Consumer complaint received 2017-07-18
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (MA)

Citimortgage either through malicious intent, poor judgement, or incompetence has totally destabilized a low risk mortgage that had a very low loan to value of less than 15 %, probably closer to 10 %. They have proceeded to ruin my credit due to their actions that were unwarranted given the high credit quality of my mortgage and my long history of making my mortgage payments on time.
This 30-year mortgage with a current balance of approximately {$76000.00} was originally issued by Citimortgage in  XXXX ,  XXXX  as a 15-year conventional mortgage and was subsequently sold to  XXXX . It is not a subprime loan.
I have paid my mortgage on time since late  XXXX  when it was issued at {$320000.00} principal outstanding. In early  XXXX  I was laid off from work and again in late  XXXX . I continued to make payments until recently, despite my inability to gain fulltime employment. It should be noted that I had repaid my mortgage principal on an accelerated basis up until   XXXX   equal to approximately {$180000.00}.
In early   XXXX   the mortgage was formally recast by   XXXX   to lower the monthly principal and interest payments which were based on the original {$320000.00} outstanding The balance at that time was {$140000.00}. A formal recast does not reduce the principal outstanding nor the stated interest rate on the mortgage which was 5.25 %.
In   XXXX   my mortgage was refinanced at a lower interest rate at Citimortgage 's insistence ( or more likely at   XXXX   XXXX    insistence ) when it had a balance of {$96000.00} and it was agreed I would be responsible for the escrow payments.
While the last few years have been significantly stressful, I have continued to make the {$700.00} principal and interest monthly payment with Citimortgage and paid my annual {$12000.00} in property taxes directly with my local taxing authority. I am working as an independent consultant and my cash flow on a weekly-monthly basis is not consistent and thus it makes sense for me to handle the escrow myself.
The property taxing authority is my town which is very small with a population of just over 4,000 people. Needless to say the town tax clerk knows me personally and my financial situation. While I have been delinquent with the town they have never filed a lien and if they were to file a lien I would pre-empt that filing by catching-up on my property taxes. It should be noted I am financially motivated to make this payment because the amount of equity in my home is approximately {$600000.00}.
Unfortunately, Citimortgage does not understand this even after I explained this in a letter in  XXXX ,  XXXX . Ciitmortgage in  XXXX ,  XXXX  took it upon themselves to pay my taxes without informing me either through writing or by phoning me directly to review. My town did not call Citimortgage requesting payment. Citimortgage then reinstituted the escrow payment and consequently placed me under severe financial pressure. They agreed to release me from the escrow requirement only after I repaid the escrow deficit. Because they were continuing to charge me escrow I was forced to continue making monthly escrow payments. Thus I did n't have additional liquidity to fully repay the escrow deficit without causing a mortgage default. In   XXXX   this liquidity ran-out and I was forced to miss the   XXXX    mortgage payment including the escrow balance due. This triggered a default because I only have sufficient funding to pay the principal and interest now. In addition, this has triggered additional liquidity pressure because I had a {$50000.00} home equity loan that was providing me liquidity. This liquidity has been cut-off and thus Citimortgage 's actions have taken a stable situation as of  XXXX ,  XXXX  and completely destabilized my financial well-being!