Consumer complaint received 2025-05-07 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Payment process
Company: REGIONS FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: TN

Complaint narrative:
My mortgage loan was originated in XXXX of XXXX. It has changed hands to several different servicing companies, and I had no issues with any of them until Regions began servicing the loan in early XXXX. We had set up our communication/notification preferences at the beginning when our loan was originated, and that info had passed seamlessly to the other service providers. Regions, however, did not assume all the same information. Here is the brief series of events that led me to have a damaged credit score and be unable to qualify for pre-approval : -Mid XXXX : Payment made manually by my wife. We received the same confirmation email we had received for several months leading up to this point. Instead of sending us an email that an account number was entered incorrectly, we received an email that read " Web Payment Confirmation '' in the subject line. A couple days later, because of the honest mistake of mis-entering an account number, our transaction history has a " Bad check - reversal '' note and our payment when unmade. We were not emailed about the missed payment. The Regions automated system called my wife ( the principal phone number on the account ) during business hours, exactly when she is unavailable because of her work. The automated system did NOT leave a voicemail. Regions did send us a physical copy of the monthly statement ( as they do every month ). The thing is, the statements look the same every month, and I wasn't notified of anything out of the ordinary, so we had not been in the habit of closely examining every parcel from Regions. As homeowners, we get junk mail from banks, loan providers, lenders, and countless other sources. So, to recap, we missed a payment and Regions did not email us an update. Previous loan providers had been set up to send us those communications, but Regions bank did not translate those preferences when they assumed our loan. 

-End of summer, XXXX ( XXXX month after the above incident ) : We discovered the late payment and corrected it, this time paying manually for XXXX months worth of payments. We again got the same " Payment confirmation '' email. At this point, we attempted to set up auto draft with Regions. Upon completing that process, we were never notified electronically that the auto draft was never set up because of some mis-entered value. So, we carry on thinking that we have set up our mortgage to be paid consistently and without thought. Regions never notified us that the auto draft was not set up correctly, and when the future payments were missed, we never received an email informing us about the issues. 

All to say this : Regions poorly designed system failed my wife and I in a pretty egregious way. In a time where nearly all services have an easy to use online system that will work with you to establish payments, notify you about problems, and help you manage your accounts, it is extremely upsetting that Regions Bank and they're system is as shoddy as it is. I never asked for Regions to assume my loan, and they are not the first new provider we have had over the life of our loan. However, they are the first provider that failed to do pretty simple, basic communication with my wife and I about our loan. This company failed to handle simple data and communication, doing the bare minimum to inform us of our missed payments. At the risk of my wife and I being delinquent on our payments, Regions made an automated call that doesn't leave a message and calls during business hours, and depended on the US Postal service to get us crucial information. In XXXX, you do not need to work with a company like this. It seems awfully sly to let our mortgage go unpaid that long and not even call the secondary phone number on the account. 

I recognize that my wife and I are not blameless in this saga : we certainly could have been more attentive, more observant, and more aware. But I can not stress enough, this is not the first loan provider change we have gone through. Each time, the transition was smooth and we had no problems. On time payments have been made every month of the mortgage 's life until Regions got involved. When mortgage service is working smoothly for 40 months straight, I think it's understandable that the mortgage payments were not at the forefront of my mind. I made the mistake of trusting Regions ' system to be thorough, easy to use, and reliable as all the other providers ' systems were. 

I can not stress enough : if you have a loan that is serviced by Regions, you have to take the initiative to ensure that they are taking your money. This experience has shown me that if they don't receive payments from you, they will quietly let you go until you wise up to the problem. Regions has been difficult and sneaky, insisting that doing the bare minimum in terms of customer service is enough to rid them of any culpability. I have not had a good experience, I would highly recommend working with other mortgage providers.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation