Consumer complaint received 2019-06-06
Product: Mortgage — VA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: PENNYMAC LOAN SERVICES, LLC. (TX)

I closed a va mortgage loan on XX/XX/XXXX. 6 months later I get bombarded with IRRRL refi offers. I contacted PennyMac, the current mortgage loan holder, and inquired if they do this, They said they did. Long story short, I re-fied with them and closed on XX/XX/XXXX. 

During the back and forth of mortgage quotes, I was asked if I wanted a check for the escrow balance of {$3200.00} or if I wanted to just transfer to the new loan. I said transfer as I don't need money and that this is taxes. The rep who asked this was XXXX XXXX ( sp? ). Before the close I received the closing documents and a call from a fellow named XXXX XXXX. He explained he would be with me until the close going forward. I told him, on a recorded line, that the escrow amount is underfunded and I'd like the taxes to be correct from the onset of the loan ... something I couldn't seem to get corrected on the original loan. He told me he had to go off what the county provided them and to just make extra escrow payments to correct the amount. I didn't worry because the current escrow was to be transferred as previously discussed and that was what I was doing all along. I thought the escrow funds number was a placeholder until my regular funds transferred. 

During the closing, ( which was conducted by a notary, not a qualified mortgage person ... simply sign and run type ) I noticed Escrow Refund on the documents and the correct amount so I wasn't concerned. 2 weeks after closing, I notice the escrow still hasn't transferred. I called in and was told that they applied the escrow to the principle balance of the old loan instead of transferring it the new loan escrow. This was NEVER discussed or authorized and I am now severely underfunded on escrow for XXXX. When I confronted XXXX XXXX about this he said he told me it was going to be applied to the loan. I said, yes ... .the new loan, as always discussed! I was also told by the loan officer, XXXX XXXX, that the associate who originated the loan, XXXX XXXX was no longer employed. I called the manager XXXX XXXX, but had to leave a voice mail as there was no answer. His VM message also directed me to an another manager is XXXX 's absence, XXXX XXXX, of which I also left a message requesting a call back and explanation about this. I was panicked and very upset about the thought of being behind on my taxes. I'm never behind on anything and never had this situation before. To this day, I have received no call backs from either manager. XXXX XXXX did call me back and told me that the escrow department was going to investigate my account and had me email him my Tax letter from XXXX county so he could forward to the escrow department and he said that they would be finished investigating by XX/XX/XXXX. I called this morning, XX/XX/XXXX and had spoken with a XXXX and a XXXX in escrow. After 1 hour and 24 minutes on the phone and various holds, NOTHING had been done on regarding this over the last week. XXXX did say she is going to take control of this and forward up the chain of command. I was told though, that there is nothing they can do now regarding the old account and wrongly applied escrow. I forwarded, the tax letter directly to the escrow department this morning, per XXXX 's request, via the website message center, as they didn't receive anything from XXXX XXXX. She is correcting the taxes and the payment amount to reflect the increased taxes. But, they still haven't told me how they are going to rectify the bungling of the escrow or how they are going to fund the escrow correctly. I'm going to end up with a shortage in all likelihood, and have to make up the shortfall on top of my regular payment ... negating the whole purpose of the refinance in the first place ... to lower my payments. Never will I do business with such a dishonest company like PennyMac ever again and all Veterans should run away from them. You'll never get told the same thing twice and no follow through. They play dirty pool.