Consumer complaint received 2023-01-13
Company: PENTAGON FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
State: IN
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Summer 2022 the PenFed website would not allow me to update checking account info. I switched accounts and it would not allow me to update it. I had several phone calls spanning XXXX through XXXX to get this resolved. Each time I was told to give it 24 to 48 hours, yet it would still only show the old account. Due to this, I was unable to pay online, and kept having to pay by phone. Finally, on XX/XX/XXXX, someone in their tech division fixed the issue so I could pay online. At that time I paid the past due XXXX payment, and they waived the late charges ( three of them ) due to the error on PenFed 's part. I also arranged with the rep to schedule a payment for XXXX and XXXX 's payments. I don't recall if this was on the same phone call or another. The amount they told me to pay was {$200.00} to bring the account current through XXXX 's bill, due on XX/XX/XXXX. That {$200.00} payment was made on XX/XX/XXXX. We had also on that call walked me through setting up auto pay, so that starting in XXXX the account would draft automatically from the new account. PenFed received the payment of {$200.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. This amount was provided to me by a rep on the phone. Fast forward to Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX. I receipt a hardship packet from PenFed for being delinquent. I called PenFed immediately. I was told I still owed {$1.00} for XXXX. I explained what happened but was told there was nothing they could do without proof that I was told the wrong amount. In the meantime, PenFed helped me submit a payment for {$120.00} to bring the account current. I didn't plan to pursue the issue any further since it was resolved. Today, XX/XX/XXXX, I receive a notification that my credit has a delinquency reported, 30 days late by PenFed. I immediately call to resolve. They again ask me to make a payment of {$120.00}, at which point I learn that the person who supposedly submitted one on Wednesday did not complete it. I have the recorded phone conversation stating they did, however. I went ahead and let them process another payment of {$120.00}. I will check to be sure it wasn't duplicated here in a few days. I had close to 3 hours of phone call time with PenFed today alone, plus about an hour on Wednesday, some portion fo that getting through prompts and different reps until I'm with the right department. 

After a lengthy call, the rep decides to submit a request for supervisor review to see if someone did in fact tell me to pay {$200.00} on one of those XXXX phone calls. She said the supervisor can only review specific calls I tell her to, and can't just review a time frame. I unfortunately do not know the exact dates of all calls. 

Logging into PenFed I am able to see the {$200.00} paid on XX/XX/XXXX. The system shows me how that amount was divided, with {$100.00} going towards the XXXX bill, and the remaining {$99.00} going towards XXXX. I realized, towards the end of this call, that the cause of the problem isn't that the rep told me the wrong amount. They told me correctly. The issue is that PenFed applied the amount incorrectly. Here is the breakdown of the {$200.00} payment, how it should have been applied versus how it actually was applied. 

XXXX past due {$99.00} ( amount applied {$100.00} ) XXXX due {$100.00} ( amount applied {$99.00} ) This caused the system to believe I was {$1.00} past due for XXXX still, since the {$99.00} was {$1.00} shy of the {$100.00} due. I figured this out when the rep told me that XXXX was still past due in the amount of {$1.00}. I recognized that this figure represented the difference in those two values. I was then able to confirm this by looking at the transaction history on the account. 

I have attached three items. The first is the XXXX statement, with statement closing date of XX/XX/, 2022. This shows the past due XXXX bill of {$99.00} as well as the current interest due of {$100.00}, due XX/XX/XXXX. In addition to that there is a late charge on there of {$6.00}, however this has been on the account for approximately 8 months at this point and is not reported to credit bureaus. I was unaware it was on there, despite several payments by phone where I asked to pay to get it current. However this is not relevant since to PenFed 's own admission, this is not reportable to credit, and is not included in the " pas due {$1.00} '' from XXXX that got us in this mess. The second and third items I have attached are screenshots showing how my {$200.00} payment on XX/XX/XXXX was applied. Not only did they apply XXXX 's payment to XXXX, and XXXX 's payment to XXXX, but they were off by a XXXX on each anyway. So even if they had applied {$99.00} to XXXX and {$100.00} to XXXX, I would have been a XXXX low for XXXX, and a XXXX high for XXXX.

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 monetary relief