Consumer complaint received 2020-11-06
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION (VA)

My Mortgage account was sold to FifthThird Bank in XX/XX/2020. As soon as I received information regarding this transfer, I called FifthThird Bank to set up automated payments against for my monthly morgage payment. I was told their autobill payer needed 4 months to kick in and I was advised by the customer service agent to set up advance payments through XX/XX/2020 until the autobill payer kicked in on XXXX. 

Sometime in either XXXX or XXXX I received a letter from FifthThird bank that my escrow was going to be short, in this notice they noted that I could either pay the difference in a lump sum or if I did nothing, it would roll into my monthly payments. I wanted the escrow shortage to roll into my monthly payments so I did nothing. 

Every month, my mortgage amount is deducted from my bank account and this had continued ; however, in late XXXX I received a check in the mail from Fifth Third in the amount of my mortgage payment. When I called, they told me I had a late payment on my account, for some reason my monthly payment was not applied in XXXX and was sent back to me. I was told this was an issue on their side but If I paid the remaining monthly balance over the phone my account would be current. Customer service told me that I could deposit the check that was sent to me and my account would be current. 

A few weeks later I noticed a late payment notice in my credit history, significantly impacting my credit. I called again and explained that I had been making payments every month, the late payment was not my fault, it was an issue on FifthThird side. Customer service noted that they would file a correction with credit reporting agencies. A few weeks later on XX/XX/XXXX, I received a notice from Fifth Third noting that my account was being reporting accurately, noting that there was still a late payment. I waited a couple of weeks for any change on my credit report and then called Fifth Third about this issue. 

After several calls, on XX/XX/XXXX, it was explained to be that since my autobill payer didn't kick in until XXXX, my 4 advanced payments through XXXX could not be adjusted for the change in escrow. As a result, the XXXX payment was not accepted since it was before the Autobill payer kicked in. I was also told that the advanced payments I had set up upon the suggestion of their customer service team back in XXXX did not match the new payments following the escrow shortage they could not partially apply the payment. It is important to note that the difference was only {$18.00}. They also noted that this was in my contract with FifthThird Bank, a contract I did not sign with them since this was a mortgage transfer. As such, I was told there was nothing they could do, the late payment on my credit report would stay. 

I explained to the agent that it is unreasonable for consumers to understand the limitations and nuances of their system, especially when notices of short escrow and autobill payer are not shared jointly. As far as I was concerned a payment was taken out of my account monthly and I called immediately when a check was mailed back to me. 

Since this issue, I have paid the late fees for 2 months where this unapplied credit of my initial XXXX payment was sitting on my account not being utilized.