Consumer complaint received 2023-09-19
Product: Mortgage — Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Escrow, taxes, or insurance
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. (NJ)

Dear Sir or Madam, I'm writing this complaint about the mis-managment of Citizens mortgage escrow system. 

Citizens Bank oversees our home mortgage, and as part of their requirements, they insist on us maintaining a tax escrow account. This account is used to cover quarterly property tax payments on our behalf. However, their management of our escrow accounts has been inadequate, resulting in late payments and consequently accruing extra tax interest. Even worse, one tax payment they claimed to have made was never received by the XXXX XXXX government. We've been communicated with Citizens Bank and tried to get that " disappeared '' money back for seven months, but still no luck. The following is the timeline of all the events : ( XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX, the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX the bill for XXXX, and the strict due date is XX/XX/XXXX. ( ref : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) ( XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, the Tax office post additional {$460.00} and {$42.00} for late payment penalty. ( ref : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) ( XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, the two payments {$9600.00} and {$3000.00} were made by us ( not through the Citizens escrow account ) and our neighbor in order to stop the tax to further grow. ( ref : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) ( XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX, Citizens claims that they have just sent an payment of {$4500.00} to Tax Office of XXXX XXXX XXXX which is already more than 2 month late than the required date. And XXXX XXXX Tax Office did not receive this payment. ( See attachment " tax disbursement '' ) ( XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX, we first attempted to contact Citizens customer support, asking about the disappeared {$4500.00}. ( See attachment " conversation with Citizens on XX/XX/XXXX '' ) ( XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX, Citizens replied " Your tax bills are received electronically and paid in accordance with the guidelines set forth by XXXX XXXX Tax Collector. " On the same day, we asked they to provide evidence/receipt for that payment. ( See attachment " conversation with Citizens on XX/XX/XXXX '' ) ( XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX, Citizens sent us a paper showed that the tax disbursement was made to XXXX XXXX, but it was not a receipt from the government. ( See attachment " conversation with Citizens on XX/XX/XXXX '' ) ( XXXX ) In XXXX, we called XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and they confirmed no payment was received on their end. 

( XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX, we went to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, and the XXXX confirmed that they have not ever received such a payment. The XXXX also provided a physical copy showing no such payment. ( See attachment " physical receipt from government '' ) ( XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX the case was escalated to Citizens Bank XXXX XXXX of the XXXX. 
( See attachment " conversation with Citizens on XX/XX/XXXX '' ) ( XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX, the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX insisted that they have made the {$4500.00} to the XXXX XXXX. And even in this letter, they made a mistake again. We lived in XXXX XXXX rather than XXXX XXXX. ( See attachment " response from Citizens chairman '' ) We are extremely upset about our experience, and would be highly appreciated if you could kindly help us!