Consumer complaint received 2023-02-20
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: PRIMARY RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE (CA)

I purchased my house in XXXX of XXXX. I refinanced my mortgage in XXXX of XXXX, and upgraded my insurance policy at that time, paying a little over {$950.00} a year. The insurance premium was due in XX/XX/XXXX, and the mortgage company did not pay it and got my policy cancelled. Neither they or I was aware of the cancelled policy until XXXX of XXXX when the mortgage company contacted me by phone to tell me that I had no insurance on my property. It is difficult to find reasonably priced insurance policies in my area because of wildfire risk, but I was able to find a policy with the XXXX  XXXX XXXX which cost {$3500.00} per year, as well as a wrap around policy for an additional {$700.00}. I contacted the mortgage company about the policies and informed them that I think they should pay the difference in price since their mistake lead to my losing the previous policy. They countered by informing me that I owed them {$1200.00} for insurance that was not in effect in the previous year. They attempted four times to collect that {$1200.00} charge but I paid an attorney about {$660.00} to write a letter objecting to this and they finally relented. In the meantime I continued making my previous payment of {$950.00} while arguing that they should cover any increases in insurance premiums, but they would not communicate with me at all. I found out in XXXX that they added {$3300.00} to my principal balance and denied doing so when I asked them about it. Soon after that I was able to find an insurance policy for about {$2900.00}, which was slightly better than the {$4200.00} the other policy cost me. The mortgage company was sending me statements informing me of a new payment amount of {$1400.00}, then {$3300.00}. I tried repeatedly to talk to the mortgage company about how their mistake cost me my reasonably priced insurance policy, and that they should pay the difference, but that went nowhere. I then started receiving notices that I was in default even though I continued to make my regular payment amount, not missing any payments. When they threatened foreclosure I decided to make up the difference that they claimed I owed. By the end of XX/XX/XXXX I paid them about {$6600.00} additional payments, as well as the {$3300.00} added to my mortgage principal amount, while they reported to the credit agencies that I had missed or was late on several payment causing my credit score to drop XXXX points. After I made the additional payments to keep my house out of foreclosure they informed me that my next XXXX payments would be {$1900.00}, over XXXX XXXX dollars more than my previous payment amount, adding up to over {$20000.00} in an 18 month timeframe in additional payments to cover a {$2900.00} insurance policy. I had a XXXX of good luck recently in that I was informed that my mortgage had been sold to a different mortgage company and I was able to contact them and they are looking into the loan. I have documentation to back up all that I have stated, but I will with hold attaching them unless requested as it would be very time consuming to send them all now.