Consumer complaint received 2017-10-25
Product: Mortgage — Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: BMO Bank, N.A. (IL)

When I originally applied for a Home Equity Loan Line of Credit ( HELOC ), I was told by the personal banker that if by the time the loan has matured it is not paid off in its entirety ; I would only see an increase in the interest rate and that too by a few points. I was not told that there would be any other penalties or problems ; just a slight increase in my interest rate. I readily accepted this information thinking that the banker was guiding me in the best way possible since I had never taken out a line of credit before. In XX/XX/XXXX, I received a letter from BMO Harris Bank indicating that my HELOC had matured and by that time, I had not finished paying off the loan in its entirety. Because I had not paid off the loan completely, it was sent to a collections agency. We were contacted by the collections agency and it was arranged that I would make fixed payments in the amount of {$250.00} every month. I was sent monthly statements indicating how much of the loan was remaining, my amount due, and my payment received was reflected within the statement. I continued making payments towards the loan every month never once missing a payment and every month I always paid MORE than the amount that was fixed by the collections department. I always paid {$300.00}. In XX/XX/XXXX, I  stopped receiving statements from the bank. But, that didnt stop me. I continued making my payments every month. For the past year and a half, I have not received a single statement that reflects my payments made at the bank or my current balance, but I continued making my payments. Due to the nature of my loan and how it was set up within the bank system, the payments had to be entered into the bank system in a certain procedure. Not all the bank tellers were aware of this procedure. As a result, there were many times when the payments were entered into the system incorrectly. And due to not having a statement sent to me, the bank tellers were constantly messing up and adding more hassle to my already frustrating problem. In XX/XX/XXXX, I went to the bank to have my debit card re-set and it was that personal banker who inquired about my mortgage asking me what my current interest rate is and if I was interested in refinancing. At that time, I explained to him my situation with the line of credit. How no one took the time to explain the loan to me and misguided me. As a result, my loan went into collections and I now have a delinquency being reflected on my credit report. The personal banker introduced me to a mortgage banker. It was at this appointment that I found out how much of my loan was left to payoff ; approximately {$3800.00}. I was very excited to find out how little of the line of credit was left to payoff and was ready and willing to pay off that exact amount right away. I was referred back to the personal banker to help me in contacting collections to finish paying off the loan. I went back to the bank a few times and finally was told that if I would like pay off my loan, my payoff amount would be {$5500.00}. I was told that my loan was now in the hands of a third party collections department that was not within BMO Harris Bank. No one from any collections department had ever bothered to contact me to settle the loan or negotiate once it matured. When I told the personal banker I would like to settle, he gave me the number to contact collections. I was placed on hold forever. No one ever picked up the phone. Whenever the personal banker tried to get through when I came to visit him, he too would be sitting on the phone waiting for someone to answer. I was finally contacted by a representative from Collections on XX/XX/XXXX.  I told her I would like to settle the loan. She asked if I can pay off the loan in the amount of {$4500.00}. I do not have that much money available so negotiated in the amount of {$4000.00}. It was still more than the original balance the mortgage banker told me of but included interest for the bank. She stated she will call me back the next day with an answer. I did not hear from her until Monday, XX/XX/XXXX ; 1 week later. She stated that the request for the settle amount was denied and that the new payoff amount was {$5500.00}. I made another counteroffer for {$5000.00}. She stated she will present my offer and call me back. I am still waiting to hear from the representative. While all these negotiations are going on, I still have not missed making a payment and made a payment for XX/XX/XXXX this  time for {$400.00} ; more than the designated fixed amount. If I was guided to refinance or remodify, my credit would never have been affected. I am ready to settle the balance and finish this loan, but the bank is not budging. I am trying to negotiate the payoff amount and they are not willing to agree. Lack of receiving statements has made a HUGE impact. Every time I try to negotiate a counter offer with interest, they are not accepting anything. As you can see, I am desperate to pay off the loan and be done while trying to meet the bank on their terms. One would think the bank would be happy to settle with the first available offer so they can close this loan, but instead they are being extremely uncooperative by denying  every offer I make.