Consumer complaint received 2024-05-04
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Payment process
Company: Shellpoint Partners, LLC (IL)

Dear CFPB, My name is XXXX XXXX, and my wife is XXXX XXXX. We have a XXXX year old mortgage with New Rez ( they bought our loan from XXXX XXXX XXXX ). 

The main talking point here is that the company provided us false and contradictory information over the phone, repeatedly over the course of several months, and they mishandled our account and payment information, mistakenly charged the incorrect bank account after 3 attempts at providing new bank account information, which resulted in a late payment that annihilated our credit. The company will not take responsibility, and they closed their own internal " investigation, '' and refused to provide call transcripts which will prove everything we are claiming. 

The story is- In XX/XX/XXXX, my bank account at XXXX  XXXX XXXX was locked because of check fraud by a scam operation. XXXX  XXXX XXXX immediately set me up with a new account. I then went around to all of my online vendors including New Rez, canceled auto-drafts, removed my old bank account, added my new bank account, and reinstated auto-drafts. 

( XXXX  XXXX XXXX returned all my funds a few months later, as their investigation concluded that it was in fact a scam. ) When the XXXX of the month arrived and it was time for the autodraft for our mortgage payment, New Rez attempted to draft the old account, despite me having updated their website/my account with the new account info. Therefore the payment did not go through. 

I called New Rez IMMEDIATELY, worried about penalties and fees, and wondering what had happened. 

I was told by the representative that I did indeed change my info on their site, but " just because you change your bank info on our website, doesn't mean it shows up on our end. '' That claim seemed absurd, and I questioned it, but she assured me it was the case. However she apologized, and took my new account information over the phone, got my balance paid, and was I was assured there would be no fees or penalties for this mishap. 

The next month arrives. The payment does not get auto-drafted again! I did not even know this until I received letters in the mail saying I missed my payment! This was infuriating because twice now, I had to call New Rez and correct their mistake. 

I called and told them the story. They were unsure as to what had happened. Different answers from different people. I was told that whoever told me that updating my info on the site doesn't mean it updates on your end was flat-out wrong. They don't know why that was said or who said it ( though they should be able to find it in their records because calls are recorded ). 

They instructed me to go on the website and change my info again, but I told them last time I called they just took it over the phone. But this representative told me that they can't take the info over the phone! Which is contradictory from what the last representative said AND did. 

So I asked " well the last person took it over the phone, and if changing it online doesn't work, and you can't take it over the phone, how in the world am I supposed to make my payments? '' in more or less words. 

I was put on hold for a few moments, and when the representative came back, they took my info over the phone. Apparently some people have different ideas about how they are allowed to charge their customers. I don't understand how they can say that the calls are an attempt to collect debt, but then also tell customers you can't take their account number over the phone. But, we resolved it that day, finally. 

AND FOR A THIRD MONTH, the auto-payment didn't work! Even though autopayments were supposed to be set up! So I called AGAIN, and it turns out I was a month late on the last month, and had to pay 2 premiums at once! I had NO IDEA the previous month 's payment didn't go through! I used the exact same payment information over the phone as what was set up for auto-draft. They promised me that after this time the autodrafts would work. And sure enough, on XX/XX/XXXX, they worked! Finally! 

However, the problem we have now is that on XX/XX/XXXX, when we were right in the middle of refinancing our home with Caliber/New Rez, with our very good credit scores, we received notices by multiple credit reporting agencies that our credit took a gigantic hit. Both of our scores were knocked down almost XXXX XXXX  points. And the reason is that we were " over 30 days late on a mortgage payment. '' This is 100 % unacceptable. New Rez continued to make mistakes, give me contradictory information, and not communicate between employees. This is why that month 's payment was missed. Yes, I received emails and letters in the mail about this, but it appeared to me that they were from the *previous* months where the auto-drafts didn't work. We shouldn't be receiving letters saying our payment was missed when it was New Rez 's inability to set up auto-drafts twice that caused it! 

We always had the money. We have always been ready to pay on time. 

They have utterly ruined our ability to refinance our home. We now have to wait until our credit scores go back up, and right now they are lower than they have been in years. We tried and tried to get our payments to you, but your system and/or your employees messed that up months in a row. I don't understand how it was so difficult and confusing just to get a new bank account number set up on my account. Apparently doing it on your site, or doing it through a representative, are both fallible options. 

We need this penalty disputed, removed, and our credit scores fixed. XXXX, our rep, has been trying to get this handled but tells me his hands are tied. I've called several representatives at New Rez, one of which was horribly rude, kept talking over me, telling me there's nothing he can do, and he hung up on me when I was telling him to stop interrupting me as I was trying to explain information he didn't yet understand. I called later that day, and the representative I got was kind and empathetic and said she would look into this. 

We always make all our payments to every agency, every company, in full and on time. XXXX at XXXX knows this. We've paid every month in full on time except for when this chaos was going down. This scammer came into my home, faked a duct cleaning, and charged me XXXX as much as I was quoted. Turns out he was in a rented vehicle, and the phone numbers are now all shut down. 

Fast forward to XX/XX/XXXX, and my wife and I notice that our XXXX XXXX DROPPED ANOTHER XXXX POINTS, and it says its because the dispute that was on our mortgage account ( which we filed with a credit repair agency who couldn't end up helping ) was finally removed. Why does *removing* a dispute make our credit drop, in addition to the XXXX points it already dropped? 

Regardless about the scam my family endured, what happened is the fault of New Rez, for mishandling our information, giving us incorrect information, giving us contradictory information, refusing to cooperate, discuss, have any sort of conversation. 

Worst of all- they refuse to provide transcripts of the calls. They did send us " notes '' that their reps take during calls, but of course they don't reflect the story correctly. The phone call transcripts would reveal all of the conflicting information, and all the promises that the situation was fixed when it wasn't, resulting in this mess. 

They told us on the phone they left calls and emails, which none of us ever got beyond the regular emails notifying us that they are going to draft the payment, and notices in the mail that confirm autodrafts being cancelled and reinstated, which is something that would happen when I would call them to get the problem worked out. 

ATTACHMENTS : I am attaching a screenshot of the email I got from Bank XXXX XXXX linking me to a secure message. This message told me that I got my money back from the scam, that their investigation was in my favor. However, it was a message that expires and I don't have a copy of it. If you need this information, please ask, and I will contact XXXX  XXXX XXXX to try and get it. 

Ive also attached a copy of the letter confirming my filing a claim about the scam, screenshots of the check that was written to the scam company, and Ive also screenshot the line item on my account statement showing where they returned the money to me ( {$900.00} ). 
I am also attaching scans of many pieces of mail from New Rez. A lot of it will be redunant, as they were acknowledging all of the letters I was sending them. One of those letters is a direct response to the complaint, but it essentially ends the discussion. 

Included in those attachments are the responses we did get from New Rez. The call notes are not detailed enough and do not document exactly what happened, so we need transcripts. 
Thank you.