Consumer complaint received 04-02-2018 about Mortgage (FHA mortgage) with loanDepot.com, LLC (NC).
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint: On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX we call Loan Depot and spoke to a XXXX ID ( XXXX ) about our escrow account shortage and why we owe {$2200.00} and my taxes or home insurance did not go up. XXXX informed me that the estimate made for taxes per month was only {$53.00} dollars. I asked how this could happen when I was paying more taxes than that on my original mortgage. He said a mistake was made in the escrow department and that he will have to escalate this to that department and someone will give me a call in a couple of days. The call ended at XXXX and we waited 7 days and did not get a returned call. 
On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX we call Loan Depot and spoke to XXXX and her supervisor XXXX ID ( XXXX  ). XXXX stated that the company contacts the county tax to find out the tax bill before creating an escrow. I asked to speak to a manager. XXXX did verify that an escrow analysis escalation was in the notes. XXXX said he would call back and follow up. The call ended at XXXX. We have spent 2.5hrs on the phone trying to resolve this and it has been over a month and we have not received a call back, any follow-up and we are still where we started at with this issue. 
On or around XX/XX/XXXX, Loan Depot 's employees XXXX XXXX XXXX Account Manager ( XXXX ) and XXXX XXXX , Licensed Lending Officer NMLS # XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX knowingly and deceitfully lured me and my wife into refinancing our FHA 30yr fixed 3.75 % into a FHA 3yr Arm at 2.5 %. Our old XXXX house payment statement of {$1800.00} is enclosed. XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX stated that Loan Depot could lower our monthly payment from {$1800.00} to {$1400.00}. The new payment amount can be found on the Escrow shortage statement we received on or about XX/XX/XXXX. 
They knowingly and purposely shorted my property taxes in escrow in order to present a mortgage payment that would seem to be {$400.00} lower than my current at the time house payment. We believe this to be true because neither our property tax nor our property insurance increased for the year XX/XX/XXXX but yet my escrow had a shortage of {$2200.00}. Load Depot 's XXXX XXXX willfully wrote down an estimated escrow of {$53.00} a month for my property taxes for XXXX County located in North Carolina. I provided him an old statement which showed what we were paying before in escrow for property taxes, hazard insurance, and PMI. XXXX XXXX had access to the Mecknc.gov site where you can find instructions on how to properly calculate the property tax in XXXX Countys. My old mortgage company had no problem calculating the proper amount to go into escrow. 
XXXX XXXX looked at a tax bill for my address in the amount of {$53000.00} and used this figure willfully knowingly it was not a correct tax assessment, disregarded an appraisal of my property for {$290000.00}, and disregarded a payoff of my current loan of {$270000.00}. How a professional licensed loan office can see a loan value and a payoff value that was six times the dollar amount of the tax value being used for escrow calculating and not think they might need to calculate property taxes based on property value shows the gross negligence of XXXX XXXX and the unfair and deceptive trade practices that XXXX XXXX used to deceive me and my wife into refinancing. 
We believe XXXX XXXX did this just to get us to accept the refinance and purposely withheld and failed to disclose that our monthly payment would drastically increase due to an escrow shortage new our monthly payment would be going back up due to an escrow shortage. Now our monthly payment from Loan Depot is {$1800.00}. This is only a {$9.00} difference than what we were paying before we refinanced. We would have never given up a 3.75 30yr fixed to go into a 2. 5 3yr Arm to save {$9.00}. 
Also an attorney was not used in the closing of this mortgage. Neither my wife nor I hired or spoke with XXXX XXXX XXXX. They did not represent us nor did they ever contact us. I wonder how a closing attorney would miss something like this as well especially if they are representing the client ( my wife and I ) in this matter. LD Escrow acted as closing agent and this is just a department within Loan Depot. In NC that is considered practicing law without being a licensed attorney. We have contacted the NC state bar as well. We did not hire or knowingly have contact with this company.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation