Consumer complaint received 2024-04-07
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Escrow, taxes, or insurance
Company: NEW YORK COMMUNITY BANCORP INC (GA)

This is a complaint about the servicing practices of Flagstar and the improper servicing of my home mortgage. This is a conventional XXXX fixed-rate ( at XXXX XXXX  ) loan, which began amortizing on XX/XX/XXXX and had an initial balance XXXX. 
Here 's the factually correct loan information : i ) Loan # XXXX ii ) Monthly principal and interest payment ( given a fixed rate of 3.625 % and XXXX term ) : {$900.00} XXXX ) A property tax assessment for XXXX of {$4000.00}, which prorates to {$330.00} per month iv ) An annual insurance premium of {$1300.00}, which prorates to {$100.00} per month. 

Based on the above, the total loan monthly payment, including principal, interest and insurance plus taxes ( escrow ) should be {$1300.00}. 

This is the description of the problem : XXXX ) In the third week of XX/XX/XXXX, I notified Flagstar that I'm switching insurers from XXXX to XXXX. This notification was done via a XXXX phone call where me and my XXXX insurance agent called Flagstar and notified them of the change in insurers, as well as the new annual premium, which is {$1300.00}. 
XXXX ) Since the original 3-way phone call in XXXX, I've called Flagstar at least a dozen times, in an attempt to resolve the issue, which is that they were overbilling me in XXXX, XXXX and XXXX for the incorrect monthly payment. 
XXXX ) Based on statements by Flagstar 's escrow department staff during my numerous phone calls with them, Flagstar 's own internal policies require a recalculation of a loan 's escrow and monthly payment, following a change in insurers and insurance premium. 

The fundamental issues is that Flagstar did not do a recalculation back in XXXX, as they were supposed to. 

Since Flagstar didn't recalculate the mortgage payment based on the updated insurance information which was provided in XXXX, it INCORRECTLY overestimated my monthly mortgage payment at {$1500.00}. As a result, it overbilled me for {$1500.00} in XXXX, XXXX and XXXX and when I made the correct and on-time monthly payments of {$1300.00}, it incorrectly applied those payments for " balances owed to catch up on the previous month 's amounts owed ''. On XX/XX/XXXX, Flagstar also reported me as XXXX delinquent on my account to the credit agencies. 

Upon request, I can provide my bank account statements with the processed transaction confirmation numbers to prove that I've made on time the following payments : a ) XX/XX/XXXX - an escrow check for {$1200.00} was mailed with a note indicating that Flagstar should apply the amount to escrow. Flagstar didn't do that and took many calls to rectify. 
b ) XX/XX/XXXX - $ 1350 monthly mortgage payment c ) XX/XX/XXXX - another payment for {$140.00} after I got a phone call to tell me that I'd not paid the right amount for XXXX. I was told to pay the additional amount, because there was a " shortage '' on my account. This is proof that Flagstar didn't recalculate the monthly payment in XXXX like they were supposed to. 
d ) XX/XX/XXXX - $ 1350 monthly mortgage payment XXXX ) XX/XX/XXXX - another payment for {$210.00}, in response to a letter notifying me that my XXXX payment was short and I need to make an additional payment ( much like I did in XXXX ). 
f ) XX/XX/XXXX - $ 1350 monthly mortgage payment I have been extremely patient, constructive and willing to work with Flagstar since XXXX. Over the past 3 months, I must've spent at least XXXX hours of my valuable time on hold, or talking to dozens of collections, servicing and escrow agents and explaining the situation over and over again, in the hopes that Flagstar would address the problem. 

I decided to file a complaint because as of the first week in XXXX, Flagstar has not properly addressed the problem and has notified me in writing that it will not correct the delinquency that was reported against me. 

I would also like to recommend for the CFPB to examine all of the accounts that are currently being serviced by Flagstar. My suspicion is that there's a larger game at play here - i.e. Flagstar is overestimating the escrow requirements for thousands of customers, because their goal is to earn interest on the overestimated escrow balances. Currently, short-term interest rates are XXXX % and there's a very material financial incentive for Flagstar to overestimate escrow and collect the interest, which really belongs to the Flagstar 's customers who are overpaying each month. 

Thank you for your time and consideration. 

With Best Regards, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX