Consumer complaint received 2021-09-14
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: CrossCountry Mortgage LLC (FL)

On XX/XX/XXXX I closed on my first home and used CrossCountry as my mortgage provider. At closing, I paid for a full year of insurance on my home up front. Additionally, CrossCountry collects escrow for my insurance so that they can renew my insurance when the time comes using those funds. On XX/XX/XXXX ( almost one year later ), I receive a notice from CrossCountry regarding my insurance being expired and asking me to send them proof of my new insurance. Being a novice homeowner and being unfamiliar with all these matters, I figured CrossCountry was reaching out to me because I was almost at my year mark with my insurance and it was almost time for me to renew, so I figured I just needed to send them my insurance renewal documents. At this time, I call my insurance company, XXXX XXXX XXXX, to ask them for insurance renewal information. This is when I first find out that my insurance was apparently cancelled back in XX/XX/XXXX and I had never been notified. According to XXXX XXXX XXXX, they notified me and my lender and sent me a refund check for the remaining unused premium. I confirmed with them that the check never cleared. Of course it never cleared, because I never received it in order to deposit it. A new check was issued to me on XX/XX/XXXX, which I did receive and I did deposit. I quickly found an insurance company that was willing to insure my home and got new insurance. On XX/XX/XXXX I received a notice from an insurance company indicating that force placed insurance was placed on my home and it was now being cancelled and the total was upwards of {$4000.00}. This was a new policy that CrossCountry JUST placed on my property at the end of XXXX after I sent them my new insurance information. They never contacted me directly to let me know anything regarding the forced place insurance, the only notice I received was from the insurance provider they used. They are now charging me for force placed insurance from all the way back in XX/XX/XXXX- XX/XX/XXXX. They never notified me that I didn't have insurance, and my insurance provider never notified me. I have contacted both to try to mitigate this large cost but neither want to assist. I had paid my insurance in full up front, and XXXX escrow my insurance every month. I never thought that I would constantly need to contact my insurance provider and my mortgage to ask if I was still being covered. I fulfilled my obligations and made every payment in a timely manner. As soon as I found out I didn't have insurance, I was very quick to get new insurance. Had I been informed by my lender back in XXXX that there was a lapse in my coverage and that they were going to force place insurance, I would have taken every step necessary to get new insurance. I was not given this opportunity and am now being forced to carry this large financial burden. Additionally my insurance was cancelled for a reason that I could have made a case against, I was told it was cancelled because of an illegal alteration, but I have all the permits the previous owner provided me for that alteration, so it is not illegal. But since I didn't receive notice of this cancellation back in XXXX I never had the chance to argue my case.