Consumer complaint received 2021-05-06
Product: Mortgage — FHA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: MONEY SOURCE, INC., THE (WI)

We refinanced with TMS the money source with a closing date of XX/XX/XXXX. Since XXXX TMS has mishandled our escrow. In XXXX they paid 2 years worth of taxes in one tax year and charged us a escrow shortage. They claimed that double tax payment was caused due to them having to pay our tax payments annually and not in partial payments. They claimed this was due to the law changing how FHA loan taxes need to be paid. 

The first -payment was madeXX/XX/XXXXfor the full amount of the tax bill. 

The second payment was made onXX/XX/XXXX in the full amount of the tax bill which is actually a month early as per our tax bill our taxes are due on or byXX/XX/XXXX. 

By making this double tax payment it caused our escrow to be short in which TMS changed our mortgage payment amount to make up the difference and shortage caused by the double tax payment. They insured us in XXXX that this will never happen again and that we will now be on a annual payment plan for our taxes from this point on and moving forward with the tax disbursement being made when the tax bill is due in XXXX. 

However that was not the case. 

In XXXX our taxes were paid on the following dates according to our tax receipts from XXXX XXXX. 

A installment was madeXX/XX/XXXX in a partial payment not the full payment amount like they stated it would be. A second installment was made onXX/XX/XXXX which would have completed our tax payment for the year of XXXX In XXXX our taxes were paid on a partial payment plan once again with the following dates - XX/XX/XXXXand a second installment made onXX/XX/XXXX. Them payments were for the tax year of XXXX. 

OnXX/XX/XXXXanother tax payment was made for the whole amount due. That payment was for the tax bill of XXXX. 

We received a escrow account disclosure statement onXX/XX/XXXX when we were informed of the shortage. That is when we noticed that 2 years worth of taxes were paid in 1 tax year causing the shortage once again just like in XXXX. We contacted XXXX XXXX who confirmed that 2 years worth of taxes were paid in XXXX tax year. 

That double year tax payment caused our escrow to be short by XXXX. The same thing happened in XXXX. TMS claimed that the reason they made the payment on them dates was due to WI law changing on how taxes were paid for a FHA loan. They stated the same thing in XXXX yet in XXXX and XXXX they paid the tax payments in partial payments. Then they changed how they were paying our taxes in XXXX. We strongly feel our escrow has been mishandled since XXXX. We contacted TMS in XXXX informing them that we noticed the error. We were told that they would fix the error by XX/XX/XXXX. however that did not happen. We have been in contact with TMS weekly since XXXX with no explanation as to why they keep changing how they are paying our tax payments. 

I paid a payment in the amount of XXXX in XXXX after waiting for them to re run our escrow. That payment amount would have covered XXXX and XXXX payment amount without the escrow shortage. 
They then applied XXXX to XXXX payment and held XXXX payment in a holding account refusing to apply it to our account. They did not attempt to re run our escrow until the end of XXXX where they decided that they would spread the escrow shortage out over 24 months which would change the payment amount from XXXX to XXXX. However they still applied the XXXX to XXXX. When I asked why the escrow was only re ran in XXXX TMS stated that was because XXXX payment was already applied. Today I spoke to XXXX who told me she could re run the escrow back to XXXX but that again would change our payment amount. She estimated that our payment amount would be XXXX a month if they re run it back to XXXX. TMS has yet to take accountability of the mishandling of our escrow which has caused a shortage 2 times now. Forcing us to claim 2 years worth of taxes on our federal and state tax returns. According to Transunion credit report TMS added over XXXX onto the end of our loan in XXXX and another XXXX in XXXX. Them adding the money onto the end of our loan caused our credit to drop over 133 points as it looks like we took out money on our loan. We don't understand why we are being charged twice for the errors and mishandling of our escrow account. TMS is demanding we pay the shortage. I notice on the XXXX  page over 107 people have had the same issues with TMS mishandling their escrow. I informed XXXX todayXX/XX/XXXXthat according to our contact I could write TMS and have them disburse the payments to us where we could then pay the taxes to insure they are being paid in the proper tax year to avoid shortages which I plan on doing, as it does state that in our contract with TMS regarding our escrow account. This has been very upsetting over the past months as I have spoken to several people with no real resolution. I have spent hours on the phone with TMS weekly since XXXX. Some of the Member 's hung up on me, I was told not to call them, I was told I would be receiving a call back in which none of that was true. I feel TMS is taking advantage of people with FHA loans as we have to have a escrow account with them due to having a FHA loan.