Consumer complaint received 2024-12-30 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Payment process
Company: PENTAGON FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
State: VA

Complaint narrative:
Suspected fraudulent behavior PENFED Credit Union using its billpay service to delay mortgage payments with very low interest rates in order to accrue late fees. About XXXX I refinanced my PENFED mortgage to a PENFED mortgage with a much lower interest rate of approximately 2.25 %. Prior to refinancing I paid both my original PENFED mortgage and HELOC using PENFEDs billpay service- the payments was processed electronically for both. I rarely had issues. About a year after refinancing my mortgage to a much lower rate PENFED stopped allowing its billpay to send electronic payments from my PENFED checking account to my PENFED mortgage account it was sending itself a check. But did NOT do the same for the HELOC which has an approximate interest rate of 7-7.5 % my HELOC payments are still being send electronically with out any issues. 
It was at this point my mortgage payments stated arriving late, and recently not at all. And Ive started accruing late fees. Since the change I estimate Ive been charged over {$1000.00} in late fees, some of which Ive paid ( though I contend the fault is PENFEDs not mine and I should not have to pay ) ; some have been forgiven after Ive complained. 
My last payment for XX/XX/XXXX was not processed. Apparently PENFED tweaked its mailing address, i.e., changed the po box number for its Mortgage payments in or about XX/XX/XXXX. Now the mailing address for both the HELOC and the Mortgage are exactly the same. 
When I call/called PENFED the billpay team tells me this is because PENFED uses a third party bill pay service. But cant explain why the third party can send electronic payments for the HELOC with the higher interest rate but not the mortgage with the much lower interest rate for which PENFED prints a check and mails it to itself. PENFED billpay also says this is how PENFED Mortgage Servicing has set it up and that its not anything they can fix. When I talk with PEFED Mortgage servicing, they cant explain the reason and blames this on PENFEDs billpay/third party. 
I filed a complaint with the XXXX  on XX/XX/XXXX. I received a call from PENFED billpay on Friday XX/XX/XXXX. During this call a gentleman who works directly for PENFED billpay explained to me that, based on what he could see, the reason for the difference was the way the payees had been set up in billpay. The HELOCs payee is PFCU Mortgage Servicing and the mortgages payee is PENFED Credit Union. He stated the billpay system recognizes PFCU Mortgage Servicing as a payee to which it can send payments electronically. And, despite my mortgage bill stating that payments are to be made out to PENFED Credit Union and mailed to PENFED Credit Union, po box . XXXX, Texas XXXX, PENFEDs billpay doesnt recognize this payee as on to which it can send an electronic payment. Therefore it has to print and mail itself a check which takes time. Note that mortgage payments scheduled to be paid on the first of the month take anywhere from 7-20+ days for the money to be withdrawn from my account. No other small or large business I deal to which PENFED mails a check has this problem. When Ive asked, all report receiving the check the day before, on or the day after they scheduled payment and money is almost always withdrawn promptly. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I was instructed to delete my existing PENFED Credit Union payee for my mortgage and set up a new one with the same payee as HELOC. 
So, today, XX/XX/XXXX, I did just that. However, PENFED billpay doesnt recognize PFCU Mortgage Servicing associated with my mortgages account number as a payee to which it can send electronic payment. Again, when I called PENFED today, billpay said ( through a general customer service rep who said she wasnt allowed to transfer me directly to a PENFED billpay rep ) was PENFED Mortgage Servicings choice ; and when I then spoke with PENFEDs Mortgage Servicing I was told this was a PENFED billpay issue.

Could I allow PENFED to go in and automatically withdraw money from my checking account Yes. However, the purpose of a billpay service is to be able to monitor and manage all/most payment transactions in one place. I only allow a very few ( at most three ) payees to directly withdraw because I want to maintain control over my money. Again, the point of a billpay service. As far as my mortgage goes and not the HELOC PENFED either doesnt want me using its billpay service ( which is a bit suspect ) or has intentionally configured its systems to delay the payment of my loan ( my mortgage ), which I refinanced very low rate, to recoup profit it lost when I refinanced.

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