Consumer complaint received 2024-03-06
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Escrow, taxes, or insurance
Company: Dovenmuehle Mortgage, Inc. (IN)

On XX/XX/XXXX, I filed a complaint with the CFPB against Dovenmuehle, the servicer of my now paid-off mortgage, due to their failure to provide me with a refund of the amount left in my escrow fund after the mortgage was paid off. ( Complaint No. XXXX. ) Since filing the complaint, although Dovenmuehle has now responded to my dozens of emails and secure messages that had previously gone answered, they have only made the problem worse. It has been ten weeks since the loan was paid off, and I still have not received my refund of {$2200.00}. 

My original complaint included the following information : I sold the home connected with this mortgage on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted Dovenmuehle, which was my loan servicer, and asked when I could expect to receive my escrow refund check. Dovenmuehle responded the next day and said it normally takes 15 buiness days to mail the check. I responded the same day, XX/XX/XXXX, and asked that they mail the check to my new address, as I obviously no longer live at the address assocaited with the home I sold. Dovenmuehle responded on XX/XX/XXXX ( nine days after my message ) and said the check for {$2200.00} was sent to my old address on XX/XX/XXXX ( two days after I asked that they mail it to my new address ). The message said I needed to wait 30 days after the check was allegedly mailed to request a new one. On XX/XX/XXXX, I emailed Dovenmuele customer service and asked that they please reissue the check to me. I did not receive any response. I followed up today, 5 days later, after still not hearing from them, and have still not received a response. 

Since filing my CFPB complaint, I have contacted Dovenmuehle nearly 20 times, both by email and through their secure message portal, asking them to resend the check either electronically or to my new address. I finally received a response from XXXX XXXX, " Complaint Resolution Specialist II, '' on XX/XX/XXXX, asking me to provide an updated address where I wanted the check sent. I asked her how to go about receiving the check electronically, and she provided a form that I needed to fill out with my bank account information and signature ( attached ). However, the form is titled " Automatic Payment Program '' and explains that by completing the form, I am giving XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXXpermission to automatically debit my bank account each month. I asked XXXX why I would need to sign a form agreeing that the bank could take money out my account in order to receive an electronic transfer, and received no response. The next day, I told XXXX that I was not comfortable signing the document. XXXX XXXX and their servicer, Dovenmuehle, have been nothing short of a nightmare to deal with in trying to complete the simple transaction of receiving a check. I have absolutely no confidence in their abilities to comply with banking regulations, and can only imagine the time, effort, and frustration that would go into trying to recoup funds that they inevitably would incorrectly debit from my account in error if I had signed a form allowing them to do so. So, on XX/XX/XXXX, I directed XXXX to send the check via XXXX  to my new address, provided the new address, and asked that she provide me with the XXXX tracking number as soon as the check was mailed. Of course, no response. After another follow-up email to XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, she confirmed that she was " awaiting the tracking number and would provide it as soon as it is available. '' Unsurprisingly, that was the last I heard from XXXX, despite two additional follow-up emails sent to her. 

However, on XX/XX/XXXX, I received a response from the Dovenmuehle customer service email account ( which I had emailed 8 times over the course of 2 weeks with XXXX response ) notifying me that the check was mailed on XX/XX/XXXX to the " verified mailing address on file. '' What is that address, you might ask? My old address, where I no longer live, as I have told Dovenmuehle at least XXXX times, and which XXXX seemingly confirmed she understood when she agreed to send the check to my correct address and provide a XXXX tracking number for doing so. The check, unsurprisingly, has not arrived at my new address, and I have no confidence that it will be arriving, since Dovenmuhele explicitly stated they sent it to the wrong address. So, I am now in the spot of, once again, having to wait 30 days to contact Dovenmuele to let them know the check did not arrive, and start this entire nightmare all over again.

At this point, it is clear that Dovenmuehle does not have adequate policies, procedures, or controls in place to provide escrow account refunds after loans are paid off. The only options that Dovenmuehle apparently offers are 1 ) having the check sent to an address that they have been told ( and that common sense dictates ) the customer no longer lives at, or 2 ) sign an agreement allowing XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXXto indefinitely debit the customer 's bank account for any amounts it may conjure up in order for them to allegedly be able to deliver the refund electronically. They also do not have adequate policies, procedures, or controls in place to respond to or resolve customer issues and complaints within the period of time required by law. 

I have spent far, far too much time dealing with Dovenmuehle over what should have been the simplest of transactions.