Consumer complaint received 2025-02-18 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Escrow, taxes, or insurance
Company: Shellpoint Partners, LLC
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
[ IF I CAN I WILL ATTACH THE LETTER BELOW WITH ALL ATTACHMENTS ] We desire to file a formal complaint with you regarding our mortgage lender. On or about XX/XX/XXXX, the lender Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing XXXX Newrez LLC dba Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing NMLS XXXX XXXX, hereinafter Shellpoint ) took over the mortgage loan XXXX formerly owned by Specialized Loan Servicing ( SLS ) and formerly owned by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Since taking over the mortgage loan the lender Shellpoint has consistently shown a pattern of not properly applying payments to our loan, leading to inaccurate account balances with intent to cause potential delinquency notices in their favor. In addition, they have purposefully provided poor customer service, including difficulty reaching representatives, lack of timely responses to inquiries, and unclear or lack of any explanations whatsoever regarding account details. 

On or BEFORE XX/XX/XXXX, the lender Shellpoint and the homeowner both received a XXXX Real Estate Tax Bill  due by XX/XX/XXXX, for {$3200.00}, attached hereto as Exhibit XXXX on Document A. The XXXX Real Estate Tax Bill represented a large tax increase of {$1500.00} from the prior year XXXX Real Estate Tax Bill which was only {$1700.00}. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, instead of paying the tax bill of {$3200.00} due from the escrow funds, the lender Shellpoint instead chose to send a refund check for {$680.00} as Surplus Disbursement to us, which created a large shortage in our escrow account balance, attached hereto as page 3 of Document B and referenced as a line item, attached hereto as Exhibit 5B on Document A. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, we noticed that the escrow balance was only {$2200.00} which was insufficient funds to pay the {$3200.00} for the XXXX Real Estate Tax Bill. Given the fact that the lender Shellpoint was already actively and purposefully participating in shorting our escrow account for their own gain, we paid the {$3200.00} due to the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX with our XXXX XXXX card, attached hereto as Exhibit 2A, Exhibit 2B, Exhibit 2C on Document A. We felt it prudent to pay the bill ourselves even though our mortgage payment was supposed to pay this tax bill with our escrow funds, as we did not trust that the lender Shellpoint would timely pay the bill. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, the lender submitted a payment of the {$3200.00} tax bill. On XX/XX/XXXX, the XXXX XXXX XXXX Collector returned the uncashed funds to the lender and during the past XXXX day timeframe they have not attempted to refund the money. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted the lender Shellpoint via their secure online website messaging system, stating I would like to confirm that Shellpoint / NewRez is paying taxes, attached hereto as Exhibit 3 on Document A. Their website appears to allow attachments to be sent, however, it in fact fails to send the message each and every time any documents are attached. Their website generates a generic automated email response to each message sent, attached hereto as Exhibit 4 on Document A. There was no further follow up conducted by the lender Shellpoint to this message. They also utilize a completely separate website to forward messages which has been found by us to be defective in its use. It has consistently been our experience that they NEVER conduct any follow-up to any messages sent by us to them. There is no accountability by the lender Shellpoint whatsoever. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, we called the lender Shellpoint and also mailed a follow up letter to the lender Shellpoint, attached hereto as Document A requesting a refund of the {$3200.00}. 

In addition, on a XX/XX/XXXX, on a document entitled Annual Escrow Account Disclosure Statement - Account History, attached hereto as Document B, the lender Shellpoint knew or should have known that the with the increase of the XXXX Real Estate Tax Bill from {$1700.00} to {$3200.00}, for XXXX that the mortgage payment would also increase. It should be noted that the XXXX XXXX XXXX was {$1400.00} and the XXXX County Taxes were {$1700.00} for a total of {$3100.00} in escrow. It should be noted that the XXXX XXXX XXXX was {$1400.00} and the XXXX County Taxes were $ XXXXfor a total of {$4700.00} in escrow. Therefore, the lender Shellpoint was fully aware that the escrow increased by {$1500.00} and thus the mortgage payment would also increase for XXXX. 

It is quite obvious, to anyone with any common sense whatsoever, that the XXXX mortgage payment of {$1400.00}, should NOT be reduced to {$1400.00} for years XXXX, as indicated on the XX/XX/XXXX Statement attached hereto as Document C and the XX/XX/XXXX Statement attached hereto as Document D. The lender Shellpoint is and has been fully aware that the escrow amount needed increased as the tax bill increased by {$1500.00} and they have knowingly and/or purposefully taken no steps whatsoever to recalculate an accurate and justified mortgage payment amount. The lender Shellpoint is fully aware that it should have performed a re-assessment and increased the mortgage payment. However, the lender Shellpoint has taken it upon themselves to decrease the mortgage payment from payment in XXXX of {$1400.00}, to a payment in XXXX of {$1400.00}, which they reasonably knew or should have known would cause a shortfall in the escrow account. The amount will continue grow larger each month thereafter for the year XXXX for the homeowner, to the own benefit of the lender Shellpoint. 

We have on numerous occasions, including but not limited to on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX, written, mailed letters and documents, conducted phone calls, requested manager level assistance while on calls and/or sent secure email messages via the website of the lender Shellpoint to resolve these multiple ongoing matters with them. The matter include : ( XXXX ) the refund of {$3200.00} regarding the tax bill refund, to which the lender has not made efforts or attempted to refund over the last XXXX days ; and ( XXXX ) recalculation of our mortgage payment increasing the amount due to the increase of our property tax bill, to which they have seen fit to actually reduce our mortgage payment from {$1400.00} to {$1400.00}, and are once again actively and purposefully participating in further shorting our escrow account to their own benefit. As of XX/XX/XXXX, the ONLY letter ever received from the lender Shellpoint regarding our requests between XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, is a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, which simply states as follows : This letter is to acknowledge your recent inquiry regarding the above referenced loan, attached hereto as Document E. They have purposefully delayed and stalled doing nothing and with each call to them, each representative systematically adds XXXX days for them to begin to perform a task pursuant to our repeated requests. 

We are informed on all calls to the lender Shellpoint that the conversation is recorded. We therefore request a full and complete typed transcript of our conversations with every representative with which we have spoken. We also request a copy of all typed notes recorded by every representative with which we have spoken. It is clear that the intent is to use these recorded communications for clarity sake, therefore, there should be no reason these transcripts and notes can not be provided to us, unless the lender Shellpoint is willfully attempting to hide something or deceive us in some way. 
In addition, as of XX/XX/XXXX, the lender Shellpoint has failed to pay our Florida Insurance Guaranty Association ( FIGA ) fees of {$14.00} from our escrow account, which was due today XX/XX/XXXX, pursuant to the insurance policy with our Universal Insurance & Casualty Policy. Therefore, given their non-payment of the FIGA fees, we on XX/XX/XXXX, paid the fee and am due a refund from the lender. Please note, on the XX/XX/XXXX, Closing Disclosure document, XXXX pages, it sets forth a monthly escrow amount of {$280.00} for the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX mortgage loan XXXX, which was taken over by lender Shellpoint, attached hereto as Document F. It states on the Closing Disclosure, on page 4 of 5, as follows : Escrow Account For now, your loan [ X ] will have an escrow account ( also called an impound or trust.. .Your lender may be liable for penalties and interest for failing to make a payment. 
As of XX/XX/XXXX, on lender Shellpoint website the Payment History dated XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, attached hereto as Document G. This document and the document attached hereto as Exhibit 5B on Document A and the other documents attached hereto make it abundantly clear that lender Shellpoint is not properly applying payments to our loan, leading to inaccurate account balances with intent to cause potential delinquency notices in their favor. In addition, they continue to consistently and purposefully provided poor customer service, including difficulty reaching representatives, lack of timely responses to inquiries, and unclear or lack of any explanations whatsoever regarding account details. 

In addition, please note, the lender Shellpoint purposefully utilizes two ( 2 ) separate deceptive websites to confuse and delay information for homeowners. The first Shellpoint website ( 1 ) https : //signin.shellpointmtg.com/signin/myaccount is only used to view account information with one user name and password login. The second NewRez website ( 2 ) https : //ssa.shellpointmtg.com/ # / to supposedly used to send secure messages to homeowners, with a 2nd separate user name and password. This second website has been found to be broken and/or void of any information or messages. 

We desire your assistance with resolving all these matters set forth above as soon as possible. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Company public response: Company believes complaint represents an opportunity for improvement to better serve consumers
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation