Consumer complaint received 2024-04-11
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Escrow, taxes, or insurance
Company: AmeriHome Mortgage Company, LLC (VA)

I received a real estate tax bill from XXXX XXXX after moving into our new home on XX/XX/XXXX. The bill was received about XX/XX/XXXX for {$1300.00} for real estate taxes due for the second half of XXXX and had a due date of XX/XX/XXXX. I immediately called both the county and AmeriHome Mortgage to advise them. Both entities advised that the taxes are paid out of the escrow account and advised me not to worry as that would be taken care of through AmeriHome.

I next received a Past Due bill from the county for the original taxes ( that had still not been paid ) and now included a penalty of {$130.00} and interest of {$12.00}. I called AmeriHome on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with XXXX who advised that they had failed to pay the taxes on time and since it was the fault of AmeriHome, we would not be having to pay the penalty and interest from our escrow account. I immediately uploaded the past due bill to Amerihome so they could see the amount to pay and the taxes were indeed paid on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX advised he would open a case with the tax department and he advised the bill must have been missed as this was originally classified as a new build and that Amerihome would be responsible for paying the penalty and interest. The penalty of {$130.00} from my escrow account and the interest amount of {$12.00} was NOT even paid at all!. 
I called again on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with XXXX to advise that the interest still needed to be paid and the penalty amount needed to be refunded to my escrow account. She advised that she would open a work order and call back Friday XX/XX/XXXX. 
I received no callback so I called again and spoke with XXXX who told me that Amerihome does not pay supplemental taxes! I advised that these are NOT supplemental taxes .. they are REAL ESTATE taxes as spelled out in the original bill and Amerihome has the responsibility to pay our real estate taxes on time. She advised someone would follow up with me. 
I received NO callback again and called once again on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with XXXX. I had to explain the entire situation again and she transferred me to a supervisor ( XXXX ). XXXX seemed to understand my stance and asked me to upload copies of the original tax bill as, well as the past due bill. Again, he advised that Amerihome would be responsible for penalty and interest charges due to their error. He said, please allow us until XX/XX/XXXX to get a new case opened and investigated. 
I called back on XX/XX/XXXX to check and see if they had new information. She advised she would leave a note for XXXX to call back. 
XX/XX/XXXX arrived and I still had no call back from XXXX. I called again and spoke with XXXX and she advised she would get XXXX to call back. 
XX/XX/XXXX arrived and I still have had no callback. I called again at XXXX XXXX  and spoke with XXXX. After waiting on hold and explaining the entire situation again, she hung up. Hoping it was an accidental disconnect, I waited a few minutes and did not receive a call back. I called again and spoke with XXXX at XXXX XXXX  and immediately asked for a supervisor. I spoke with XXXX and explained the entire situation again and how this is really escalating into an second job for me trying to get this simple matter resolved. Not only do I have to re-explain the situation every time, it is totally unacceptable to speak with people that keep advising the same mantra : that we dont pay supplemental taxes.. that is the customers responsibility. Does anyone there read the notes or look at the documents I have uploaded to them? 
XXXX apologized for the representative hanging up on me and advised that he would turn this over to an escalations supervisor. Later on, the escalations supervisor ( XXXX XXXX called back. After explaining the entire story again, she advised she would follow up in 24-48 hours. 
I waited 7 days and still had no call back. I called again on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with XXXX. She advised she would follow up with XXXX to call back. 
After never hearing again from XXXX I called again on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with XXXX. Again, after going in to great detail about the whole story. Amerihome was still contending that these were supplemental taxes and I advised they were NOT. Please call the county if you doubt it! ( again, they had the copies of the documents that had been uploaded ). XXXX advised she would call back Friday, XX/XX/XXXX. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I called XXXX XXXX to get further insight as to why Amerihome kept referring to these taxes as supplemental taxes instead of real estate taxes. XXXX at XXXX XXXX advised me that yes these are supplemental REAL ESTATE taxes only because the home was reassessed at a different timeframe than normal because of it being new construction. So this whole thing has been a question of semantics. I think Amerihome has been taking advantage of the term supplemental to get out of their responsibility to pay the penalty and interest because of their error of not paying the bill on time. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I ultimately spoke with XXXX XXXX ( operator id XXXX ). She seemed to have a better understanding of the situation and promised to research this and get back to me. I told her that I was going to be on vacation the next week. I did get 2 voicemails from XXXX XXXX. After getting back from vacation, I got another voicemail from XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX. I couldnt immediately return the call so I called back later in the day. After waiting another 25 minutes, I was advised that a specialist would call back. Later I spoke with XXXX ( an Executive Resolution Specialist ) who seemed to understand my point about all of this back and forth. She advised she would contact the reimbursement department. 
On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX called again and reiterated the mantra that Amerihome does not pay supplemental taxes. I was LIVID. You cant imagine how frustrating it is after speaking to different people and for over 2 months with more than 20 different calls ( most averaging 30-40 minutes to re-explain the issue ). 

Please help!!