Consumer complaint received 2019-01-09
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. (NY)

When I obtained a mortgage for my XXXX, NY home in XX/XX/XXXX Citizens Bank escrowed both the homeowner 's insurance premium and the taxes. In XX/XX/XXXX, I decided that I wanted to procure my own insurance. After spending almost two hours on the phone with Citizens mortgage and insurance departments in XX/XX/XXXX, I was told I my mortgage would no longer be escrowed and I could procure my own insurance which was due to be renewed on XX/XX/XXXX. I did so and have been paying my insurance broker directly for insurance the last two years. I have just learned that Citizens has continued to collect money from me and purportedly escrow it for homeowner 's insurance premium. I called today to rectify the problem as Citizens owes me approximately {$6000.00} in premium and is overcharging me every month for escrow charges in my mortgage payment. I initially spoke with XXXX in the insurance department ( XXXX ), who was very concerned about the situation and tried to be helpful. She verified from the bank 's notes that my insurance should have been taken out of escrow in XX/XX/XXXX, but she said she had to work with the mortgage department to rectify the situation and refund my two years of premium. When she conferenced in " XXXX '' of customer service, I was given a completely different story. XXXX told me that I was supposed to send in a letter in XXXX putting my request in writing, that I never did, that I had no right to have my insurance taken out of escrow, and that even though I paid my insurance premiums for the past two years I had no right to have them returned. " XXXX '' refused to give me her name and refused to allow me to speak to her superior. She also refused to document the phone call in writing. The only identifying information she gave me was that her employee " number '' was " XXXX ''. Also, upon further inquiry, I learned that she is located in Virginia. She told me the " only thing she could do '' is send a written request that my insurance be taken out of escrow ( even though technically it obviously has been out of escrow for two years ) but that there's no guarantee that the request would be honored. She said the written request would take 30 days to process. She said if the request was honored, I would have to pay a fee ( " to be determined '' ) to take my insurance out of escrow. When I asked if Citizens would return the premium I paid, she said that " I wasn't listening '' and that I had no right to it because at the onset of the mortgage I had contracted to put my insurance premium in escrow. 
Finally, I informed XXXX that I received recent correspondence ( dated XX/XX/XXXX ) from Citizens requesting proof of my homeowner 's insurance insurance and indicating that " Per our records, you have elected to pay your insurance directly, rather having it paid for you through an escrow account. '' I asked how she could reconcile that letter with her position that I had never properly removed my insurance out of escrow, and she had no answer. I have uploaded a copy of that letter.