Consumer complaint received 2020-01-08
Company: AMERIS BANCORP
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Our current Escrow balance is in the negative due to a clerical error made by XXXX XXXX  at the time of the mortgage closing. We found out through a process of requesting PMI removal through XXXX that no PMI had been purchased. This occurred even though we made our monthly mortgage payment, which included the PMI payment every month. After XXXX realized their error, they tried to recoup the money for nearly a year worth of PMI payments. I have included a bulleted timeline of the events that led up to our escrow being in the negative. 

XX/XX/XXXX, closed on Mortgage - initial escrow deposit {$2300.00} Made mortgage payments of {$1800.00} each month, including {$270.00} XX/XX/XXXX, refund check issued for surplus of {$3600.00} Called to verify the escrow refund and a service representative at XXXX XXXX  claimed the surplus was due to overestimation of taxes, and explained that the taxes would increase the following year. ( See copy of Escrow refund letter provided ) XX/XX/XXXX, we requested PMI removal, upon which XXXX discovered that there was no PMI policy for our mortgage. 
XXXX XXXX sent a letter asking for {$4100.00} to cover PMI from XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. Even though the year had passed and all payments had been made. 
In XXXX a payment of {$4100.00} was made by XXXX XXXX  from my escrow account to back purchase PMI To get clarification of the status of our mortgage payment and escrow we contacted our underwriting agent ( XXXX XXXX at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX, FL. XXXX, XXXX ) He was apologetic for the mistakes but claimed that nothing could be done until the Ameris merger had been completed at the end of XXXX. 
End of XXXX, XXXX new tax assessment was withdrawn from Escrow. Plunging the negative balance even further. 
As you can see, the initial error was XXXX never ordering PMI. The second error made was when the escrow refund was issued failing to recognize that PMI had never been ordered. The third error was made by trying to back purchase PMI to the escrow account. I know I am not in the mortgage business, but it does not take much more than common sense that insurance does not need to be purchased for something that has already passed. I paid my mortgage for 11 months, why would XXXX need to go back and purchase insurance on something that had already happened. XXXX should have taken the loss as acceptance of their error and purchased a new policy for future payments, not past payments. Now, because of such a snowball roll of errors, timed perfectly with tax payments, my escrow is severely in the negative, I can not afford to have my mortgage increased by a XXXX dollars a month because someone forgot to do their job. I did what I had to do ; now XXXX ( Ameris ) needs to own up to their error and make this right. I am looking for a fair resolution to this matter. I would like the escrow account to be brought back to a balance of ( XXXX ) which is what the account balance was prior to the {$4100.00} that was debited to cover back payments of PMI.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief