Consumer complaint received 2022-08-29
Company: Flagstar Bank, N.A.
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
In XXXX of 2022 I had received my total mortgage payment for XX/XX/XXXX as ~ {$2100.00}, which is vastly larger than any payment I had made before which was usually around {$1300.00}. I have been at my residence for almost 18 months. I called my mortgage company ( which I had been transferred to back in XXXX of 2022 ) after a few different customer service reps transferred me, they told me I had a forced flood policy that hit my loan account and they reassessed my escrow and now my monthly payment had jumped up. I asked them why I had a forced flood policy and how come I never knew about this or authorized it. They explained that it is a law that flood policy be active on your mortgage account in the state of Florida if you live in a flood zone. Ok, I understand, except the issue was, I never knew I was in a flood zone nor did I know I was forced to have a flood policy. Evidently, sometime after I purchased my home, it was reassessed into a flood zone and I had no idea. I asked my mortgage lender why they didn't get ahold of me to explain this or to give me a chance to fix it before they gave me a {$3900.00} insurance premium and they said they sent me 2 pieces of mail. I told them I never received that mail and I take mail about my mortgage very seriously. I am in my late 20s, this is my first home, messing up my mortgage has been my biggest nightmare since becoming a home owner and I do everything in my power to make sure I was doing everything correct. They told me that the 2 pieces of mail were sent to the address on file, they told me what address and I told them that was my previous address not my current address. My previous address, was my parents home, that was my legal address until I bought my first home. Since I purchased my home, my parents divorced, the house was sold. I didn't understand why they only sent 2 pieces of mail, to the wrong address and didn't try to get ahold of me via email or phone. My entire contact info is at this company and all they did was send 2 pieces of mail to the wrong address. One of the customer service reps explained that when they received my loan in XXXX, I already had a forced lender flood policy from my previous mortgage company. I told her, no I didn't. I had no idea. She said the reason they didn't go " above and beyond to get ahold of me by either phone or email is because I already had a flood policy through my last lender ''. So now that brings me back to my lender before them. Why didn't they send me mail or call me or email me to let me know. I received email and letters from them before regarding successful payments, and tax documents during tax season, a shortage in my escrow from property taxes BUT NO FLOOD POLICY DOCUMENTS. They put a lender policy on me without my knowledge and then paid it using my escrow, which is why I never saw it come out of my account monthly during my normal payments. Trust me, if my payment had jumped up $ XXXX a month, I would have noticed, but when its taken from my escrow, and they didn't alert me, how else would I have known that? from XXXX until XXXX I was paying a very expensive flood policy insurance premium from my escrow and nobody seems to care. I've called my mortgage company, they explained and they cant do anything. I am now going through the process of finding a new flood insurance policy, sending it to the mortgage company for a refund from their policy and I need to do another escrow analysis because I am about {$5200.00} short in my escrow from the past 6 months of escrow activity done unbeknownst to me. And since this process of countless phone calls and talking to multiple reps repeating my story and then insurance quotes an emails to my agents, I have now missed the deadline to have my escrow reanalyzed by XXXX payment. {$1300.00} this month to {$2100.00} next month. Nothing I can do now even though I have been actively fixing this, following up, over calling. How do I get any of my money back for something I didn't authorize? How are they allowed to not successfully reach me before making me pay this amount of money. The time it will take to reset my escrow from this mess and the stress of all of this is horrible to go through as a new home owner. Can anybody help me? how is this legal?

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation