Consumer complaint received 2024-12-12
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Escrow, taxes, or insurance
Company: U.S. BANCORP (MD)

XX/XX/XXXXXXXX XXXX EST Phone Call to USBank - Notes : I called because noticed that my property tax bill with the county shows as being past due. The problem is that USBank is opting for making partial payments. By making partial payments, I'm losing the benefit of a full-payment discount, therefore I'm overpaying for property taxes. I asked about closing the escrow account so that I can start taking care of the property tax and insurance bills myself. I got transferred to the Mortgage department to see if I'm eligible. The representative I got transferred to explains to me that I am eligible but would need to pay a {$1100.00} to have it closed. I asked if that's what I agreed to when I signed, and she said 'Yes ', I asked if this is a set fee or if there are conditions in place for coming up with this number. She states that the fee is {$1100.00} and offers to send me a copy of the document where it states it and I agreed to it to my email. I then move on to asking if there are any penalties associated with me making these payments myself and having USBank reimburse me for the over-payment. She states that she can't answer that question and would need to transfer me to the Tax Department. I don't agree to the transfer given that I had already had a discussion with the tax department before getting transferred and explain they had stated that I can pay the Property Tax bill and then what would happen is that the escrow would reimburse me. She asks me to confirm if I got the email. I confirm I received an email from them ( XXXX, XXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  ). The call ends with no real resolution. When I look into the email, the attachment she provided doesn't state anything about a fee for closing an escrow account. In fact, it states that my monthly payment is XXXX and I couldn't find any mention of escrow. 

XX/XX/XXXX Correspondence received by mail : Letter titled " Escrow Waived - Full - Fee '' dated XX/XX/XXXX was received today by mail. In it it states that there's a fee of {$1100.00} to be paid within 30 days to be able to close the escrow account. 

XX/XX/XXXX XXXX EST Phone Call to USBank - Notes : Explained that the documentation sent to me on XX/XX/XXXX didn't mention anything about there being a fee to remove escrow. Explained that I didn't see anything on the closing documents stating that there would be such fee, therefore I don't see where I agreed to paying a fee in order to be able to close the Escrow account. 
Agent stated that Escrow Waiver fee can not be waived. She will send me documentation explaining why it can not be waived. I expressed my disappointment and explained why I considered USBank is poorly managing the escrow account ( not taking advantage of the full payment discount, delaying disbursement of payments until very close to the due date, paying very little in interests, etc. ). I explained there's no disclosure of a fee for cancelling the escrow account in the Closing documents of our mortgage. Advised that I will proceed with making the taxes and insurance payments myself and have them cut me a check instead. Explained that this route is more costly to USBank given they will need to constantly be performing Escrow adjustments and cutting me a check. Expressed I planned to contact the state 's AG to point out USBank 's practices.