Consumer complaint received 2017-02-15
Product: Mortgage — Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Loan servicing, payments, escrow account — 
Company: STANDARD MORTGAGE CORPORATION (LA)

When I tried paying my mortgage online last XXXX, the Standard Mortgage Company 's website kept displaying error messages, would n't allow me to access my account, and assured me the problems were being logged. Because it was the end of the month and a weekend, I decided to drive a check to the company. I checked the latest correspondence from them and found I was being overcharged by over {$100.00}. Knowing they do n't accept what they would consider a partial payment, I opted to I emailed them at the start of the following week. I explained the situation, included screenshots of the error messages I had received, included the correct amount I owed, explained how I thought they ha arrived at the wrong total due ( a fee paid in XXXX had n't been posted properly to my account ) and asked that I be allowed to bring in my payment that day. 
The response I received included a recognition that the fee I paid in XXXX HAD been paid, but I needed to pay it again because it had not been posted properly and was in my escrow account. Also, I would n't be allowed to make XXXX 's payment. I 'd have to include XXXX 's payment, as well, and numerous fees, it turns out, they had included in my total due without any explanation. Over the next few months they referred to the extra fees as both late fees and as home inspection fees. Sometimes they said they were incurred in XXXX, sometimes in XXXX, sometimes in XXXX. They 'd send me certified letters saying I would be in foreclosure if I did n't respond by a date set one week before the letter was written. They 'd claim in the letter that partial payments were accepted, but on the phone and in emails, they made it clear they would only accept a " full '' payment -- i.e. a payment that included fees I already paid and others I did n't owe. 
The statements they generated themselves and made available online fell in line with what I said I owed. To the penny. But their collections department continued to change their stories about why I owed more than I did, threaten foreclosure in the past, and tell me that no partial payments would be accepted. At the end of XXXX, I just wrote a personal check for what I said I owed -- what the statements online said I owed -- and mailed it. It was accepted. 
I included {$60.00} late fees I do n't believe I should have had to pay, due to their refusal to accept the full payments I offered in XXXX, and XXXX. 
In XXXX, I finally got a response from someone in the collections department, admitting ( again ) that the fee I paid in XXXX had, indeed, been paid, and that their claim that I owed " partial late fees '' from XXXX had been bogus. They, instead, claimed I owed a late fee from XXXX. Even though I had provided bank records ( provided by my bank ) of the electronic funds transfer made that month, showing when the payment was sent and when it was remitted -- two days before a late fee would have been assessed. They appologized for their mistakes and assured me it would be taken care of. 
Three weeks ago I found out that my mortgage was still being reported as 90 days late to credit bureaus. Even though it was not late and had only gone 30 days late last year because they refused to accept payment from me. 
I had been denied financing last year on a planned purchase I had previously been approved for and the only reason cited was my " experience with a creditor. '' My mortgage was the only bad experience with a creditor on my credit report. 
I explained all of this in my email to the person who said in XXXX she 'd take care of their mistakes, and to the president of the company. 
Four days later I got a reply : " I 'm in receipt of your email and will be reviewing your file and will respond shortly. '' I never heard from them again. 
I emailed again this morning explaining I 'd be filing complaints with CFPB and the local BBB.