Consumer complaint received 2022-09-01
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION (MD)

Truist Bank has been servicing my loan for over a year. I make my regular XXXX monthly payments via their website using an ACH payment transaction. During my payment website session on XX/XX/2022, the site/system erroneously made a double payment ( XXXX X XXXX for a total of XXXX ) putting my associated checking account at risk of overdraft. I became aware of this the following day when I received two separate email notifications for two payment transactions. There should have only been one. I immediately called Truist to have them reverse the duplicate ACH transaction as the ACH originator. They said they could not. They said I needed to contact my bank to reject the second payment. From what I understand now about ACH transactions their response was incorrect. Truist should have been capable as the ACH originator to cancel/request return of the payment, but they chose not to. 

I contacted XXXX who was very responsive on submitting an ACH Return request as the receiving party. This was done as an electronic payment dispute complaint. I never received any communication from Truist regarding the ACH reversal or any updates in my online account information. 

As of XX/XX/XXXX the issue still had not been resolved on Truist 's end and my XXXX payment was due soon. I attempted to make an online payment via my account on the Truist site on XX/XX/XXXX. However the next day I received an email saying the payment was returned. I called the bank and they said the payment was refused by XXXX, but when I called XXXX Bank they said it was not and it showed the money as coming out of my account. I called back Truist and they suggested trying a different payment method such as paying by check over the phone. So I did this and that payment attempt also was also rejected by Truist bank on XX/XX/XXXX. 

I spent another 2hrs on the phone today, XX/XX/XXXX, trying to resolve the issue with Truist XXXX They can not tell me why the payment was rejected. They can not make a payment successfully using my bank account and I will be overdue on my payment as of XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX depending on whether or not my account dashboard is correct ( according to it the payment was credited, at least for now ). XXXX indicated to me today that they show funds going out of my account to Truist. Also my account dashboard on Truist shows my payments are up to date. This situation is not only threatening my mortgage status and taking me away from billable contract work. It is also making it impossible to keep my checking account records balanced and correct, threatening to put me into an overdraft situation due. 

Here is a timeline synopsis ; XX/XX/XXXX - Submitted payment for XXXX mortgage payment ( XXXX ) due via my account on Truist website. 

XX/XX/XXXX- recieve 2 notifictions from Truist via email confirmation that 2, not 1, payment ( s ) for the same amount have been submitted. These have been recorded as my XXXX and XXXX regular payments accordingly in my Truist account online dashboard. 

XX/XX/XXXX - Call Truist Bank customer support to report problem and seek resolution via them returning the improper second/duplicate payment of XXXX. They say they have no way to do that and I must request the return via my bank, XXXX, even though they are the ACH orginator. 

XX/XX/XXXX - Call XXXX who is puzzled why Truist refuses to fix the problem from their end and begins a dispute so my account can be credited XXXX and protected from overdraft. 

Between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX there is no communication from Truist Bank ... My dashboard still indicates the XXXX payment was already paid. 

XX/XX/XXXX - Submitted ACH payment for regular XXXX mortgage installment of XXXX due, via my account on Truist website. 

XX/XX/XXXX - Recieve email from Truist stating my payment was returned. Call Truist and spend over an hour again talking to customer support and a supervisor to rectify the issue. They can not find, or do not have access to, specifics on the transaction and why it was returned. Suggest I try again or check with XXXX Bank. 

XX/XX/XXXX - Call Truist Bank payment assistance to make a payment via check for XXXX over the phone as an alternative until we sort out issues so I'm not late with XXXX installment. 

XX/XX/XXXX - Recieve yet another notice via email from Truist Bank that my recent XXXX payment attempt via check over phone has been returned. Again call Truist Bank and XXXX at the same time on two different phone lines to try and resolve the problem. 

XXXX confirms again that the first payment shows as successful but have only a pending status for the second payment ( yet another double payment in progress??? ) They double-check everything on their end and see no issues other than they are waiting for the Truist side to validate the transaction for the second payment. 

Truist Bank has no idea what is going on, can not see anything around the ACH transaction, and suggests they remove my bank account from my online account and then re-add and pay again. This would now make 3 payments they can't track and I thereby refused. I tell them the fact they can't track transactions and their actual status is a major problem and I will not submit any more payments until they can articulate exactly what is going on. No response. So I told them I will be forced to report these issues to proper authorities for investigation and resolution since they can't seem to figure it out on their end and their only solution is to keep sending them money again and again and again.