Consumer complaint received 2023-01-25
Company: FIRST CITIZENS BANCSHARES, INC.
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Before getting into the details of my complaint, I would like to request from the Consumer Financial protection Bureau to pay more attention to this complaint and to investigate if there are other consumers who have similar issues or problems with the same bank as I believe that my issue may not be an isolated issue and I have real concerns about ongoing illegal conduct and unacceptable practices, intentionally or unintentionally, tied to mortgages and loans from this bank. 
I am an American citizen and a medical doctor who used to work and live with my family in the state of Massachusetts in the United states. In XXXX we, myself and my wife, decided to own a house. My wife is a XXXX XXXX as well. We applied for a Mortgage through one of the real estate firm and got approved to receive a Mortgage from XXXX XXXX We worked hard for years to collect the down payment and all the other fees related to buying a home. We moved to our new home in XXXX MA end of XXXX. We continued to pay our monthly payment of our mortgage regularly and on time. Around mid XXXX, we got an opportunity for me and my wife to move and work in XXXX XXXX XXXX. We continued to pay our monthly mortgage payment as usual electronically from my XXXX XXXX XXXX account to XXXX XXXX  Around XXXX of XXXX, we were informed that our mortgage is no more with XXXX XXXX and it is now part of First Citizens Bank. Our payment issues started from that time and keep happening till now. I have to mention that I never miss any payment at all and I make sure that the mortgage payment is first thing that I do at the first of each month and also worth mentioning that I don't have any financial difficulties preventing me from paying my monthly mortgage or doing the commitment on time. The first problem happened, If I can remember correctly, around the first half of XXXX when I was informed by the bank that I missed my payment. Thats came as a surprise to me so I contacted First Citizens Bank and I mentioned that I send the payment regularly the beginning of each month. I was informed that monthly mortgage payment was changed due to a change of the escrow payment. I was not informed about this change but the bank mentioned that they sent the mortgage statement with the changes to my mailing address on file. I have to clarify that this mailing address is my friends mailing address in Massachusetts that I provided to the US postal service before leaving the US to work in XXXX XXXX XXXX. From the start and even before this first payment issue happened, I contacted the bank and mentioned that I live overseas and I dont receive any statements or letters they send by regular mail and I demanded to establish other practical way of contact. They started to send my mortgage statements by email for several months end of XXXX and beginning of XXXX and then they stopped. The payments issues continue to happen from that time till now and it happened at least twice or three time and the last payment issue happened for XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX payments. I have been trying and for the past few years to establish a good way of communication and contact with First Citizens bank but with no luck. I suggested different options, I asked them to send my mortgage statements to my current overseas address but they mentioned that they are not able to send the statements to overseas address. I asked them to send it to my email or assign someone to contact me in regards to my mortgage issues and provided my current phone number but this is also didnt happen and every time I call they mention that they dont have a phone number for me on file. I attempted to establish online access and I spoke to their online help line multiple times but they were not able to give me online access because I dont have a US base phone number. In regards to the last and current payment issue of XXXX and XXXX of XXXX, I contacted the bank to solve this issue and I talked to one of their credit department representatives who mentioned to me that their system doesnt recognize any payment that doesnt match the correct payment. I explained to her that I was not contacted regarding the change of the monthly payments and how this happened before and the issue of not receiving the statements that they send by regular mail and again explained that I have been sending the payments on time from my bank account and were received and deposited by First Citizens bank and all are documented in my XXXX XXXX XXXX account ( see attachments ). I asked her to just calculate the difference between the current amount that needs to be paid and the amount that I already paid and I will pay the difference but she mentioned that this is not possible and I have to pay the whole amount which equals to more than double the amount of the sum of two monthly payments. My friend who is in the US sent me a message few weeks ago stating the First Citizens bank is sending many letters lately. I asked him to open the last letter and send me a photo for me and I found that they are asking me to pay a lot of money that doesnt make any sense and the letter mentioned that my account is in default for failure and they may accelerate the maturity of the loan. 

I called the credit department of First Citizens Bank three times in XXXX of XXXX and each time I got an automated message that they are not able to take my call and asked if I agree to receive a call back to the same number and I did confirm my phone number and my agreement to receive a call back but I never got a call back for them. 
I dont have a good feeling about this and I am not sure if other customers have same or similar issues with First citizens bank but I really think that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has to seriously investigate if there are similar issues happening to other customers of First Citizens Bank in regards to the mortgages and loans. Whats happening is not normal, they are uncooperative and unwilling to solve my problems with them in regards to the communication and contact issues, I am not able to receive my mortgage statements or review the payments and fees for years, not able to know about any changes happening to my account or my monthly payment, not willing to solve their electronic system issue which doesnt recognize payments that already made but different from the monthly payment and regards it as unpaid, not able to know the fees and the calculations of the fees and the payments that they apply which seem to me very complicated and vague. As if they are intentionally or unintentionally trying to push my account for default and illegally repossess the home that I have been paying my savings and large percentage of my monthly salary for more than 7 years to own and to keep my credit history in a good status. I will continue to contact the bank attempting to solve this problem even after I submit this complaint.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation