Consumer complaint received 2021-08-05
Company: M&T BANK CORPORATION
State: NY
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
M & T Bank failed to pay my homeowner 's insurance from my fully paid escrow account. I was notified the payment was late on XX/XX/XXXX and my insurance policy was cancelled by XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, leaving me uninsured. During those 5 weeks I spent much effort and time calling both M & T and my insurer. Three times M & T assured me the check had been sent, only for the customer service rep I spoke with on a follow-up call to tell me that check had been " cancelled by the system. '' There was no accountability and nobody could identify the cause. 

To further complicate things, each time I called M & T 's customer service line and navigated the phone tree, once I chose " escrow '' I simply received a recorded message that a check had already been sent, with no option to speak to a person. I tried many options to try and get around this roadblock, and finally had to *pretend to have a different problem. * I had to choose " trouble with an insurance claim '' to get a person, after which I begged them to transfer me to someone who could help. 

In a panicked 3-way call on XX/XX/XXXX a M & T Bank customer rep informed me that " we don't do escrow for co-ops. '' I told her I had been issued an escrow mortgage by M & T itself seven years ago and had paid faithfully, and the online payment portal has a separate line-item for escrow. She repeated that I now had a " non-escrow mortgage. '' There was no explanation for the change and no one had informed me of it prior to it being effected. 

To add insult to injury, once she dropped off the call a customer service satisfaction survey recording kicked in. I was almost crying as I begged the other rep not to hang up as the interminable, chirpy recording played twice through. I was afraid the call would auto-disconnect when it was done. 

I was assured that THIS TIME a check would go out to XXXX XXXX. I was assured I would also receive a refund check for additional paid escrow. I said I wanted this all in writing because I had talked to many people and they all had told me different things. I said, " Okay so now I wait for the check to go to XXXX XXXX, I wait for a refund to me, and I wait for a letter explaining what happened, and I also no longer pay escrow, right? '' The second rep waited while I checked the online payment portal and, sure enough, there was no longer an escrow form field. I was astonished that such a consequential change had been made with no notice to me, and that somehow that change in " the system '' had resulted in two checks being auto-cancelled. It seemed the me this surely affected hundreds if not thousands of people who all individually were forced to play detective and figure out what was happening. It was also highly suspicious that I had been able to pay escrow online in XXXX, which would have been*after* this supposed policy change. Had the change been legitimate and timely communicated throughout M & T I would have received notice in XXXX, and the online portal would have simultaneously reflected the new policy. 

In order to reinstate my insurance I had to pre-pay my premium with a credit card as the insurer waited for the check ( which none of us believed at that point would ever arrive ). My insurer also had to issue me a revised, non-escrow policy. 

When I received a letter from M & T Bank it was simply several terse lines of internal bank jargon. There was no apology or explanation or even any sentence in recognizable English. Had I not just spent hours of my life troubleshooting M & T 's mistake I would have *never* understood that this letter referred to escrow, a change in policy, a change in payment portal, anything. It literally says " We are removing the HO6 policy from your escrow account and you are responsible for the payment of the HO6 policy. '' No recipient of this letter knows what an " HO6 '' policy is, and the sentence seems to contradict itself. The letter also managed to appear to *blame ME* for the type of mortgage M & T had *issued to me*, stating sternly " we do not require that you maintain an HO6 policy. '' The letter did not mention that M & T failed to pay my insurance that I had prepaid in good faith. The letter did not mention the refund check, so had I not specifically asked about my additional escrow payments during the XX/XX/XXXX call ( and I was the one who brought it up and persisted until I got an answer ), I would have been flummoxed by receiving a random check in the mail. 

This was all 2 months ago. I was angry but it was fading. Then this week I received a letter from M & T Bank stating that the previous letter was in error and in fact I should have an escrow mortgage, that I am required to have an escrow mortgage. AS I ALREADY KNEW AND HAD ATTEMPTED TO TELL EVERY CUSTOMER SERVICE REP I HAD SPOKEN TO. There was this time a slight apology, as in " sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. '' Inconvenience??? MY INSURANCE WAS CANCELLED & I PRACTICALLY HAD A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN. 

As the final indignity, as in someone spitting on you, M & T wants ME to send back the refund check so they can put it back into the escrow account I had paid into in good faith and they themselves unilaterally cancelled with no notice. I also will have to tell my insurer they have to revise my policy yet again, back to an escrow mortgage. 

All of the burden : emotional cognitive, logistical, financial, and potentially hazard, was placed on me ( and all those in my position ) by M & T FOR ITS OWN EGREGIOUS, INEXPLICABLE MISTAKE

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