Consumer complaint received 2023-09-13 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Payment process
Company: Specialized Loan Servicing Holdings LLC
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
XX/XX/XXXX I submitted a payment for {$5300.00} to Specialized Loan Servicing through XXXX  XXXX XXXX online bill payment system with the intent of paying off my HELOC. All other payments that I have made to SLS have been via this method. 
XX/XX/XXXX I was advised that the payment was being refused and refunded because they require payoffs to be in certified funds and delivered differently than other payments. The payment was made directly from XXXX  XXXX XXXX to Specialized Loan Servicing via electronic transfer. 
XX/XX/XXXX I sent a message to SLS inquiring about how and when my money would be returned. 
XX/XX/XXXX I received a response that the refund process could take up to 15 days. I responded that the HOW question was not answered. I verified with XXXX  that the payment was delivered electronically. 
XX/XX/XXXX I received a response that funds would be refunded to the same form of payment as received. 
XX/XX/XXXX Called SLS to find out why my money was not back to XXXX since 15 days had passed. I was informed that the process could take up to XXXX business days. I asked to speak to a supervisor. She confirmed that the process could take up to XXXX business days and indicated that the money should be back to XXXX  by XX/XX/XXXX. 
XX/XX/XXXX Called SLS to find out why my money was not back to XXXX. I was told that the money had already been sent back to XXXX. 
XX/XX/XXXX Called SLS to find out why my money was not back to XXXX. I was told it could take up to XXXX business days. I was told it went out on XXXX so, I asked for a trace number and was told none was available. I asked to speak to a supervisor, held for an additional XXXX minutes and was disconnected. I contacted XXXX. The CSR informed me that she could see that the funds were returned from SLS on XXXX. She said she would initiate a case to try to expedite the return of funds to my account. Received a response from XXXX that they were researching the issue and would contact me with an update or resolution in XXXX business days. I contend that there was nothing left to research, they knew they had the money and knew it belonged to me. 
XX/XX/XXXX I received a message from XXXX  that funds would be credited to my account in XXXX business days. 
XX/XX/XXXX I was able to see the deposit was made to my account during overnight processing on XX/XX/XXXX. 

My issue is that I made a good faith effort to make a payment to SLS. SLS refused to accept my payment. They determined that they were going to refuse the payment by XX/XX/XXXX but did not accomplish the return of the funds until XXXX. Then XXXX takes until XX/XX/XXXX to restore my access to the funds. I think that it is not fair that these financial institutions are able to implement these arbitrary policies about the return of customers ' funds and withhold the customers ' access to deposits that legitimately belong to the customer.

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