Consumer complaint received 2023-09-06
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Fees charged
Company: Rocket Mortgage, LLC (MD)

I am writing concerning a continued issue that remains unresolved involving a late fee I have been assessed relating to my mortgage. I initially financed my mortgage with Rocket Mortgage back in XX/XX/XXXX. In XX/XX/XXXX they assessed a late fee on my account despite doing everything I was instructed to do by Rocket to setup payment, being told by Rocket that my payment had in there words " been applied '' to my account, and once a drafting issue had been realized and I was notified of it by Rocket promptly taking action. Here is the timeline of events. 

XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX Mortgage closed and was funded. 

XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX Recurring payments setup. Confirmation e-mail received XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX Notice stating the following : " Your payment has been applied. We've received your payment for your loan ending in XXXX. Thank You! Your bank account may not reflect this payment for up to 1 to 2 business days. This payment will be reflected on Rocket Mortgage. '' XX/XX/XXXX @ XXXX Received an e-mail t stating : " Your Payment couldn't draft. The account or routing number used for your paymetn was invalid. Please check wit your bank to make sure you have tghe correct information... .Your payment is still due, but you may be able to avoid dmaage to your credit and possible late fees by getting in touch with us before the ned of the month .... 

XX/XX/XXXX @ XXXX - Payment with revised bank account information submitted and successfully drafted out of my bank account. 

XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX Mortgage Statement for next month issued with late fee applied. 

XXXX through XXXX XXXX Engaged in back and forth phone conversations with representatives of Rocket Mortgage and was told that despite confirming on XX/XX/XXXX that the payment was applied and the statement that if the issue was taken care of by the end of XX/XX/XXXX a late fee could be avoided they would not waive the late fee because the payment was made outside the grace period. While this may be true, Rocket Mortgage 's communications prior to that date appear to me to have been very misleading. As a consumer Rocket led me to believe that my payment had been applied and fees could be avoided if the situation was promptly rectified ( which it was ). I was not concerned that the money had not drafted out of my account on either XX/XX/XXXX or XXXX because Rocket said in their e-mail stating that the payment would be applied, that it could take 1-2 business days for the withdrawal to appear in my bank account. Then despite statements that if this was resolved by the end of the month ( XX/XX/XXXX ) a late fee could be avoided, they still applied one.

Many other financia
l institutions ensure that bank information entered is correct by, for example, placing two small deposits in your account that are then verified with the financial institution. Or asking you input the routing and bank account information twice to ensure they match and have
the right number of digits. Rocket takes none of these steps, it is almost as if their system to let people make mistakes and be subject to a late fee. 

Also upon asking Rocket Mortgage for a copy of the terms and conditions that I consented to when signing up for auto payment ( such as taking the risk if payment is not received on time due to an error entering bank information ) they not only refused to provide me a copy, but when pressed I was told they do not even have one that could provide.