Consumer complaint received 2022-02-28
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: MONEY SOURCE, INC., THE (CO)

My first mortgage loan was transferred to The Money Source ( TMS ) for servicing in XX/XX/2021. In XXXX, I set up an online payment for XX/XX/XXXX, for {$1000.00} plus an additional {$100.00} in principal. In late XXXX, I changed the scheduled payment to remove the additional {$100.00} and to only pay the {$1000.00} that was due on XX/XX/XXXX. 

When I noticed that my {$1000.00} mortgage payment had not yet debited my checking account on XX/XX/XXXX, I logged into my TMS account and saw a message that there was an issue with my payment and to contact customer service. As instructed, I called the customer service team at XXXX, at XXXX XXXX time on Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX. The individual I spoke with could not provide me with an explanation for why there was an issue with my scheduled payment, but she suggested that she could schedule a payment for me over the phone, which I did. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, my account was debited for {$1100.00} ( not the amount I had authorized ), and on XX/XX/XXXX, my account was debited for {$1000.00}. This caused countless issues with my cash flow, as well as advances from my overdraft line of credit. When I called TMS to try and resolve this error ( first on XX/XX/XXXX, again on XX/XX/XXXX, and again on XX/XX/XXXX ), they advised that I would need to email proof of the double payment from my financial institution before they would refund the second payment, and that they would not refund the interest charges on my overdraft line of credit, because the error " wasn't their fault. '' I did email the requested information on XX/XX/XXXX, even though it seemed laughable I needed to provide proof of two payments to the very company that had pulled my money twice. After several days had passed with no response, I called TMS again on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with someone who confirmed that the email I sent was received, but that it hadn't yet been looked at. Another individual advised me that the documentation I submitted wasn't acceptable, because it didn't include my full account number and wasn't an official statement ( this is apparently because people try to scam the system or something ; the logic of this argument eludes me when, once again, TMS had possession of my money and all I wanted was for them to return the second payment to me via the same ACH channel ). 

I never was successful in resolving the error with TMS, a situation made even more frustrating when I received notice that my loan was being transferred again, to another servicer. I did not authorize two mortgage payments, and the TMS individual I spoke with on XX/XX/XXXX did not alert me to the fact that I would be making two payments if I authorized a payment with her. According to my phone records, I spent XXXX minutes attempting to resolve this with TMS, along with time spent retrieving and emailing the requested information. The level of frustration and stress this caused my family is outrageous, and beyond the incredibly low service level TMS provides, the fact that they held my money hostage for several weeks shouldn't be acceptable ( or legal ).