Consumer complaint received 2019-02-02
Product: Mortgage — VA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: LoanCare, LLC (CA)

We live in a flood zone and our XXXX dues include flood insurance. As we own a condo, our flood insurance policy meets FEMA guidelines by covering 100 % of the total replacement cost of the dwelling ( the total replacement cost for our building in {>= $1,000,000}, and our policy covers up to {>= $1,000,000} ). Prior to our mortgage being sold to LoanCare, we had never had issues with our previous lender accepting our XXXX 's insurance policies. Then, in the fall of XXXX, we found out LoanCare was our new lender, and the nightmares started. First they lost our insurance policies and required us to re-submit them, threatening to place lender-obtained coverage on us if we didn't get them the documents. We submitted them online ( the format they had requested ) THREE TIMES and continued receiving letters saying we hadn't. Repeated phone calls to customer service representatives who didn't know how to help were wasted. When we finally were allowed to be transferred to a " resolution specialist '', she said something to the effect, " Oh, you submitted them online? Yeah, we didn't check there yet. '' They looked it up and saw we had indeed submitted everything, then sent us a letter confirming that they wouldn't obtain coverage and charge us ridiculous premiums for it, so we thought all was good. This all wrapped up in XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, we received a new letter from LoanCare, stating now that our flood insurance coverage was insufficient to meet their guidelines, which they claim are the FEMA federal guidelines. From XX/XX/XXXX through the end of XX/XX/XXXX, my wife and I made upwards of a dozen phone calls to LoanCare, explaining that our policy IS sufficient according to the guidelines ( which they included in that same letter to us ) -- 100 % of the replacement cost of the dwelling. All they kept parroting back was, " It's insufficient. You need more coverage. '' No explanation of why, and it literally felt like banging our heads against the wall. We continued to receive several more letters threatening to obtain flood coverage on our behalf, and continued to call them back. We got our XXXX 's insurance agent involved and he called them directly, only to get stonewalled himself. We finally submitted a complete package highlighting amounts and literally explaining that {>= $1,000,000} ( our policy coverage ) was a BIGGER number than {>= $1,000,000} ( the replacement cost of the dwelling ) and therefore, we met FEMA standards. About 2 weeks into XXXX, we called them again and they tried to tell us it was insufficient. We requested to speak to a manager. We were transferred to another " resolution specialist '' who said, " Oh, I'm looking at it now and we ran the numbers again -- your coverage IS sufficient. '' No kidding! She promised to issue a letter that same day confirming that they had cancelled their threats to obtain flood coverage on our behalf and told us the note would be removed from our file. A week went by and we hadn't received a letter, so we called again on Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX. It was back to square one! It was like the previous week 's conversation had never happened, and the agent this time told us, again, we didn't have sufficient coverage. We repeated the request to talk to a manager, got transferred AGAIN, and again, " numbers were run '' according to the specialist and she said over the course of the phone call that three different supervisors had confirmed that we had sufficient coverage. She promised to personally follow up on our case since we had had a bad experience, and promised to phone us with an update just for peace of mind confirming the letter had been sent on Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX. The XXXX came and went and we heard nothing, but were traveling, so decided to wait until we got home to follow up. On Friday, XX/XX/XXXX, we logged on to our online account to find a notice that we were going to be charged an annual premium of {$3600.00} for " Flood Gap '' coverage, effective XX/XX/XXXX. 

We've now been told three times that our coverage is sufficient and that all threats to obtain coverage on our behalf will be cancelled, yet our next payment is going to include a premium for flood coverage when we HAVE sufficient coverage already. Efforts by our insurance agent have failed, as have ours, and we're at a loss as to where to go from here. LoanCare is flat-out scamming us and we have no way to fight back. We never had an issue with a lender prior to this, and our XXXX and XXXX insurance agent have said that out of the hundreds of condos they manage, they've never experienced anything like this either. We're desperate for help, and I can't believe that what they're doing is legal when we have all proof that we meet the guidelines stated in their requirements. LoanCare has made this such a nightmare that we're tempted to sell our home just so we can get away from this disgusting excuse for a legitimate company.