Consumer complaint received 2024-08-18
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Escrow, taxes, or insurance
Company: Shellpoint Partners, LLC (FL)

I purchased my home in XXXX and for XXXX years my loan was managed by XXXX and never once had an issue. In XXXX it was purchased by Newrez, and the nightmare began. 

Background : My house is a townhome, we have an XXXX and management company for our neighborhood. 
Our neighborhood has a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX policy. These policies cover every house in our neighborhood, it is paid for by our monthly XXXX  fee. Both policies are handled by our XXXX XXXX, they pay the yearly premiums. 
I have a XXXX policy to cover the inside contents of my home, it is paid from my escrow account. 
My XXXX Tax is paid from my escrow account. 

Issues I have experienced with Newrez : An escrow analysis was sent to me in the mail dated XX/XX/XXXX. My escrow account was almost completely depleted, the total left was {$290.00}. The reason was because Newrez sent a payment of {$1400.00} to XXXX XXXX XXXX. As I stated, this should never be paid for by my escrow, it is handled by our XXXX company for the XXXX. My mortgage payment had to increase because of this. 

This should have been a simple fix that should also never happen again. I spent so many wasted hours on the phone and uploading documents on their site for nothing. I thought maybe if I keep calling and getting different people or different departments, I will finally get someone who understands and can help. No, there is no one there that can help. 

When calling Newrez, if you are finally able to reach a person, this is what you get : extremely long hold times, passed back and forth between departments, silence because they dont know how to respond, made to feel like I am the one that is in the wrong, rudeness to get you off the phone, instructions to upload forms that no one does anything with, instructions to call another department, incorrect information, repeated emails and form letters in the mail saying they are working on your issue and need more time ( but never a response to your request ). 

After XXXX months of getting nowhere to resolve this, our insurance agent provided a letter stating that the XXXX insurance premiums for our neighborhood are not to be escrowed through our mortgage. I thought for sure that would take care of it, but no, they wouldnt accept it. Im including the letter with my attachments. The agent also said Newrez is welcome to call her, but they wouldnt do that either. 

In XXXX I filed a complaint with the XXXX. Again, my only request was for them to acknowledge the XXXX insurance should not be escrowed and fix my account to reflect that. 

They dont know how to correctly read a policy and still think the policy states it should be escrowed. Again, there was never an issue when my loan was with XXXX. Nothing with the wording or the policy has changed, being transferred to Newrez is the only change. However, they said they would update my account. The lack of understanding and use of language in their response makes me 100 % believe they will continue to incorrectly pay for this next year. They will not accept responsibility and still believe they did nothing wrong as stated in their XXXX response. Because of that I requested they close my escrow account so I can handle everything properly myself. This request was denied. 

They keep lecturing me on XXXX insurance laws but wont respond to my question which is regarding the escrow requirement exception. I am including a screenshot of this part of the law with my attachments. All they have to do is answer my questions, I think I am entitled to that. But both times in their XXXX response they did not. 

They speak to me like I dont pay my bills, like my XXXX XXXX doesnt pay our bills, and like I dont know they as the lender need to have all our insurance policy documents provided to them every year. Newrez, stop talking to me like Im an XXXX. Im a responsible homeowner who has never paid anything late in my life. I live in XXXX where insurance is no joke, we dont mess around with that here, you should be sensitive to that. I can only imagine how Newrez speaks to customers who are going through financial hardship. 

Im including with my attachments copies of the letters I received that represent the number of times I reached out to them for help. I told them to stop sending me these XXXX form letters that only add to my frustration. Also, after speaking with these representatives that of course didnt help me, they always ask me if I want to open another loan with them. Im begging them to stop reading from scripts because this is ridiculous. You cant help me, Im beyond frustrated, and youre going to end the call by asking me if I want to take out a loan with you?! I dont even want this one! I pray for the day interest rates get low enough for me to refinance with a lender that doesnt sell their loans so I can be rid of Newrez forever. 

I know Newrez will not adequately respond to this complaint, theyve shown repeatedly they arent capable. I am submitting this complaint on behalf of all the customers who are going through the same extremely frustrating experience in the hope that someone ( outside of Newrez ) who can help steps in. We need help sooner rather than later ; Im begging for someone to please take notice.