Consumer complaint received 2023-03-07
Product: Mortgage — FHA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION (VA)

On XXXX XXXX, my husband and I made our mortgage payment to Truist from an account I generally use just as a pass-through to pay bills. After that, I was traveling and needed to use the debit card associated with that account to pay for a night at a hotel. Unfortunately, the hotel had problems with its billing system, and it charged me twice for that stay. That helped put the checking account in the red. I did not know this until I received a mailed notice from my bank that they had been unable to pay the mortgage payment wed scheduled. By the time wed received that mailed notice, it was 11 days later, and Truist had re-presented its payment request twice, on XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX. 

So we called the bank, disputed the second hotel charge, and then set to straightening out our mortgage issue. 

On Friday, XX/XX/XXXX, my husband logged in to the website in order to make a payment, and the website told him our payment options were not available and to call their customer service line. I did, and the automated system said it was busy and to leave a number and we would receive a return call. We did not receive a return call. 

At the earliest opportunity, Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, I called and and spoke with a representative, asking to pay the XXXX payment. I was told I could pay it, but it would not post to our account unless the XXXX payment was paid as well. Not only that, but we still would not be allowed to use the website until it was paid. The payment grace period extends to the XXXX of each month. 

I have previously understood with our mortgage that a partial monthly payment is held until the full monthly payment amount is submitted. This is bad enough, but we have never been subject to a situation in which the entirety of a monthly payment is withheld unless another monthly payment is submitted. 

This was never the case with BB & T, the previous holder of our mortgage. At one point, were were an entire years worth of payments behind, but caught up when an employment contract allowed us to afford making 12 payments in 12 weeks. If the Truist policy had applied to us then, we would have been foreclosed upon even while making such rapid payments. Despite our ability to catch up, we would have still lost our home. 

We have nothing in writing, either mailed or online, that states this policy or indicates a change in policy. 

Furthermore, I asked about what fees had been incurred, and was told we had {$80.00} in new corporate fees. I asked what the corporate fees were for, and told they included late and non-sufficient funds fees, in addition to old inspection fees. I was refused more detail and told I would need to be transferred to someone in customer service to explain or remove them. 

These fees show up on our mortgage statement only under the total amount of fees spanning the entirety of the mortgage. They do not get itemized or labeled on the monthly bill when charged. There is a gross lack of transparency as to their amount and type. Please note that fees for the entire length of the loan show up in the monthly payment amount -- this occurs even when the loan payments are current. 

At the end of the call, the representative said Id be transferred to customer service, but I was just dumped on the main line menu which did not seem to include an option to talk to a person. 

This policy of taking an entire payment but refusing to apply it to the mortgage loan, and of cutting off payment options and dragging out the payment process, in the kindest terms, STINKS. Truist, as other lenders are doing as well, is advertising properties upon which it has foreclosed ( truistreo.com ). Refusing to apply payment, regardless of legality, makes it seem like they are in the business of quickly foreclosing upon and then reselling homes. Its a sick process when one can have simple errors like what has happened to us result in the loss of ones home. 

I authorized Truist to draft the XXXX payment, but am bewildered as to why it is not being posted to our account, especially when we are within the grace period for the XXXX payment is still in effect. We have not been notified in any manner that our mortgage is in default or has been accelerated, nor given any such warning. Neither were we asked to pay the total of fees for the mortgage in addition. Rather, I feel Truist is trying to speed us in the direction of a default to their own benefit.