Consumer complaint received 2020-04-08
Company: Shellpoint Partners, LLC
State: MD
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I received on XX/XX/XXXX an envelope from my tenants addressed to " OCCUPANTS '' of a NOTICE OF ACTION TO FORECLOSURE on my property that they occupy. It was then that I learned that my home was purchased by XXXX XXXX, XXXX for a tax lien in late XXXX. 

XXXX XXXXXXXX sold my home loan to NewRez Mortgage Company ( hereinafter referred to as NewRez ) in XXXX. I learned via research that taxes are due in XXXX XXXX County, MD in XXXX and XXXX annually, respectively, when paid in halves over a period of one year. When NewRez purchased my mortgage loan from XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX, they ASSUMED ( instead of vetting through a proper Quality Assurance process ) that XXXX XXXX was up to date on paid XXXX taxes ( XX/XX/XXXX XXXX. NewRez paid the taxes in the amount of {$2800.00} on XX/XX/XXXX assuming that their payment was for the XXXX half of the year - Payment in Full for XXXX ( Attachment ( 1 ) - line item dated XX/XX/XXXX, Tax Bill 1 Disbursement ). Assuming my property tax account was current, they sent me a surplus check in XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$890.00} ( Attachment ( 1 ) - line item dated XX/XX/XXXX, Surplus Disbursement ). They did not do a thorough review of my account ; otherwise, they would have vetted non-payment of my property taxes by XXXX XXXX  prior to any surplus disbursements. 

I visited and spoke with the XXXX XXXX County Tax Office Financial Supervisor ( Mr. XXXX XXXX XXXX' ) on XX/XX/XXXX, about this matter. He provided me with information regarding the entire process on tax liens and tax sales on properties with delinquent taxes. According to him, when the latter is the case, the County does NOT accept any payments forward until the prior year 's delinquent tax debt has been collected/paid in full. Additionally, payment can not be made to the Tax Office until all legal and court administrative fees have been paid in full. In this case, payment would be made to XXXX XXXX, XXXX for legal and court administrative fees ( Attachment ( 2A ) and Attachment ( 2B ), respectively - email and invoice from XXXX XXXX, XXXX ). Because the taxes on my property were not fully paid in XXXX, the County 's Tax Office refused XXXX 's tax payment from NewRez in XX/XX/XXXX. The County notified NewRez of the delinquent tax debt dating back to XXXX and informed them that payment in full would need to be received before they could accept any tax payment for XXXX. When the County refused acceptance of the tax payment in XX/XX/XXXX, NewRez instead sent me a surplus check in the amount of {$2800.00} since they were not able to pay the first half of the XXXX taxes ( Attachment ( 1 ) - line item dated XX/XX/XXXX, Surplus Disbursement ). They did not make an attempt to correct the outstanding XXXX tax debt, nor did they attempt to make any additional tax payments in the calendar year XXXX. As well, I was not notified of the tax discrepancy or the County 's position when a surplus check was mailed to me. It appears that finally in XX/XX/XXXX the house was purchased for taxes by XXXX XXXX, XXXX. No tax payments were received by the County in XXXX as a result of the delinquent taxes due for the year XXXX. 

