Consumer complaint received 2016-09-26
Product: Mortgage — Other mortgage
Issue: Loan servicing, payments, escrow account — 
Company: LoanCare, LLC (NJ)

I am writing to request an investigation into mortgage servicing practices by LoanCare financial products. 

I originally purchased a mortgage on my house with XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. I purchased a USDA loan which was explained to me at the time of settlement as having a higher interest rate than an FHA mortgage, but did not include any type of PMI in that particular type of loan for the life of the loan. Additionally, I find nowhere in my agreement where a PMI/XXXX fee may be instituted upon purchase by a new servicer. However, at settlement I paid {$3200.00} towards XXXX fees/PMI at the monthly rate of {$55.00}, which should have been amortized over the first 4.9 years worth of payments if I did have a PMI or XXXX fee associated with my loan. Additionally, the HUD-1 paperwork clearly breaks down my first few payments ( principle, interest, escrow ) and the space for PMI is blank because my loan did not have a PMI associated with it. 

Since then my mortgage has been sold twice. I had no issues with the first XXXX mortgage companies. The third mortgage company purchased my mortgage XX/XX/XXXX and immediately began charging my escrow account for XXXX/PMI. I was not aware of this as my monthly statements do not break down my escrow payments according to where my escrow is paid out. I was not made aware of this until XX/XX/XXXX when LoanCare sent me a letter stating that my escrow account was going to be short for year-end payments, and that I owed an additional amount that I could pay all at once or have included in my monthly mortgage statements ( a monthly increase ). 

I contacted LoanCare on several different occasions questioning the new fee and requesting to speak with someone responsible for PMI/XXXX to refund and discontinue the PMI/XXXX fee. Their customer service representatives refuse to transfer me to either a supervisor or someone responsible for this new fee ; and when I do eventually get frustrated and transferred I am always placed on hold for 10 minutes before being routed to a voicemail system. I never receive calls in response to the messages I leave. 

My statement arrived in the mail for this month, and without my consent my monthly payment has been raised to account for the money that has been misplaced from my escrow account. I called the customer service line, and the rep refused to transfer me to someone who could issue me a corrected statement at my normal monthly amount since this will be my last payment with LoanCare as my mortgage provider. Once again, after becoming increasingly agitated at the lack of respect and customer service I was placed on hold and sent to another voicemail answering system. 

This is the worst service I have ever received from any financial servicer. I am so frustrated that I am in the process of refinancing with a new mortgage provider. Multiple knowledgable parties have reviewed my original loan agreement documents and all are in agreement that what is happening here is theft. 

I will also be contacting FHA and USDA to advise that they investigate LoanCare as servicers of their loan products.