Consumer complaint received 2024-02-27
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Payment process
Company: EQUIFAX, INC. (CA)

XXXX XXXX misapplied my XXXX loan payment and is reporting my mortgage as late. 

When you go to the bank and hand the teller three deposits, you expect the funds to go into the correct accounts, right? You give the teller three written instructions ( deposit slips ) and you write the account number on the checks you are depositing, to make sure there is no question as to where the funds are to be deposited, and because the teller owes you a fiduciary duty, the funds are credited to the correct account. I gave XXXX three written instructions and wrote the account numbers on the checks, and for the fifth time since XX/XX/XXXX they have misapplied my mortgage payments. 

XXXX has misapplied my mortgage payments at least five times in the last XXXX months. XXXX XXXX just declined my credit application because XXXX is saying I'm behind in my mortgage payments. This is the second time in XXXX months I have been declined for credit becasue of XXXX 's misapplication of payments and reporting my mortgages as unpaid. 
Below is the history : Dear Inspector, I have been going back and forth with XXXX for 8 months now. They continue to defraud me out of XXXX  of dollars of unearned late fees and refuse to apply XXXX of dollars worth of mortgage payments or return my money to me. 

When you read this, ask yourself. Is this guy just making this up or is there an actual problem with XXXX XXXX XXXX? 

My name is XXXX XXXX, I am a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX operating out of the same location in XXXX XXXX, California, for the last 31 years. I have originated, processed, and funded over a half a XXXX dollars worth of mortgage loans. I own and manage over XXXX XXXX dollars worth of rental property and trust deeds, and I always pay my bills on time. 

The main thing you must keep in mind is XXXX has a financial incentive to misapply or delay processing mortgage payments. 

XXXX purchased my loans ( 3 ) in XXXX of 2023 only they did not notify me they had purchased my loans until well after the XX/XX/XXXX payment due date. It was at this time XXXX started their process of intimidation and harassment. Because XXXX failed to notify me in a timely manner they had purchased my loans, the XXXX payments were sent to the servicer of record at the time the payments were due. 

Callers from XXXX insisted I had to pay them additional funds and wait to receive a refund from my previous loan servicer. XXXX also attempted to bully me into an auto-payment agreement where they would have unfettered access to take funds directly from my bank account. When I refused to sign-up for autopay the agent became upset with me and made remarks like ; Well then, I guess youll just be paying late fees every month. These are both examples of mortgage servicing law violations. 

XXXX has never sent me XXXX statements for any of my loans as required by law. The XXXX statements they sent me said I owed them two months worth of payments. 

Attached is a copy of a USPS delivery map. Also attached are copies of my mortgage statements for the loan I have with XXXX. I have included these statements because it draws a good baseline for when my payments were mailed. All seven of my mortgage payments are made the same day, typically the XXXX or XXXX of the month, and personally deposited with the local post office. 

Payments to XXXX were originally directed to North Carolina, more recently the payments have been directed to XXXX Texas. The attached map shows expected delivery times for both locations in the 3-day range. XXXX has been reporting my payments as not arriving for as much as 12 to 15 days for both locations. 

I have also included 18 months mortgage statements for the servicer I had prior to XXXX, XXXX. XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX office is in New Jersey. You can clearly see my pattern of payments ; I send the payments on the XXXX or XXXX of the month, and they regularly arrive at their destination 3 or 4 days later. From California to New Jersey regularly in 3 to 4 days just like the USPS delivery map shows. XXXX accusations my payments are not arriving for 12 to 15 days is inconsistent with USPS delivery expectations. 

Everything about XXXX actions is irregular : For some reason XXXX prepares consumers monthly mortgage statements on the XXXX of the month and then does not mail the statement for at least two weeks. The statements are always reflecting the consumer is a month behind. My statements regularly arrive just before the XXXX  of the next month despite being prepared on the XXXX. This month the statements did not arrive until after the XXXX of the month due. The statements for this XXXX arrived nearly a month after they were produced. I think they do this to keep the consumer confused, a confused consumer is easier to steal from. 