I made my first phone call to NewRez when I received the NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE envelope from my tenants on XX/XX/XXXX. I inquired about the status of my mortgage account in that I had never been late on a payment. I informed the phone representative that I was being sued by XXXX XXXX, XXXX. They assured me that whatever I had received must be in error as my account was current and had never been delinquent. I studied the package and lawsuit carefully over the weekend. I again phoned NewRez on XX/XX/XXXX. I spoke to XXXX, phone representative, who told me that they sent XXXX XXXX, XXXX a check in the amount of {$2800.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, but she didnt know why nor did she know who XXXX XXXX was. She stated that the account notes indicated that a " special payment '' was to be sent to them, but no other information was provided in the notes. I emailed to them a copy of all delinquent tax bills dating back to XXXX ( I had received them from Mr. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX County Tax Office Supervisor ). I also emailed them the entire 46-page lawsuit XXXX Maryland XXXX XXXX XXXX # # # # # # XXXX on this day. I phoned back on XX/XX/XXXX, but was told by the representative that although they are in receipt of my email package ( with attachments ), it would be 3 - 5 business days before someone would follow up with me regarding the contents of my email. There was a suspense date of XX/XX/XXXX before an additional interest penalty would be assessed onto the delinquent tax account. No-one followed up with me. On XX/XX/XXXX, I phoned NewRez and spoke to Mr. XXXX XXXX, NewRez phone representative, who informed me that the notes reflected an escalation to my account on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, by XXXX ( the 3rd party providing payments to tax offices on behalf of a respective mortgage company ), but he couldnt see what the issue was and why the escalation to my account occurred. That information wasnt provided in the notes at the phone representative level according to him. I spoke to the County Tax Office on that same day, Mr. XXXX XXXX XXXX, who informed me that it appears that XXXX ( on behalf of NewRez ) was doing something to my account with a tickler deadline date of XX/XX/XXXX which happened to be the due date that the next monetary interest penalty would be assessed to my property tax account. I followed up several more times with NewRez all of which times I got the " run around. '' A high level manager, Ms. XXXX XXXX, informed me on XX/XX/XXXX that my account was fine ; my house had not been sold for any tax lien ; my house had never been in foreclosure ; NewRez had never received any email or paperwork from me ( I had previously verified the prior week that the paperwork ( email and attachments ) was indeed received ) ; I was never being sued by XXXX XXXX ; she didnt even know who XXXX XXXX was ; she didnt understand what I was talking about, etc. I spoke to XXXX XXXX XXXX, a first line supervisor, the following day ( XX/XX/XXXX ) who confirmed that indeed a payment was made to XXXX XXXX, but she didnt understand why. She did admit that it appeared that something was going on with my account, but the end result of my conversation with her was that someone would call me back with information. I never received that phone call. I confirmed with the County Tax Office ( Mr. XXXX XXXX XXXX ) the following week that the account was paid up-to-date, and he provided me with receipts via email ( Attachment ( 3 ) - XXXX County Property Taxes Receipt ) ( Attachment ( 4 ) - XXXX County Property Taxes Receipt ) ( Attachment ( 5 ) - XXXXl XXXX County Taxes Receipt ). In early XXXX, I also followed up with XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) office at XXXX XXXX via email that all legal and court administrative fees were paid to his office by NewRez ( XX/XX/XXXX, {$2800.00} ). His assistant provided me with a receipt as well ( Attachment 6 - Legal and Court Administrative Fees Paid - Request for Property Redemption Release ). As my court date was scheduled for XX/XX/XXXX, I noted that XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) had filed a Motion to Dismiss my case. The Motion to Dismiss was granted with prejudice ( Attachment 7 - Circuit Court of Maryland Case Information ). I received a " Certificate of Redemption '' freeing my home from the foreclosure/tax sale process and the tax lien XXXX Attachment 8 - Certificate of Redemption ). 

Because NewRez present day still remains steadfast in their claim that my home was never in foreclosure and my account was always current regarding payment and taxes, I anticipated they would append all interest penalties, and court administrative and legal fees to my escrow account. And they did! Ive had at least 2 conversations with first line phone representatives with promises that someone from their QA/Tax/Escrow Account Office would return my phone call. That call never happened. However, in one of the 2 conversations I had, the representative, a young lady, was passive aggressive with me telling me that her name was some XXXX cartoon characters name ( I learned the following day that her name was XXXX XXXX ). I made a request for an escalation and eventually received a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX ( Attachment ( 9 ) ) from NewRez dba ( doing business as ) ShellPoint Mortgage thanking me for providing them with a past due statement and informing me that they made payment as follows without the explanations that I provided below : XX/XX/XXXX {$2800.00} - XXXX XXXX, XXXX ( legal/court administrative fees ) XX/XX/XXXX {$80.00} - Tax XX/XX/XXXX {$270.00} - Tax XX/XX/XXXX {$710.00} - Tax XX/XX/XXXX {$5500.00} - Tax XX/XX/XXXX {$2600.00} - Tax TOTAL TAX COSTS INCLUDING INTEREST PENALTIES = {$9200.00} Additionally, in the letter there is no mention as to why payment was made to XXXX XXXX, XXXX nor did they acknowledge ANY of the delinquent property tax interest penalties paid or XXXX XXXX as the buyer of my homes tax lien. Also, they did not acknowledge or address the lawsuit for the foreclosure/tax sale ( court date XX/XX/XXXX ). They only stated that ALL taxes were paid. They paid in total an amount of {$12000.00} and explained nothing to me as to why a normal tax year of approximately {$5500.00} in XXXX XXXX County, XXXX, MD ( Attachment ( 10 ) ) turned into {$12000.00}.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation