Consumer complaint received 2024-08-24
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Problem making or receiving payments
Company: ALLIANT CREDIT UNION (TX)

I have had a checking and savings account with Alliant Credit Union for a few years. When I wanted to buy a house this year, I asked for a mortgage from them, which they approved. My credit score is above XXXX and I have XXXX debt. I closed on the house XX/XX/year>. 

I was told by Alliant from the beginning that it is likely that my mortgage loan would be sold and transferred to someone else shortly after closing. I did not expect this to be a problem. 

My first Mortgage payment was due on XX/XX/year>. I was informed in XXXX that my loan was sold to another provider and I would soon get information about the new provider. I checked on this information daily by calling and emailing Alliant. Eventually, on XX/XX/XXXX, I followed the instructions provided to me by the Alliant loan officer to pay the first month to Alliant and that they will transfer all information and payment to the new service provider automatically. 

I have always utilized the Alliant CU web portal to manage my banking. Since getting the mortgage loan through them, I was able to see the newly added mortgage account added to my web portal. This mortgage account was visible right next to my Alliant checking and savings account. The web portal had button in the section for the mortgage loan to pay the monthly bill. I clicked that button and selected to let Alliant pay the first month 's mortgage bill of {$3800.00} directly from my Alliant checking account. The process went through without a problem and it immediately took the funds out of my checking and marked it as transferring in process. 

Because this was a new loan account and was also in the middle of an unknown transfer, I monitored the activities closely. I emailed the loan officer and his team regarding my payment right away. I couple of days later I called the Alliant phone support and a staffer verified that he was able to see my transfer. I asked if there is a way for me to get some sort of verification regarding the transfer or at least a transaction number of anything. The staffer on the phone said they are not able to give me any documentation or reference number. But they did emphatically state multiple times that they can see the transfer that is in process to the new loan servicer. I asked who the new loan servicer was and they said that they don't have that information. 

Over the next several days I emailed and called many times, both the Alliant support number and the loan officer ( along with copying his staff and loan processing team ). I have a large number of emails and notes of calls where they all have assured me several times that " everything is fine '' and that the payment will transfer properly to the new service provider. 

I informed Alliant support and also my loan officer that I finally did get a physical paper mail to my new home from the new service provider. This was the first document I got from them and it showed an unpaid bill due XX/XX/XXXX. I had already paid for that month but the new servicer had not received it. I asked what I should do and was told that I should not be concerned because there is generally a 60 day grace period for transferred loans during which there are no penalties and all information gets reconciled. I accepted that answer despite significant discomfort. I stated that I need to make sure that the transferred money gets to the intended location and also that I dont get a negative mark on my credit for paying late. I was told that everything will be fixed. But I still could not get any document or transaction ID referencing the transfer. 

XX/XX/XXXX passed and I verified with the new loan servicer that they still have not received the payment transfer and not received any communication or indication of the transfer. I again contacted Alliant and the loan officer stated that the transfer is in progress and it will get there soon. Several additional exchanges with the loan departments staff stated the same thing. They said they will look into the status and update me. 

I monitored the situation closely daily. Over the next several days I communicated with the new service provider and also Alliant several times each. Alliant was not able to verify where the transferred money had gone. After about another week, a staffer from the loan officers team said that the money was transferred to a company called XXXX. I was provided their phone number. When I called that number, the automated response said Alliant Credit Union. The person that answered the phone said that they are a part of XXXXlliant that works on loan transfers. I explained the entire situation, including the fact that I can see the electronic withdrawal from my Alliant checking account still. The person on the phone said that they will investigate and get back to me. 

Over the next several days, I received calls from the XXXX group. They asked several clarifying questions all of which I answered. I repeated that I paid using my Alliant checking account, which I already had and still have. I also said that I paid using their own web portal where my mortgage account was visible next to my checking and savings accounts. They continued to research and communicated with me every couple of days. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received a physical paper mail at my new home from the new service provider XXXX which stated that they had not yet received my payment, which was now passed due. I emailed Alliant CU and they responded with empathy about my confusion. I also received a voice phone call from the loan officer telling me that everything is ok and that I should not worry. The loan officer said that I have a grace period to the XXXX anyway. I am not a rude person so I stated calmly that I am still concerned because no one can verify the payment transfer and that the new loan servicer now thinks I did not make the first payment. Then I stated that I will accept the loan officers statement about it getting all fixed soon. 

However, I made note of the change in language which concerned me further instead of assuring me of the soon to be resolved situation. In previous statements, the loan officer had stated that during a transfer, there is generally a 60 day period where no penalties are assessed for any issues arising from the loan transfer. He even previously stated twice that my first payment for the XX/XX/XXXX bill was for all practical purposes optional, because it was in the middle of being transferred. However, in that phone call which was intended to assure me of the situation getting resolve, the new language was instead using the date XX/XX/XXXX as a grace period. This was concerning to me because I wasnt actually asking for a grace period. I had the funds and already made the payment. I also didnt want a negative mark on my near perfect credit report. 

At this time, I considered making an additional one-time payment directly to the new loan servicer in order to at least resolve one side of this issue. However, the loan officers assurance made me decide to not do that. Also, I do not know the repercussions of making an extra payment of this size. According to my loan contract documents, any extra payments wouldnt be credited towards the next months payment or even be automatically credited towards the principle of the loan. Any additional payments would be simply held in escrow at the discretion of the loan servicer. So, an extra payment of {$3800.00} would be very detrimental to my personal finances. I had just made a large down payment and didnt want to just let go of another {$3800.00} to let the loan servicer just hold that much of my money for me for about a year. 

I also never actually imagined that Alliant Credit Union would actually lose my money. I didnt think {$3800.00} disappearing from a bank was possible. I could see the transfer transaction in my online portal still. 

Now it is XX/XX/XXXX. I received an email from the new service provider today XXXXt that they have not yet received any payment from me and that my bill is passed due. The XXXX group has replied to me that they were not able to find the transfer and that there is no record of it. They havent received any money associated with my name. It has also been over a week since the last communication from the Alliant Credit Union loan department. Their last communication to me clearly said that they have initiated an investigation with their cash department and that they will get back to me. It has of course now also been a month since I actually made the electronic payment. 

I believe that Alliant Credit Union has in practice lost my money. They mismanaged and transferred my money out of my checking account incorrectly and now can not find it. Their unwillingness to provide any transaction record is of great concern to me. They are also not willing to communicate with the new loan servicer through alternative means, such as email or a phone call. 

Alliants XXXX department also has mismanaged service. Their entire department is unwilling to communicate in any form other than voice phone calls. They are not willing to send any emails, despite the fact that I am a verifiable Alliant customer for several years. They only share their first names, and not willing to provide full names. Their entire department also strangely uses only phones with extremely poor audio quality. However, I have verified that the phone number which can be used to contact them is the same phone number that is listed as the support phone number when I log in to my usual Alliant Credit Union account web portal. 

Today, because of the email from the new loan service XXXX and the fact that the date is only a week away from the date of what would be the second payment on the mortgage loan ( XX/XX/year> ) I decided to make a double payment to the new loan servicer. I logged in to the web portal of the new loan servicer and verified all the information I could. They indicate that my first payment is passed due and that I owed a total of {$7600.00}. I am concerned that this horrible situation, even if it eventually gets resolved, will cost me a negative mark on my credit rating. 

I am sure now that Alliant Credit Union has simply made an error that they are unwilling to correct. They have stopped communicating and have provided no actual verifiable indication that they have traced the money transfer. They are only able to make very vague statements of planning to research the issue. Even if true ( which I do not believe anyone is sincerely making an effort to find the transfer ), this tells me that they are not able to see records of the electronic transfer. This is despite it showing on my Alliant web portal and the payment having been performed directly to the account using my Alliant web portal.

I have a large number of email messages from Alliant, account statement documents, screen capture images, and notes from conversations. I am providing several of them here with this report. Everything I have stated above is 100 % verifiable. Alliant not only has lost over {$3800.00} of my money, they seem annoyed and unconcerned about the potential consequences for me of losing such a large amount and also getting an unwarranted negative mark on my credit. I can provide many more additional documents, images from my Alliant web portal taken throughout this entire month long nightmare, as well as notes. 

I have now transferred all but a few dollars of my money out of my Alliant Credit Union checking and savings accounts. Frankly, I dont trust them to not lose more of it. I am also concerned that as a result of this complaint that I am filing with the CFPB, Alliant will lock my access to my checking and savings account while pretending they need to do so in order to investigate and research what has happened. I have no reason to trust that Alliant will behave ethically or with any concern for me as a person. I have left just a very small amount in my checking and savings accounts because I dont want Alliant to claim that they had to close my accounts because there were XXXX funds in them. At this point, I am losing hope that they will find my missing {$3800.00}. To be blunt, I think they simply dont care and wont resolve this if I dont keep pursuing a just resolution.