Consumer complaint received 2019-10-14
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: LoanCare, LLC (CT)

My mortgage company ( LoanCare LLC ) mishandled my mortgage payment check, causing person ( s ) unknown to me to contact me ( by mail ) with a copy of the check. The full story can be learned by reading the complaint I made to CFPB ( # XXXX ). The response to my complaint was totally unsatisfactory and has led me to file another complaint ( this one ). LoanCare 's response contains false and misleading statements and describes events that resulted in my being charged a {$20.00} returned check fee, which I want refunded. I should think LoanCare should be disciplined by CFPB for filing false statements in response, statements which seem to be designed to cover up gross negligence in handling my check or the criminal theft of my check. The story is below : My further complaint : LoanCare has responded to my complaint with FALSE or MISLEADING statements. ( There should be consequences for that. ) My belief : LoanCare is engaging in a conspiracy to cover up an attempt to steal my mortgage loan check, or has performed a manifestly egregious mishandling of my mortgage check. Evidence is outlined below : The response from LoanCare is not only unacceptable, it makes evidently FALSE or MISLEADING statements in support of its version of what happened. Regardless of the motivations of people involved in processing my XXXX mortgage payment, the following facts are indisputable : 1. My check for {$1900.00} dated XXXX XX/XX/2019, drawn on XXXX XXXX ( which had automatically generated the check ), was received by LoanCare on XXXX XX/XX/2019. ( It was so stamped. ) 2. The check referenced the incorrect account number, the number for the previous servicer, XXXX. This was my mistake, but the previous month 's check had my new account number written on it in pencil. LoanCare must have procedures for flagging transferred accounts to look out for failures to change to the new account number. 
3. The check had my name and address in the upper left hand corner ( copy attached ).

4. The check was not cashed/deposited, but was diverted to person ( s )  unknown. 
5. A XXXX XXXX wrote me a letter ( postmarked XXXX XXXX ) saying that she had received a letter from LoanCare,  enclosing a copy of that check, and that it appears as though they ( LoanCare ) attempted to apply your payment to my account, which was sold over a year agoDue to my account with them having a XXXX dollar balance, they returned the check that you sent them to me. ( Copy of that letter in original complaint. ) 6. The letter also said that I called LoanCare LLC, in an attempt to figure out what was going on and I asked LoanCare LLC to note your account not to assess your account with late fees due to their error. 
7. The letter also said that They also provided your loan number for me to include in a letter to them so they can correctly apply your payment. (?? -- They told her so that she could tell them? ) 8. On XX/XX/2019, seeing ( from the letter from XXXX XXXX ) that my mortgage check had been diverted from LoanCare ( I suspected that it had been stolen by a LoanCare employee ), I asked XXXX to close the account it was drawn on, and place a stop payment on that mortgage check. I opened a new account. ( Copy of stop payment notice attached. ) 9. On XX/XX/2019, from that new account, I made a phone payment on my mortgage account of the amount due. 
10. On XX/XX/2019, LoanCare sent me a notice that the diverted ( lost, stolen? ) check was presented ( by them ) to XXXX XXXX, but that payment was returned as unpaid. 
11. A returned item fee of {$20.00} was assessed to my mortgage account. ( See attached. ) LoanCares response to my CFPB complaint makes clear that LoanCare, at the least, mishandled my mortgage check. Consider the following : 1. LoanCare alleges that an attempt was made to deposit my check into the CLOSED account of someone else, despite the fact that the name on the check and the name on that closed account were very different. Egregious banking error # 1.

2. LoanCare subsequently took my check, with MY NAME  and ADDRESS ON IT, and sent it with an explanatory letter to someone OF A DIFFERENT NAME AND ADDRESS. Egregious banking error # 2.

3. LoanCare alleges that my check was received again ( on  XX/XX/2019 ) and was now applied to your correct loan number. Inexplicable banking error # 3. 
LoanCares response to my CFPB complaint has an explanation for all these egregious banking errors. The statements are MISLEADING and FALSE. LoanCares response stated : This loan number was associated with a loan we no longer serviced. Subsequently, the payment from XXXX XXXX was returned to the person ( s ) associated with this loan number with a letter outlining why. Your correct and current loan number was not disclosed in this letter. 

In order to prove the truth of those statements, LoanCare must provide CFPB with : 1. The actual returned check ; 2. A copy of the letter conveying that check to a person WHOSE NAME WAS NOT ON THE CHECK ; and 3. An explanation of why the statement denying that my loan number was NOT disclosed in that letter, when the personal letter from the person ( s ) claiming to possess my check stated rather clearly that : They also provided your loan number for me to include in a letter to them. 

Questions for investigation of attempted theft and conspiracy to conceal that theft : 1. Why did LoanCare return a mortgage check ( with an erroneous account number on it ) to person ( s ) other than the person WHOSE NAME AND ADDRESS  WERE ON THE CHECK? ( Is there no process for checks for which the account number appears to be incorrect? LoanCare handled the XXXX mortgage payment simply by looking up the new number and writing it on the check. ( Copy of that check enclosed. ) 2. When the diverted/mishandled/stolen mortage check was received for a second time, why did they not see that it had already been stamped : RECEIVED XX/XX/2019 ( RED FLAG )? 
3. If there was correspondence ( and phone calls ) with the wrong person ( s ), why were there no steps taken to address the question of where the check had gone?

4. How did the person ( s ) claiming to have received the check from LoanCare know what the new account number was if it is true, as LoanCare alleges in its response, that : Your correct and current loan number was not disclosed in this letter ( to the wrong person ( s ). [ The letter from the wrong person ( s ) states : The  representative at LoanCare LLC also asked me to include Mr. XXXX loan # XXXX. ] 5. If indeed LoanCare is telling the truth that my loan number was not disclosed in this letter, then how did the wrong person ( s ) know what it was so that they could tell me in their oh-so-conscientious letter. [ Note that the letter from wrong person ( s ) inexplicably claims that LoanCare would tell the wrong person ( s ) the new account number, when it had not bothered to look it up when they had the check in their possession. It would seem that LoanCare would not need to tell the wrong person ( s ) what the new account number was if they themselves knew what it was and did not need to be told. LoanCare only needed to get the check back. ] Possible explanations for this dishonest behavior : 1. LoanCares rather transparent effort to cover up attempted fraud ; or 2. LoanCares rather transparent effort to cover up mishandling of mortgage payments. 

Whichever is the accepted interpretation, I need a refund of the {$20.00} returned check fee, which should not have been charged on a stop paymentespecially since the behavior of LoanCare itself had led to the reason for stop payment.

CFPB should ask LoanCare for a copy of the letter that they reference in response to my complaint. The response has claimed : The payment from XXXX XXXX was returned to the person ( s ) associated with this loan number with a letter outlining why. 

OK. Please provide a copy of that letter. Did the letter ask why the wrong person ( s ) could possibly have sent a mortgage payment WITH MY NAME ON IT? Oh. Why not? 

Besides refunding the {$20.00} Oh, and CFPB should be on the lookout for other incidents that look like this ( incidents arising from the transfer of servicing and changing of account numbers from old servicers to new servicer ).