Consumer complaint received 2021-12-07
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: Data Mortgage Inc. (CA)

I purchased a home in XX/XX/XXXX and in XXXX I received two supplemental property tax bills from XXXX XXXX XXXX. At the advice of my mortgage broker, I contacted Essex Mortgages customer service line XXXX to discuss the options we had to pay the supplemental tax bills due in XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$4200.00} and due in XX/XX/XXXX for {$4200.00}. The base property tax bills for the property were {$630.00} in XX/XX/XXXX and {$630.00} in XX/XX/XXXX and are supposed to be sent directly to Essex to be paid directly from the impound account. 

I called Essex and spoke with XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX and she let me know Essex offers a one time courtesy payment for supplemental tax bills, but that it could create a shortage on the impound account. I then proceeded to call back an hour later ( XX/XX/XXXX ) and asked to be transferred to the tax department. XXXX from the tax department took my call. XXXX appeared to know less than I did about how supplemental taxes worked. We discussed the options and I requested that Essex perform an escrow analysis to understand what kind of shortage might be created if I chose to have Essex pay the supplemental bill. XXXX instructed me to upload a copy of both supplemental bills so the escrow analysis could be performed. I made it clear I was not ready to decide if I wanted the bill to be paid on my behalf. I have confirmed this was noted on my Essex account. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I followed up by calling Essex and was informed that not only were the supplemental bills paid, but were paid IN FULL on XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$8400.00}. Previously I requested that the bills were reviewed, NOT PAID, and that I was to be contacted by Essex to determine what path would be taken. My instructions were completely disregarded and because of it a huge shortage was created on my impound account that is still not reconciled or resolved to date ( XX/XX/XXXX ). I was also not informed that if the supplemental bill was paid by Essex, that the full amount would be paid and not paid in installments. 

I was then told that this disbursement would trigger an escrow analysis that would be completed within a week. On XX/XX/XXXX my impound account had a balance of {$7300.00}. On XX/XX/XXXX I followed up and spoke with XXXX in customer care and she informed me that the escrow analysis was completed on XX/XX/XXXX and that due to the payment of the supplemental bills, the shortage was cited to be {$8400.00}. The numbers were certainly not adding up and my online account was only showing a shortage of {$1000.00}. I asked to be transferred to the tax department so someone else could try and break the numbers down for me. I spoke to XXXX and she was not able to explain the escrow analysis in a way I could understand. Finally I was transferred to the escalation department because I had reiterated the fact that these bills were paid against my instruction. I then spoke to XXXX in the escalation department who suggested we void the check because it had not yet reached the XXXX XXXX assessor. She also confirmed the base property tax bill for {$630.00} had still not been digitally received and was not yet paid. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called back and spoke to XXXX, a XXXX in the tax department. She informed me that even though I was told they could still void the check to the XXXX XXXX XXXX, they were unable to and the supplemental bill was paid in full to the assessor ( {$8400.00} ). At this point, the base tax bill of {$630.00} had still not been paid and was reported to Essex as {$0.00}. XXXX put in a manual request to have this bill paid. I was then transferred to the customer service department to discuss repayment options. I had a meeting for work that I needed to attend and at this point had been on the phone for XXXX minutes. I asked if we could schedule a time to talk later that day and we scheduled a call for XXXX PST on the same day that was to be with both tax and escrow department managers. I did not receive a call until the following day, but could not answer as I was in a meeting. I tried to call back the same day but could not get through for XXXX minutes. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I had not received another call back so I called in again and was able to speak with XXXX and she offered to put in a formal complaint and that I would receive a call back from the XXXX level, scheduled for XXXX. I also verified that the base property tax bill had still not been paid. 

I did not receive a call on XXXX so I followed up on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with XXXX. She informed me that the base tax bill of {$630.00} had finally been paid and that a formal complaint was never entered and no one was ever scheduled to call me back. She claimed that she opened a proper request and included my request to be contacted by email first so I could ensure I would be available to take this call.