Consumer complaint received 2017-03-28
Product: Mortgage — Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Loan servicing, payments, escrow account — 
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (NJ)

I am providing information of concerns related to the actions of my lender in creating an escrow account that has created a very stressful financial burden. I could n't understand why CitiMortgage did this because we had been paying our taxes. They told me a notice regarding this was forwarded which I told I had not recalled seeing. I informed that I open every piece of mail received from their office and shared I found it interesting that they had not sent this notice " certified '' and " regular '' mail, which is something Citi often do. In this case that did not happen. But because the bank had already submitted the tax payment, it created a negative escrow balance and additionally increased our mortgage by approximately {$640.00}, which could be applied to our auto insurance and utility bill. In asking if this could be removed or decreased, I was told I had to comply with the criteria which I have not found in my contract, was to 1 ) pay the mortgage on time for 12 months ; and 2 ) pay the negative escrow amount ; and 3 ) then paying the reduced mortgage amount of {$1200.00} for the year and then after that they would " consider '' removing the escrow account. Even incurring the increase of $ XXXX that money could pay the utility and sewer bills. On one other occasion, Citi created an escrow account but removed it after I complied with another " criteria '' which was to pay the XXXX quarter taxes. That was not an option this time. I requested this removal because of its financial burden and simply because the taxes are ALWAYS paid. I 'm not sure what Citi 's motives are with my account, so it would not be in our best interest to not pay the mortgage or taxes. In XX/XX/XXXX, we will have been in this home 22 years. The difficulties have only occurred within the last few years, but again, the mortgage AND taxes were ALWAYS paid. Early XX/XX/XXXX I spoke with a Citi rep to explain the current hardship noting it was because of my husband 's XXXX, paying the other household bills and my daughter 's XXXX. Considering that, it seemed quite insensitive for the bank to increase the mortgage to a whopping $ XXXX a month because of our " paid '' taxes. This has provided a more stressful financial liability. I must not fail to note that this is our second and last child to complete a XXXX. Considering the taxes are paid EVERY year AND with XX/XX/XXXX as my daughter 's " XXXX '' year of XXXX, adding an additional {$650.00} to our load means coming up with additional funds for our bills. The insensitivity comes in when considering that the XXXX quarter had just passed its due date and with her college year ending before the XXXX quarter barely starting, having the tuition gone would lighten our overall load. If after XX/XX/XXXX we still presented a concern, then I could understand an escrow account. I ca n't comprehend why the bank was insistent on the escrow account. I explained to the customer service rep, to the tax and accounting office reps that once graduated the taxes would not be a problem. Unfortunately this escrow seems to be something of a broader issue. It 's unfortunate that the bank did not seem sympathetic to increasing the mortgage from {$950.00} to over {$1600.00}, it is an irrational and regrettably, and to me like a tactic to get us out of our home. Although it would not benefit them by removing us, it truly is n't benefiting us by increasing our mortgage. My point is the mortgage and taxes are paid EVERY year. I understand the bank 's rights and their concern but what I do n't understand is how they can be insensitive to my request when the mortgage and taxes have been paid every year without fail for the last 14 years. But increasing the mortgage by adding an escrow account at this point is a very deceptive incomprehensible tactic to strong arm a hard working family.