Consumer complaint received 2016-09-19
Product: Mortgage — Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Loan servicing, payments, escrow account — 
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (TX)

When XXXX trees fell on my house and XXXX neighbors houses ( XXXX/XXXX/16 ), I began working with my insurance company ( XXXX, a fantastic company ) to get the trees removed from the roofs, the driveway and XXXX sidewalks replaced, as well as replacing the shingles and some damaged wood trim. 
The house is worth over {$200000.00} and the mortgage balance is under {$8000.00}. 
I have already had the trees removed ( the cost of that was {$8600.00} ). CitiBank required my insurance company to make the check ( {$13000.00} ) payable to CitiBank and myself. My insurance company said I should have no problem getting CitiBank to waive their interest in the check so that XXXX could direct deposit it into my account, which I needed to fit into a cancellation that the driveway contractor had for XX/XX/XXXX. 
I contacted Citi on XX/XX/XXXX and made a request for them to notify XXXX that they were waiving their interest. She said someone would call me from property damages. No call, so I called them XX/XX/XXXX. They said that it was not their policy to do that. Even the supervisor, XXXX, was not helpful. she submitted a request for a review to waive their interest, but that could take weeks. I explained that it could be months before i could get the rest of these repairs done if i missed this window. She said she would send out an overnight envelope and it would arrive on Friday ( certainly not overnight ). Today is Monday, no envelope. She was so condescending. 
I called again today and was informed that there was a clerical error ( deliberate, I believe ) and the envelope was addressed to their office. Why did n't they call and let me know what happened or better yet, why did n't they resend it? 
I understand why they are the XXXX most hated bank in the US. They are acting like I am untrustworthy to make the repairs. And I know that it should not take 2 weeks for someone to make a decision to waive. 
I must now find another contractor whom I do not know and that will cost my insurance company more money because I got a really good estimate from the contractor I have used in the past. 
Even my bank officer at XXXX said that was really poor customer service and they would have taken care of it immediately. The loan was originally with one of the banks that XXXX has purchased and the loan has been sold at least 6 or 7 times. When I ended up with Citi, I asked why since it was certainly not a bank I would have chosen. I was informed that when a bank sells a bunch of bad loans they have to include some loans in really good standing. Since I am never late, I really resent this practice. I should be able to choose my mortgage company. If I had been able to do so without refinancing expenses, I certainly would have done everything in my power to get away from Citi. I would pay the fees right this minute but of course, at this point I doubt that I could even get a bank to refinance since such a small amount remains on the note. And to be treated like this does nothing to help their public relations. Oh, sorry, that was a logical comment for a company that actually cares about public opinion. They obviously do not and have no public relations.