XXXX : I bring your attention to the canceled checks included with the mortgage statements. As you can see the checks were written on XX/XX/XXXX, and as I have stated before, I deposit the outgoing mail at the local post office the same day the checks are written. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX received their check on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX received their check on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX in New Jersey received their checks ( 2 ) on XX/XX/XXXX, but somehow XXXX in Texas is saying they did not receive their checks ( 3 ) until the XXXX of XXXX and then didnt deposit them until the XXXX of XXXX. Is this simply a case of poor bookkeeping? 

Further in XXXX XXXX misapplied two of my mortgage payments. They showed me late on two of my loans and reported the late payments to all the major credit reporting bureaus. XXXX false reporting caused me to be declined for financing on a project I was working on at that time ; I suffered legitimate financial losses because of XXXX false claims. 

After complaining to the CFPB XXXX offered a lengthy explanation only the explanation did not match the documents. In XXXX there is one loan with ( 10 ) payments and ( 10 ) reversals ; I only have ( 3 ) mortgages with them. How can it take ( 20 ) adjustments to fix ( 2 ) misapplied payments? I challenge you to decipher the accounting statements they provided in my XXXX statements. 

( 3 ) months to resolve misapplied payments is also irregular. It begs the question ; are these mistakes made on a daily basis? Are the mistakes made on purpose to increase late fees? Does XXXX management know about the abundance of mistakes, but does nothing about it, because they gain financially from it? XXXX is purposely defrauding consumers out of un-earned late fees. 

In XXXX XXXX AGAIN misapplied my payments. Each check is clearly marked with the loan number in the memo section to ensure the payments are posted correctly. XXXX as a financial institution owes consumers the utmost care when dealing with their money. XXXX has shunned their fiduciary duty. XXXX disregarded the payment coupons included with the checks and the account numbers written on the checks and just willy-nilly credited the checks to the wrong account. Now they have again charged me late fees and are showing me two payments behind. XXXX poor accounting practices are AGAIN ruining my perfect credit. 

My canceled checks show XXXX payments cleared on the XXXX of XXXX. On the XXXX statements XXXX is showing late fees as of XX/XX/XXXX. These are nothing but more unearned late fees. 

At some point as a governmental regulator, you must ask yourself, maybe this guy has a legitimate complaint and XXXX should be audited for fraud. If they continue to do this to him, even after hes been complaining about it for 8 months, how many other people are they doing this to. Consumers who are not as mortgage savvy as this guy, are probably being defrauded. 

XXXX needs to go back to the beginning and account for all the funds they have received on my behalf. Waive all the late fees and try and produce a coherent accounting of my mortgage payments. 

Lastly, XXXX needs to stop the harassment. Repeatedly sending me harassing letters falsely accusing me of being behind or having difficulty making my mortgage payments. Having collection people calling me and literally yelling at me on the phone because I refuse to give them confidential information regarding my social security number and/or finances. 

Just last Friday. Again, I terminated another call from a XXXX representative for yelling at me. They can not tell me what property they are calling about and then get frustrated and begin yelling at me. It is not my responsibility to tell a stranger about my personal investments. XXXX has violated my rights on multiple occasions and continues to violate mortgage collection laws. 

CFBP, you have provided little to no assistance to my legitimate complaint. I have been complaining about XXXX fraudulent business practices for 8 months now. I have filed formal complaints with both North and South Carolinas consumer rights boards as well as the State and County prosecutors and investigatory departments. So far each of them have indicated they did not have jurisdiction regarding my problems. Next, I will be filing complaints with the State of Texas and XXXX prosecutors office and police departments in hope to finally find an agency with proper jurisdiction to hold XXXX accountable. 

I believe an audit of XXXX business practices will reveal rampant intentional fraud throughout their organization. 


You may reach me at the above address.