Consumer complaint received 2024-10-25
Product: Mortgage — Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Payment process
Company: Shellpoint Partners, LLC (NH)

My HELOC was transferred to Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing in XX/XX/XXXX. I set up for an ACH so that I could continue to make payments electronically and submitted my first payment on XX/XX/XXXX. I checked back a few days later and the payment was marked as NSF ( nonsufficient funds ). I was surprised by this, but assumed that the website was accurate. At that time, on XXXX, I submitted a request for 2 payments to be made via the ACH I had set up. I checked back a few days later and the payments were still posted " applied. '' About one week later those two payments were also showing as NSF on the Shellpoint website. I called Shellpoint and they confirmed that all three payments were returned as NSF. At this point, I can't figure out what is wrong. The money is in my bank account, so I try one more time on XX/XX/XXXX to submit payment electronically. Once again it is returned about a week later as NSF. The way the payment history is posted is very confusing and it was difficult to even tell if a payment had been applied or returned. 
I received a letter on XX/XX/XXXX, that was dated XX/XX/XXXX, and stated disbursement requests would no longer be honored as of XX/XX/XXXX. This letter was dated and received after the suspension was already enacted and did not state that the suspension would be permanent. This was the XXXX and ONLY correspondence I received regarding a suspension of my account. 
I tried one last time to submit an ACH payment, and a few days later it was returned NSF. I called my bank and they assured me they were not returning payment and in fact had no record of any ACH requests. 
I called Shellpoint and was assured they were being returned NSF. After going back and forth with the customer rep she opens a note on my account and realizes none of the payments were returned NSF, they were returned because the account number was incorrect, but that information is not visible to me, and even the customer service reps I have spoken to since, don't initially see the note. After learning the real reason the problem was happening I immediately created a new ACH request and paid the account current on XX/XX/XXXX. 

Once I realized that the suspension on disbursements was permanent - I submitted a dispute to Shellpoint. Had Shellpoint made any effort to communicate that there was an error in the account number, or that my bank was not accepting the request as opposed to repeatedly, incorrectly, marking it as NSF, I would have had the necessary information to fix the problem sooner. 
Since submitting the dispute on XX/XX/XXXX I have been given different information every time I call to follow up, and each time I am told the person I spoke to a few days before was incorrect. 

Most recently I received an email ( attached ) that I am told by customer service is the response to my formal dispute. The response starts by reinforcing all the misinformation regarding the payments as being returned NSF, again they were not NSF, there was an account number error and this is what caused the whole issue to begin with, but even Shellpoint representatives can't decipher what their system has posted or see the " note '' that explains what the problem really is. They go on to say there was a stop placed on the account, but do not address my dispute regarding the misinformation or address if the suspension can be released. I question whether they even read the grounds for my dispute. 

I admit that as a result of the misinformation I received, my first payment was late. However, I strongly feel that Shellpoint intentionally misrepresented what was happening with my ACH drafts and that if the correct information had been shared with me from the beginning, none of this would be an issue. Furthermore, to deny access to the remaining funds in my line of credit ( approximately {$69000.00} ) after ONE late payment is absolutely egregious and feels like predatory lending.