Consumer complaint received 2023-12-21
Product: Mortgage — VA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Payment process
Company: Mortgage Research Center, LLC (TX)

Without any notice whatsoever, my monthly mortgage payment went from {$2000.00} to {$2900.00}. When I called them seeking an explanation, they had no answer for the increase. Because they could not tell me why it had gone up, I told them I would only pay the average. After several phone calls asking for the reason of the increase, I was told it was because of the cost of insurance. I then went sought and found ways to lower my annual insurance cost, but this had almost no effect on the monthly mortgage bill. Finally, three months later, someone was finally able to tell me what the real reason for the increase was : they had miscalculated the taxes for the first year and had paid more than they thought they would have to and more than was in the escrow account. Reminding them that they were the ones that made the mistake, I asked if something less harsh could be done. And the answer was a quick and simple " NO. '' I had to pay back all the money they had to pay, and had to generate a much larger escrow account for this year. Also, by this time, because I had never received a reason over the first two months and had paid {$2500.00} each month, they told me that they could no longer receive partial payments and that I needed to pay the total amount owed, which at that point was {$4000.00}. When I told them that I couldn't pay the entire amount, but would be able to pay it they allowed me to do it in partial payments throughout the month, I again received a " NO. '' I soon began receiving checks from the various agencies that they had paid taxes to. They had overpaid taxes by over {$1400.00}. When I brought this to their attention, they finally did things the RIGHT WAY and conducted an escrow assessment that adjusted my monthly mortgage payments down to {$2500.00} a month. The same amount that I had tried to pay. I asked if then I could start making lower payments to catch up. I again was told " NO. '' Soon afterwards I was told that I would be facing foreclosure and that the only way to stop it was ( again ) to pay in full or request a loan modification. I asked them if I could make any payments to cut into the amount owed. I of course was told " NO, '' but I was also told that ONCE THE MODIFICATION PROCESS BEGAN, I COULD MAKE PARTIAL PAYMENTS AGAIN. So I reluctantly agreed to fill out what they called a " loan modification request '' but was a packet demonstrating that I was experiencing a " hardship. '' In that paperwork I listed the reason for my " hardship '' being that my mortgage company first made a mistake calculating the correct escrow amount in the first year, and then made another mistake by overpaying the taxes and PASSING THE INFLATED AMOUNT OVER TO ME IN THE FORM OF HIGHER MONTHLY PAYMENT REQUIREMENTS. I was also CLEARLY AND DIRECTLY LIED TO about being able to make payments during the loan modification assessment period. They still would not accept anything but the total amount owed. Which was not lowered after the escrow assessment. I then told them that I was going to pay the property taxes for the upcoming year since I couldn't pay on my mortgage. I was then told that it would be a waste of time because they would still pay it out of the escrow account, even if I had done so already, and that I would just get refunded the money. Now I'm told that the foreclosure process has already begun, and that my only options, SINCE I HAVE NOT BEEN MAKING MY PAYMENTS, are to pay in full or accept their modification offer ( still pending ). I could have paid all the money owed if they would have allowed me to make partial payments this entire time. I had also been lied to at an earlier time when I was told that I needed to have the total amount owed by a certain day or I would go into default, but when that day came, I only had to have a fraction of that amount. I would have also been able to pay that amount if I had not used that money to close and lower other existing accounts getting ready for the modification process because I was told only the total amount would be accepted. To summarize the entire process, I believe that the mortgage company OVERPAID TAXES ON PURPOSE in order to inflate my mortgage payment by {$1000.00} a month with ABSOLUTELY NO WARNING AND HAVING NO EXPLANATION and then NOT ACCEPTING ANYTHING BUT FULL PAYMENT for the following months in order to bottleneck me into a situation where I had to accept less favorable loan terms or lose my house. I have begun to believe that this entire situation was deliberate, purposeful and insidious in nature. Even the Veteran 's Administration, who is an interested person in this loan and has full disclosure, does not understand why things have been handled this way. I am more than willing to continue making my CORRECTED monthly payments with a manageable additional amount to catch up on the missed payments. But I do not feel like I should have to renegotiate my loan terms because they made two mistakes ( if they were in fact even mistakes at all ... ), could not give me a proper explanation on why my monthly charge shot up {$1000.00}, and then denied me the ability to make payments as I received income. They have acted in nothing but the most dishonorable manner imaginable, and have the audacity to use the word " Veteran '' in their name. I could not be more dissatisfied with the way this company has handled this entire process.