Consumer complaint received 2025-12-03 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — FHA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Escrow, taxes, or insurance
Company: Norwich Commercial Group, Inc.
State: CT

Complaint narrative:
I have an XXXX mortgage on my primary residence in Connecticut that has been serviced by the same company Norcom Mortgage ( now branding as XXXX  ) since XXXX. In XXXX, the servicers mishandling of my escrow account caused a sudden and extreme payment increase, which directly contributed to my need to file XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

For years my total monthly payment was {$1100.00}. In XX/XX/XXXX, I discovered that my regular monthly payment had suddenly increased to {$2000.00} without practical advance notice or a more enforced effort to communicate, an exact increase of {$890.00} per month. 

This happened because the servicer failed to perform annual escrow analyses for multiple years and then ran a large catch-up analysis that was also incorrect. In a RESPA response letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, the servicer admitted that no escrow analyses were completed in XXXX and XXXX due to its own error and that no analysis was completed in XXXX due to a partial-claim program. The only escrow statements they provided were from XXXX and XXXX. There is no evidence that any escrow analysis was done at all for XXXX until a XX/XX/XXXX analysis. 

That XX/XX/XXXX analysis showed a combined escrow shortage and deficiency of {$8100.00} and included a {$710.00} tax item that was no longer actually due. Based on this, the servicer increased my monthly payment from {$1100.00} to {$2000.00} starting in XX/XX/XXXX. I immediately contacted the company through its XXXX, submitted a RESPA request, and explained that I could not absorb an extra {$890.00} per month with no warning. They told me there would be no negative credit reporting or late fees and that a written response would follow. To make even the XXXX payment at {$2000.00}, I had to pull money from my small business adding risk to the business. 

The RESPA packet was received at my residence on XX/XX/XXXX ( from the XX/XX/XXXX request ) thus past any action available for finding a form of relief in XXXX as well as XXXX due to timing. At this time I asked for the exact amount needed to fully cure the shortage/deficiency. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, the servicer told me that after XXXX months of higher payments and correcting the erroneous tax item, the remaining deficiency was {$1100.00} and the remaining shortage was {$3900.00}, for a total cure of {$5000.00}. On XX/XX/XXXX, I paid {$5000.00} in a lump sum funded by selling my only stock investment at a significant loss. 

The company has since corrected the ongoing payment ( now {$1300.00} ) and removed the spread, but the damage was already done. In a short period, I was forced to pay XXXX months at {$2000.00} instead of {$1100.00} ( roughly {$2600.00} more than expected ) plus a {$5000.00} lump sum to fix escrow problems that resulted from years of missed analyses and a flawed XXXX analysis. At the time, my basic monthly expenses already slightly exceeded my income, and I was surviving on careful timing and minimum payments. This sudden housing cost spike directly contributed to my need to file Chapter XXXX bankruptcy in XX/XX/XXXX. 

This was not the first problem I have had with this servicer. In XXXX, they double-paid my property taxes ( for XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX ) and then, after a servicing transfer, failed to record that the XXXX installment had already been paid, causing my account to be treated as deficient and cancelling autopay. I filed a XXXX  complaint at that time, and the servicer admitted multiple errors with tax disbursements and the transfer. Since then, the company has repeatedly changed systems and portals, and older secure messages have become inaccessible to me as the borrower, making it difficult to document issues. There were also delays and confusion around a COVID partial-claim/assistance process in XXXX, which contributed to a late mortgage payment being reported on my credit report. 

During XXXX and into XXXX, my income was very low and unstable. I repeatedly notified the servicer in writing when payments would be late and explained my hardship, but I continued doing everything I could to keep the loan going. Throughout this period I reasonably relied on the servicer to perform required annual escrow analyses so that tax and insurance changes would be addressed gradually and with notice. Instead, the servicer allowed escrow problems to build for years, then corrected everything at once in a way that was unaffordable and directly pushed me into bankruptcy. I have attached additional documents related to this report.

Company response to consumer: Untimely response