Consumer complaint received 2024-10-11
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Escrow, taxes, or insurance
Company: Shellpoint Partners, LLC (OR)

My mortgage account is under my previous married name XXXX XXXX XXXX Shellpoint Mortgage took over servicing of my loan from Specialized Loan Servicing on XX/XX/XXXXXXXX. My loan includes an escrow reserve account which Shellpoint, of course, took control of. I received a letter from Shellpoint dated XXXX XXXX, XXXX  advising me that my homeowners insurance had expired and they would be force-placing insurance if I did not provide proof of insurance coverage. This confused me, obviously, since Shellpoint had my money to pay the premium. I called Shellpoints insurance department at XXXX and spoke with XXXX. He could see in my account that my insurance company is XXXX XXXX so Im confused as to why they didnt just call XXXX XXXX for the information, but they did not. XXXX called XXXX XXXX on a conference call with me, spoke with a representative who was able to provide the required information. I was assured by XXXX that payment would go out to XXXX XXXX covering the time period of XXXX XXXX, XXXX  - XX/XX/XXXX and the matter would be resolved. 

I then received a letter from Shellpoint dated XX/XX/XXXX advising I had to provide proof of insurance coverage from XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX or they would force-place insurance for that time frame and charge me {$550.00}. I again called Shellpoints insurance department at XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. I spoke with XXXX who advised me that I would need to provide proof of coverage for that time frame to avoid the extra charge. XXXX provided me with a fax number and a website that my insurance agent could use to send the information. I called my local XXXX XXXX agent who immediately faxed over a five-year history of paid premiums to show that my insurance was in fact paid. I called Shellpoints insurance department on XX/XX/XXXX to confirm they had received the information from my insurance agent. I spoke with XXXX who told me they had not received anything yet. Given the issues I had experienced thus far, this response did not surprise me. XXXX called XXXX XXXX on a conference call with me. The XXXX XXXX agent emailed the declarations page showing I did indeed have insurance coverage during the time frame in question. I stayed on the line with XXXX until she confirmed she had received the email from XXXX XXXX and confirmed the force-placed insurance was canceled.

I then received a letter from Shellpoint dated XX/XX/XXXX advising me that I did not provide proof of homeowners insurance coverage so they had force-placed insurance on my loan. I was quite surprised and upset by this, as you can imagine. I called Shellpoints insurance department at XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. I spoke with XXXX who verbally confirmed that my loan account shows that they have received proof of coverage for XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX and the force-placed insurance had been canceled as of XX/XX/XXXX, not as of XX/XX/XXXX as I had previously been told. Additionally, my account shows that my homeowners insurance was paid in full, and my home is covered, for XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX. I asked XXXX to email that to me as I no longer trust the verbal information they had been providing. She told me that she couldnt do that but that I would receive a letter to that effect soon. I asked XXXX if the recent escrow analysis I had received included the force-placed insurance amount. She advised that it did include that amount and if I wanted the analysis redone, without the force-placed amount included, I would need to request that be done myself, even though it was Shellpoints inability to get their paperwork in order that caused this entire issue. XXXX transferred me to Shellpoints escrow department, XXXX. I spoke with XXXX who assured me that the current escrow analysis was done after the force-placed insurance had been removed. I just dont know if I can trust that.

Shellpoint will be responsible for paying my property taxes next month and I am honestly scared to death that they wont pay them on time. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Shellpoints tax department at XXXX and spoke with XXXX. I asked him to provide me with the address where my county tax collector should send my tax bill. XXXX told me that he couldnt give me that address, my county tax collector would need to call Shellpoint to get that address. That did not sound right to me so I called my county tax collectors office. The rep I spoke with told me that was in fact not how it worked. He advised that Shellpoint contracts with XXXX XXXX to get all the tax accounts paid. Unfortunately, due to the process the county follows, I wont be able to confirm whether my property taxes are paid until XX/XX/XXXX, just three days before my taxes are due. I am extremely nervous that my property taxes wont be paid on time.

I have been working in the escrow/settlement industry for 33 years so I know how this is all supposed to work. I know the questions to ask, I know what the lender can and can not require, I know what information to ask for and keep record of, and this has been an absolute
nightmare. I cant imagine how many other borrowers they have done this to, how many of those borrowers dont know how to resolve these types of issues. I shudder to think how many elderly borrowers they have done this to.

I will never trust Shellpoint. No one should.