Consumer complaint received 2019-02-01
Company: Flagstar Bank, N.A.
State: TX
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Flagstar Bank has got to be one of the worst mortgage companies in the country. I have never seen a company run so incompetently ever. 

We are highly rated consumers that have never missed a payment on anything. Our credit record is perfect. Yet somehow our mortgage was sold to this XXXX company and we seem to be stuck with their terrible customer service. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, we decided to initiate the process of stopping our escrow account, which the bank seemed to do a poor job of managing, for 2 years in a row. We decided we could manage the account better. We called customer service and they gave us the run around, and finally stated to close out we had a negative balance and would have to bring it up to zero balance, and pay an escrow waiver fee. We paid the {$190.00} to go with the next payment they had already scheduled, to bring the account to zero, and we filed the form to close the escrow account on XX/XX/XXXX. 

The customer service rep in the escrow department stated we would also owe an escrow waiver fee, which we had never heard of. When we signed the mortgage contract with the original broker, he did not mention any fees required to open or close our escrow account. The escrow account was offered as a convenience with no fees to open or close, which sounded okay with us. We normally did not escrow, but managed payments out of our own funds. Again, no issues over 25+ years as a home owner. 

We asked for a copy of where this fee is coming from, and after about 15 minutes of digging, the rep quoted some vague statement in the mortgage contract, but refused to forward a copy to us. We continued the process, as we do not want this bank to handle our escrow money any more, except apparently for the loan that we can not have transferred to someone else. If possible, please sell our mortgage in one of your next pool of mortgages you sell to another bank or mortgage company. Someone must be doing their job, but not Flagstar. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, Flagstar 's Escrow Department sent us another closing balance, which seems to be growing, but again is somehow short, and they want to charge us {$530.00} as a closing fee for the escrow waiver request. This again was not in our original contract, so it appears to be some add on fee, we were never made aware of. And to add to the insult, they added a nice threatening letter, that if we " should fail to pay our non-escrowed items '' which we have no intention of doing. They " would reserve the right to force us to accept any homeowner 's insurance they chose ''. Collectively, the letter is pretty insulting, but pretty standard for this insulting company. 

We have had nothing but trouble with Flagstar, in almost every department we have encountered, and again we are good customers to have. A bank is supposed to make money off of the mortgage transaction, payment of interest and upfront fees clearly stated to the borrower. Not imaginary fees they decide to add, as the mortgagee is passed from bank to bank. This is just wrong, but kind of hard to address, as the bank is not local. 

We still want out of our escrow account, and demand to be freed of any imaginary, unsupported waiver fees that we were not assessed or told about upfront existed. If there were a waiver fee, we would not have allowed an escrow account to be setup to begin with. XXXX XXXX never gave us any trouble, as this bank has since taking over our account in XX/XX/XXXX. Flagstar has fumbled and failed, and provided exceedingly bad customer service on multiple occasions ( note this is my second complaint against Flagstar, and they may have a third coming as they are very slow in endorsing insurance loss claim checks ). Flagstar is just a very shady, shady mortgage company. I just want to strip our relationship down to the barest of relationships. We pay them for our loan, and nothing else. They seem to have a very bad manipulative manner of interacting with their customers, and I want no part of their business model, but unfortunately I have to interact some, since they hold our mortgage contract.

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