Consumer complaint received 2021-01-05
Company: AmeriHome Mortgage Company, LLC
State: GA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Amerihome Mortgage Company services my home loan. I have the property taxes escrowed with the loan. I received notice in late XX/XX/XXXX that my property taxes were delinquent. After confirming with XXXX Co ( Georgia ) Tax Commissioners Office that taxes were not received, I contacted Amerihome on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. AmeriHome claims they wire transferred {$610.00} to my tax office to pay property taxes on XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX states they do not handle any wire transfers for payment and were not showing my property taxes as paid. Additionally, the property tax had increased to {$1500.00} due to a home being built on the parcel in question. Amerihome said they had no record of a tax increase. I was instructed to email the new tax notice to Amerihome via an email address their representative gave me, which I verified over the phone ( XXXX ). I checked back with my tax office about three days later and the taxes were still not paid. I called Amerihome again and I was told that two open " tasks '' had been created regarding my tax bill and these tasks were not due to be completed until XX/XX/XXXX. I reminded the representative that if my taxes were not paid by XX/XX/XXXX that an Fi. Fa. execution ( lien ) would be placed on my property. I was again told to call back after the time for the tasks to be completed had lapsed. I also emailed then on XX/XX/XXXX requesting to speak with a supervisor or anyone above the basic phone rep level and was never contacted nor replied to. 

I called Amerihome again on XX/XX/XXXX ( the day after the " tasks '' were to be finished ) and was told that the tasks were not completed, and that actually no one had followed up on the requests since Amerihome was showing that taxes had been paid in XXXX Additionally, the rep told me that I had sent the new tax notice to the wrong email address. I was given a second, completely different email address ( XXXX ) to which I resent the delinquent tax notice. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told that would have to be approved for her to send it to a supervisor. I requested the rep do this and in real time she was emailing her supervisor who was telling her they would not speak with me because " they wouldn't/could n't tell me anything different that what she was telling me. '' This came directly from the rep. I told this rep that I felt the company was 'blowing me off and not wanting to fix the issue. '' I called back a few minutes later on same the day and talked to a different rep and asked them or someone at Amerihome to please contact my local tax office to fix the issue. I told them I was the one being bounced back and forth and could not fix it, and since they said they had paid the taxes, they needed to see what was wrong. I gave them the name and number of my local tax commissioner, and the rep put it in the notes but said she could not promise anyone would call. 

This same day, Thursday, XXXX XXXX was the last day my tax office was open before XXXX XXXX which is the day the lien would be placed on my home. I had to drive the 30 minutes to the tax office and personally pay {$1500.00} in order to satisfy the tax bill. 

On Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted Amerihome once again to ask for the parcel # associated with the tax money they sent to XXXX Co and they could not provide this information to me. They could not even tell me which company they used to process the transaction to XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX. ( All of this information should have been readily available to give to me according to my county tax commissioner ). I have since verified again today, that my county tax office does not deal in wire transfers which is how Amerihome is claiming they sent the payment. 

I asked the Amerihome rep on XX/XX/XXXX for the process to request a repayment of the money I spent out of my own pocket for the tax bill and the reply was that they did not issue money straight back to the individual, but once it was cleared up they would issue a refund if there was any money owed for overpayment of taxes once the bill was cleared. I don't see how they will clear this up, because they refuse to contact the Tax Office or Commissioner to work through the issue of the " missing '' payment. My Commissioner feels they are lying about the payment. This company has not been the least bit helpful in addressing this issue and its clear to me the reps are instructed to stonewall people at that level and no one above them is reachable to address any problems. 

At this point, my only avenue left is to fill a complaint ( Which I told the Amerihome representative I was doing. ).

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation