Consumer complaint received 2024-06-11 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Escrow, taxes, or insurance
Company: PENNYMAC LOAN SERVICES, LLC.
State: MD

Complaint narrative:
From : XXXX XXXX Todays Date : XX/XX/XXXX Penny Mac Statement of Facts I have a mortgage with Penny Mac a company out of XXXX. My Row House is located in XXXX XXXX. Located at XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX and the house has a detached garage across the alley at the back of the house. The row house is one tax account and the garage is the second tax account that I have one mortgage on through XXXX XXXX. 
I got my escrow estimate at the beginning of XXXX. My monthly payment went from {$1000.00} a month to {$1400.00}. It seemed like a very large jump. Please note both my taxes on my house and garage went as my home owners insurance. So I decided to run the numbers and see if Penny Mac had made a mistake in my Escrow Analysis. After I checked their math I realized that Penny Mac had made a mistake.

So I called Penny Mac to have them review my Escrow Analysis. When I informed them that they had the estimated taxes for the next wrong I asked them where they got the number from. They told me that they had a private service that just provides a number for my yearly taxes. There number is {$5000.00} for both my Row House and Garage ( Please see attached Escrow Analysis ). When I told them that I believe their number was incorrect and I calculated the correct number from a public taxation records site that Maryland Provides ( SDAT ) they said that they can not change their number. They also said they could not manually calculate my yearly tax for both the Row House and the Garage. They said their company policy state they are prohibited from multiply a simple assessed value times a percentage. 
I told them they could access my assessed value from SDAT and multiply it by the real property tax rate from the XXXX City.gov website. The XXXX XXXX Tax rate is {$2.00} per {$100.00} of assessed value. Plus the XXXX State tax rate of {$0.00} of {$100.00} of assessed value. When I calculate my taxes from the data from SDAT website with the above percentage I get a tax bill of {$4000.00}. Please note I did contact the State Tax Assessors Office to confirm my calculations. 
When I told Penny Mac they needed to correct the numbers they said they would not. I would have to provide numbers to them to correct their Escrow numbers. I told them to go ahead and use my numbers. At that time I believe that I had corrected the issue at hand. 
So as of today I paid one monthly payment for last month at the incorrect value {$1400.00}. Today I went to the website and my monthly statement was still incorrect at {$1400.00} for this upcoming payment on XX/XX/XXXX. I called them up today and again I got another excuse. They told me corrections were made and my Row House would have a tax value of {$4000.00} and my garage would be {$1000.00}. I tried to explain that their numbers are were wrong but they are now saying that the tax assessor office must provide the total taxes owed. Something that they said they could not take before. 
So to aid you in your review of my situation. I have attached an incorrect monthly statement in which I will be required to pay {$1400.00} for the next XXXX months. I have also attached my Escrow Analysis.

To the best of my knowledge my Principle & Interest is {$740.00} per month. My new Home Owners Insurance is {$940.00} a year ( {$78.00} per month ). My tax bill for the Row House is {$3900.00} for the year ( {$320.00} a month ) from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX and my tax bill for the garage is {$110.00} ( {$9.00} ) a month. Escrow Reserve Payment of {$82.00} per month. Escrow Shortage Payment of {$64.00}. That means that my monthly payment should be {$1300.00}. If I am correct that is a difference of {$79.00} per month or {$950.00} a year. 
Please take note that I have an Escrow Balance of a positive {$1500.00} as of XX/XX/XXXX. I dont know what the minimum balance is required but with all the pushback I have gotten with them I believe they need to recalculate my escrow account with the correct tax numbers and fully explain why they can not get the tax numbers correct.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation