Consumer complaint received 2025-03-10 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — VA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Escrow, taxes, or insurance
Company: CrossCountry Mortgage LLC
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
Regarding my mortgage with Cross Country Mortgage : Urgent unaccounted for XXXX  XXXX. I am a 100 % XXXX XXXX XXXX, eligible for a percentage of County Tax Exemptions. This exemption is reflected on the bills from the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Treasury office. I bought the house XX/XX/XXXX, and after the exemption went into effect a few months later, the County said it is refunded from the time I bought the house. At that time, the county stated that I needed to contact Cross Country Mortgage to get my mortgage lowered to reflect the exemption. After sending CCM my paperwork numerous times & numerous phone calls just receiving the answer basically saying it still needs to be processed, I had to get my Realtor & mortgage Broker involved to and they FINALLY lowered my mortgage from {$3200.00} to {$2500.00} in XX/XX/XXXX. Thats XXXX years, or 27 months, or {$18000.00} later. I received a check on XXXX, XXXX XXXX for {$10000.00}, still leaving {$8200.00} unaccounted for. 

XXXX. Fast forward to XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX sold my loan within themselves, but again did not transfer any of XXXXy County Tax exemption paperwork, raising my mortgage to {$3300.00}. After 4 months of trying to contact CCM to get this handled, once again, I had to get the mortgage broker involved. On XX/XX/XXXX, I got an email stating my payment will resume back to {$2500.00} in XX/XX/XXXX & that I would receive a check for the surplus. Thats 4 months of overpaying {$810.00} per month, totaling {$3200.00}. I received a check dated XX/XX/XXXX, for {$1400.00}, still leaving {$1700.00} unaccounted for. 

XXXX. XXXX is claiming that my escrow account is short and have raised my mortgage as of XX/XX/XXXX, to {$3700.00}. I had to get the mortgage broker involved, which resulted in XXXX doing a re-assessment and they decided on {$3500.00}, which is {$1000.00} more than my usual mortgage payment.

4. My account has been set up since purchase to take out escrow for Insurance and Tax payments. However, I have been paying the County Taxes on my own since I bought the house. I physically went down to XXXX XXXX XXXX Treasurer-Tax Collector office on XX/XX/XXXX, to get the County Tax payment records. The Clerk was kind enough to go over the payment records with me as well : a. Since my purchase in XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX tax clerk stated that I have been making ALL the tax payments directly myself. 
b. The ONLY time CCM even ATTEMPTED to pay was XX/XX/XXXX, in which it got rejected and refunded to CCM. I reference CCM as a whole instead of saying my escrow account because CCM is claiming that my escrow account is short, but if the refund was received, that alone should have made it not short to pay taxes again come XXXX if they actually paid it. 
c. I was advised by CCM in XX/XX/XXXX to stop paying XXXX XXXX taxes on my own. I obliged, as they stated they paid them for XXXX already. However, when I went to XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, the County Clerk stated that the taxes have NOT been paid yet & that I will be delinquent come XXXX. 
XXXX. The taxes Ive paid since XX/XX/XXXX are as follows : a. XXXX : {$5000.00} XXXX. XXXX : {$6500.00} XXXX XXXX : {$6500.00} XXXX XXXX : {$6600.00} XXXX XXXX {$25000.00} That I have paid out of my own pocket that CCM is claiming they have paid, yet the County has no record of them even ATTEMPTING, except for XX/XX/XXXX, where it shows the County Rejected CCM payment, in which it SHOULD have been refunded to my account, which SHOULD equal the amount of my XXXX XXXX Tax payment. However, CCM shows my escrow short and feels it appropriate to charge me over $ XXXX more. 
XXXX. The Mortgage broker has requested proof of checks sent/cashed to the County, as CCM has claimed to have been paying my taxes, but the County has no record of their payments with the exception of the XX/XX/XXXX refund they issued CCM. We have received no response or proof of payments at this time.

7. I have requested over 5 times now that CCM, at the very least, remove my tax impound account as there have been multiple discrepancies with my disbursements and unaccounted for money. I have received no answer at this time. 
8. In addition to the unaccounted tax payments, I noticed that my homeowners insurance got cancelled, which is supposed to come out of my escrow account as well.

a. Unfortunately, the CCM website is not great for retrieving information & I was unable to save/screenshot that notification.

9. The total unaccounted for funds owed to me are at LEAST {$35000.00}. I am requesting a full investigation on monies owed to me and a refund be issued to me directly for the overage payments in a form of a check. 

These discrepancies come across as mortgage fraud. They have caused extreme financial burdens and emotional hardships for myself and my family.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation