Consumer complaint received 2017-06-21
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: ZIONS BANCORPORATION (TX)

In early XXXX of this year, just like for the last three ( 3 ) years, I received a letter from Amegy Mortgage ( i.e.  Amegy Bank ), stating that I had a shortage of my Escrow for XXXX. My options were to either, 1 ) Pay the amount of the shortage or, 2 ) Have increased monthly payments, to cover the Escrow. Just as in the previous years, I elected to pay the Escrow shortage. On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I sent in my check for the Escrow shortage ( {$1100.00} ). Since it was time for my regular monthly mortgage payment, I also sent my monthly mortgage payment ( {$2600.00} ) on the very same day, literally within two ( 2 ) minutes after sending the first payment ( for the shortage ). I might add that I did this online, though my bank, as SEPARATE transactions. A couple of weeks later, around XXXX XXXX, I started getting nasty gram letters in the mail and phone calls, asking me to call Amegy Mortgage. After talking to ( without exaggeration ) over twenty ( 20 ) Amegy folks over the last four ( 4 ) months, all the way up to two ( 2 )  Dispute/Escalation Specialists ( XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX - based in XXXX ), I have seen all of my money clear my account but Amegy STILL shows me one ( 1 ) month behind on my payments. Now, here is the  reason. When I sent my Escrow shortage in on XXXX XXXX, along with my monthly mortgage payment, SOMEONE mis-applied my money and credited BOTH checks and the associated funds to my Escrow. As such, two ( 2 ) things happened. First, my Escrow account IMMEDIATELY showed an overage of {$2300.00}. Funny - that is EXACTLY how much my mortgage payment was. Second, they ( Amegy ) IMMEDIATELY put my account into default, showing that I was one ( 1 ) payment behind. Mind you, this problem was found on the VERY FIRST PHONE CALL back in XXXX of this year. At the time the problem was found, I was told that a request had been submitted to reallocate the funds from Escrow to my account ... DID NOT HAPPEN!!!!! I continued to get nasty letters and phone calls. To shorten my story - this happened four ( 4 ) other times over the course of XXXX, XXXX and XXXX. Then, last week, I received a check from Amegy Mortgage. Guess how much it was for. You got it ... ... .... {$2600.00}. They basically sent me back my XX/XX/XXXX PAYMENT. The only problem is, why did they send it back when EVERY ONE that I talked to said that they needed to simply transfer the MIS-APPLIED amount to the correct account? Nevertheless, I deposited their check and IMMEDIATELY ( same day ) mailed them a check through my online banking AGAIN, for the same dollar amount. Now, I would love to say that this is all that this involves. Not the case. For over 30 years, my credit score has been above 700. For over the last 15 years, it has been over 800. On Tuesday of last week, I checked my credit scores, which I do every couple of weeks. On that day, my scores were 810, 811 and 819. Two ( 2 ) days later, on Wednesday, I received a " Credit Alert '', asking me to logon and check my scores, due to a drastic change in my scores. I immediately logged on and saw where my XXXX Score had dropped ( inside of 24 hours ),  from 811, down to 719. THAT WAS A 92 POINT DROP IN 24 HOURS!!!!!!! I have not been that low since I was a young man. When I opened up the details to the drastic score change, it stated that the changed score was due to a " missed or skipped payment '' to Amegy Mortgage. It also showed a late payment in my history. Prior to last Wednesday, my payment history always showed " 100 % - No late payments ''. As of last Wednesday, it now shows " 99 % '' and that I have " one missed or skipped payment '' ( i.e. Amegy Mortgage ). On Tuesday, it stated " 472 payments made - no late payment ''. On Wednesday, it stated ( and still states ), " 472 payments made - 471 on time ''. Amegy Mortgage was the company that showed ( and still shows ) the ONE ( 1 ) late payment. I have NEVER made a late payment but now, according to Amegy Mortgage, my credit report says otherwise. The people at Amegy ( OVER 20 OF THEM ) have NOT been helpful at all. The last person that I spoke to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX is an escalation specialist in XXXX, AZ. He assured me that by today ( XXXX/XXXX/XXXX ) ALL of this issue would be resolved and that they would submit a re-cant to the credit bureaus for both me AND my wife, since both of our names are on the account. Just as an FYI ... .My wife 's score was 834 before this event. Hers also dropped drastically, to a point that she has not be at since she was a college student ( over 30 years ago ). I have left MULTIPLE messages for XXXX XXXX ( Amegy President/CEO ) or XXXX XXXX ( Amegy Vice President ) to call me back - all to no avail. My next step is to literally drive to XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX and wait until I get in front of XXXX or XXXX. I am truly trying to give Amegy the benefit of the doubt but now, four ( 4 ) months later, the mis-applied payment issue is STILL NOT RESOLVED and my credit is ruined. If they can not FIX MY CREDIT IMMEDIATELY, I am prepared to hire my attorney to move this forward in whatever fashion he suggests. I am at the end of my rope and have gotten nothing but a run-around from Amegy for four ( 4 )  months - ALL BECAUSE THEY MIS-APPLIED MY PAYMENT AND CAN NOT FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET THE MONEY OUT OF ESCROW AND PUT IT BACK IN THE ACCOUNT WHERE IT BELONGS. The truly sad part is, I have a copy of the bank check that was sent to them and guess what? The ACCOUNT NUMBER that the check was supposed to be applied to is right on the front of the check. I understand human error and how it may have gotten mis-applied. What I do NOT understand is why it takes three ( 3 ) months to fix it and in the meantime, my credit score suffers by almost 100 points because of Amegy 's  ineptitude.