inquiries. I discovered that my property had been uninsured from from XX/XX/XXXX because the XXXX policy had indeed been cancelled. The bank does have record of my inquiry on XX/XX/XXXX. 

XXXX began the beginning of a very aggravating story. Needless to say I am furious with the bank ; had there been a claim during the period I was uncovered, I can only imagine the lawsuit that would have occurred. I got a series of emails demanding that I show them evidence that I had had insurance from the date of cancellation through XX/XX/XXXX, with threats to charge me {$2300.00} if I did not prove that I had insurance in the previous year. Of course, I thought I had insurance because I had no idea that the XXXX XXXX had in fact been cancelled because the bank never followed up with any contrary information after my XX/XX/XXXX visit to the bank. 

The bank did admit that the policy was cancelled because they failed to pay in a letter to me dated XX/XX/XXXX. 

I immediately bought a new homeowner 's insurance policy with an effective date of XX/XX/XXXX once I was notified that I, in fact, did not have homeowner 's insurance. They demanded that I show them proof of insurance for the previous year. Of course, I did n't have insurance for the prior year because the bank, in fact ( contrary to what I was told at the branch bank ), failed to pay the premium and no one notified me of a problem. I can not, of course, go out and buy insurance retroactively. 

Repeated calls to the PNC insurance department have gone nowhere. Basically, it is one of those phone numbers where it is press this button, press that button and never get to anyone who has the power to satisfactorily resolve the situation. The last letter I received is dated XX/XX/XXXX. Because I failed to provide them valid insurance for XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX, they assessed my account for {$2300.00} -- much more than I would have paid in insurance had I obtained it for myself -- which I would have done had I known I needed to do it. 

I did reach them one time and the person I spoke to was named XXXX ( no last name ). He has no direct number. He did leave me a phone message and I responded to that. He said he was " looking into it '' and would get back to me in 2-3 days. He never did. I did ask him why the problem was not emailed to me and/or a phone message attempted. XXXX replied that they always use snail mail and they do n't phone. Of course, he phoned with the message. 

The address for the insurance department at PNC Bank is PNC Bank, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, OH XXXX The phone number is XXXX. The fax # is XXXX. 

I assure you that you will have a lot of difficulty dealing with the phone number -- as I did. Interestingly, the bank placed insurance for XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX is with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, GA XXXX. The phone number is the same as that for the insurance department at PNC Bank. The policy number is XXXX. Interestingly, the XXXX XXXX phone number is identical to that of the insurance department of PNC. What they are doing is fining me for not having insurance and making a tidy profit since there were no claims in XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX. 

I have spent hours on this problem and can not resolve this. Basically, I have been told it is my responsibility to have insurance and, if I do n't, they can charge me whatever they want -- never mind that the problem occurred because the bank neglected to take the money from my mortgage and pay the homeowner 's insurance. 

This problem has brought me to tears because it has just escalated and escalated and the bank is charging me a sort of fine now -- which they will put in their ample pockets -- because they were negligent. 

Anything you can do to resolve this situation will be gratefully appreciated. This has just escalated and escalated. I never fail to pay my mortgage on time. 

Thank you very much. This problem has just driven me crazy. 

If you need copies of the correspondence, please just let me know to whom to send it. I have a large file on this and have preserved all the correspondence. The paperwork is all in snail mail so I could photograph it and attach it but it would take a long time. I would rather just XXXX it to you as the XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation