Consumer complaint received 2022-08-01
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: Guild Holdings Company (CA)

This complaint is a second & continuing complaint regarding the blatant and malicious violation of federal and state law by our lender, Guild Mortgage, which is causing an extreme financial hardship for myself and my family. The original complaint was # XXXX. Guild Mortgage did NOT comply with the response that they sent, continuing their violation of the Code of Federal Regulations Title 12 : Banks and Banking Chapter X : Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Part 1024 : Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ( Regulation X ) 1024.17 ( c ) Escrow accounts and California Civil Code section 2954. ( attached ).

To begin, Guild Mortgage purposefully and persistently overcharged our monthly escrow payment amount by {$330.00} each month for 10 months which is far more than the allowable amount under federal and state law. This totals {$3300.00} in unlawful collections by XXXX, with an additional {$360.00} in continuing fees and another {$1700.00} in unapplied funds they also collected, bringing a total of {$5400.00} in unlawful funds. We will be filing a lawsuit against XXXX for triple damages of {$16000.00} of which they have returned {$1800.00} for current and continuing monetary damages of {$14000.00}. Their unlawful actions have also caused us to incur additional damages which will be outlined in our lawsuit. 

Because of our coming lawsuit, we are requesting that CFBP begin enforcement actions to address this violation of federal law and begin investigations into Guilds violations of law potentially harming other consumers. Guild did acknowledge their violation in their ( attached ) XX/XX/XXXX letter, but also fraudulently claimed that a check was mailed to us to us on XX/XX/XXXX for the {$2000.00} surplus, which they continue to keep and refuse to apply to our account. Our attorney and my family believe this conduct may be considered fraudulent, malicious and willful, and not based in good faith error, to which Guild will be subject to additional punitive damages for the following reasons : To repeat, when this refinance loan was originated, we had an approximately {$33000.00} XXXX loan  attached through our property tax payments. Our previous loan included the annual payments for the XXXX  loan, which was about {$4000.00} yearly, within our monthly payments as part of the monthly escrow. When we refinanced with Guild, we were required to pay off the XXXX  loan at closing and the {$33000.00} was included within our monthly mortgage payment. I raised a concern at the time that the estimated escrow amount continued to reflect paying for the XXXX loan within the monthly escrow when we already paid off the loan and the payments for it were included in our mortgage amount, effectively making us pay double for the loan each month. I was assure at that time that the escrow department would find this situation during their analysis and make the needed adjustment. 

The escrow analysis department of Guild Mortgage did not recognize that the XXXX  loan included in the property taxes was paid in full by them at closing and we began being charged twice for the same {$33000.00} amount, as it was now included in both our mortgage payment as well as our escrow payment. I called customer service and was told to make the scheduled payment for XX/XX/XXXX even though it included an approximately {$330.00} overpayment, and that the overpayment would be credited later but that the situation should be resolved within a few weeks. 

Of course, the situation was not resolved and remained unresolved as we were forced to continue making the {$330.00} overpayment in both XXXX, XXXX, XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. This lack of correction by Guild for our monthly escrow amount requiring us to overpay about {$330.00} each month began creating a financial hardship. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I again contacted customer service sending notice of the ongoing overpayment problem and again submitting our XXXX XXXX XXXX Collector details for both XXXX and XXXX showing that the approximate {$4000.00} required annual loan repayment was removed from our assessor bill. We requested that the escrow analysis department reassess our escrow payment amount using the correct projections as verified by our tax collector. Again we were told that their department would make the necessary corrections during their regular annual assessment and the new amount would be reflected going forward. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, Guild Mortgage refunded {$1800.00} in escrow overpayment over a six-month period, clearly acknowledging that their previous monthly escrow amount was in error and we had been overcharged by that amount in that short time period. However, on the XX/XX/XXXX Escrow Account Disclosure Statement ( attached ), while it shows the previous projections from XX/XX/XXXX with two ( incorrect ) county tax payments of {$3900.00} on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, it discloses the actual ( correct XXXX county tax payment of {$1900.00} in XX/XX/XXXX. Further it goes on to improperly project for XXXX county tax payments of {$3900.00} in XXXX and XXXX of XXXX, making our total escrow amount {$8800.00} when it should be only {$4900.00} for the year. We know from the repeatedly submitted documentation as well as from Guilds own actual payments to our county tax office, that the amount they are projecting is {$3900.00} too high. This required overpayment created a financial hardship. 

After filing the original complaint on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX responded on XX/XX/XXXX fraudulently claiming that a check had been mailed on XX/XX/XXXX to resolve our issue. I called Guild on XX/XX/XXXX because we had not received the check and was told that the check had not been mailed, but that we could apply the surplus to our account. Although this was not what Guild had agreed to, I was willing to do that to completely resolve this situation. I was assured that the amount would be applied by the end of the month, XX/XX/XXXX. Because of this problem, I was unable to make payments via the website and would always need to make about a 45-60 minute call to make any payments. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called ( 82 minutes of my time ) to make a payment to bring my account current. The total payment that was collected was {$2800.00} which including my {$2000.00} credit should have applied {$4800.00} to my account, bringing it fully current. However, only {$1800.00} was applied to my account, {$940.00} was applied to an Unapplied Funds account and my credit was never applied. I again called on XX/XX/XXXX to make the XX/XX/XXXX payment because the website still would not allow me to make payments, and was informed that the credits had not been applied and after 73 minutes of call time, that I would need to make a payment of {$860.00} in order for everything to be applied to the account properly, which I did. I was guaranteed by the Guild representative that all my funds would be applied within a week. However, I found out that none of my surplus was applied and the majority of that payment was simply applied to the Unapplied Funds account and not to my mortgage account. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called to make the XX/XX/XXXX payment, and after a XXXX call, made a payment of {$1800.00} in order to try to remain current and keep any damages to a minimum. I called back on XX/XX/XXXX to make sure that I was current and that all my credits had been applied. I was told that my request to apply the {$2000.00} surplus was declined and none of the Unapplied Funds could be applied until the account was brought current with a payment of {$7700.00}, to which I decided that only a lawsuit would resolve this situation to a fair satisfaction. 

Remember, the original reason for the surplus was because of Guilds violation of state and federal law by overcharging and collecting unlawful funds. 

Because of the numerous times we brought this problem to their attention as well as the unimpeachable submitted documentation, including their own acknowledgment of their unlawful behavior and fraudulent claim of refunding our stolen money, we do not believe this is an honest mistake, but a purposeful violation of both the law and our rights. As such, Guild Mortgage should be fined and found to have substantially injured us financially, and thereby demanded to make injunctive relief of no less than {$25000.00} for our damages. 

Therefore, we are requesting that CFPB complete a review of our loan escrow amount projections/charges ASAP, inform Guild Mortgage of their violation of both state and federal law regarding mortgage escrow charges and take necessary enforcement actions in the form of fines as well as an investigation into other harmed consumers.