Consumer complaint received 2024-06-04 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Trying to communicate with the company to fix an issue while managing or servicing your loan
Company: Shellpoint Partners, LLC
State: NC

Complaint narrative:
I am the husband, account under my name but my Wife handles our business matters. XXXX XXXX mortgage company suddenly transferred our account to Newrez/Shellpoint XX/XX/XXXX. We purchased new home insurance in XXXX XXXX. ( We canceled former insurance after filing & winning lawsuit in end of XX/XX/XXXX ) We applied for new insurance online in XXXX XXXX. The company notified us that they could not insure us until our damaged roof was replaced. The roof was replaced XXXX XXXX, XXXX. Notified Newrez via email XXXX XXXX ( as their site was inoperable, was not able to notify them there as customer service suggested ) prior to purchasing that we were thinking of self paying & also that we decided to self pay. We informed the new insurance company that we'd be self paying, made the 1st monthly payment on XXXX XXXX, XXXX via phone. Gave insurance company Newrez 's info. They notified Newrez & emailed us a copy of all that they sent Newrez. After this, we received email on XX/XX/XXXX from insurance company stating Newrez paid our annual home insurance ... AFTER we set up monthly payments with insurance company!!! This caused a significant increase in our mortgage which we could not afford being on fixed incomes. Also, Newrez performed an escrow analysis which showed a huge shortage, which also caused the increase of our monthly mortgage payments. We were not given the option to pay the shortage even if we could ( although we had already paid an escrow shortage to XXXX XXXX early XXXX and didn't understand why we were having to do this twice per year ) We disputed this back & forth via email with loan services ( per customer service suggestion via phone chat ). Newrez stated that due to us receiving a surplus check from former insurance company, that this also caused the escrow shortage. We informed Newrez that we ( actually, my Wife ) had asked customer service how we should handle the check, the agent told her it was ours to do as we pleased as it was a surplus check. My wife asked if our mortgage would increase by keeping the check and was told NO, thusly we kept the check. We explained this to Newrez. This was a back & forth dispute for months with no resolve. Newrez finally addressed this issue via XXXX stating that the insurance check was a disbursement instead of a surplus! I stated to Newrez that we did what was right by asking customer support how to handle our check, not our fault that they have incompetent or uninformed employees handling our account. They stated that the rep didn't know it was a disbursement check, nor did we! All we knew was that it was a refund check & explained that to the rep. Newrez refused to fix our account & also included our property tax in our escrow AFTER telling them that we have been paying our own property tax for several years. A customer service rep informed me to write Newrez about it, we did. After many emails & several letters to Newrez & much stress, this went unresolved for months. Newrez insisted via letters that they made no errors in servicing our account but they actually removed the property tax from our escrow account finally, which means indeed they were in err! Our escrow shortage decreased but there was still the issue of them paying our home insurance, which to date is still unresolved. We contacted the XXXX for assistance but to date, this is still unresolved. Also, we've informed Newrez several times that my Wife was never able to create an online account since XX/XX/XXXX ( many others have the same complaint ). We prefer to make online payments & would like to have access to our account, but this has never been resolved either. Yet they continue to suggest creating an online account. It takes us into a loop after entering login info. I've asked customer service when it would be fixed, the agent had no idea. I notified the XXXX & Newrez that we would seek legal advice as they appear to refuse correcting our account. I suggested that they contact our insurance company to see what went wrong, why they paid our insurance AFTER we set up monthly payments. Our insurance company didn't know why they did so and issued us a refund check for our 1st payment. Newrez since then continues to send us monthly statements, which shows a negative escrow shortage ( - {$560.00} currently ). It also shows {$68.00} per month for taxes & insurance, which we've been self paying taxes & notified them several times that we will continue to self pay it and plan to self pay home insurance ( which will expire XX/XX/XXXX ). Again, we have a letter from Newrez ( XXXX XXXX ) stating that they've closed our escrow account per our request. We are baffled, confused & upset that yet they appear to have kept our escrow open! Is this legal? As this is unresolved and shows a negative escrow shortage, which is very stressful & upsetting still, my Wife has had dangerously XXXX XXXX XXXX to the point that her doctor had to increase the dosage of her meds. She informed her doctor of the stress Newrez has/is causing her. At this point we are still trying to find legal counsel as we are not equipped to battle Newrez & my Wife 's health is at risk. The last " working to gather info '' letter that we received from Newrez is dated XX/XX/XXXX. In the meantime, our account remains incorrect & we're in fear of them trying to keep our escrow account open after stating it is closed, & try to continue paying our home insurance WITHOUT our consent, just so that they can slap us with a huge increase of our mortgage instead of them fixing this. They've had more than ample time by now. I understand that they are facing many lawsuits, some appear to be class action suits but still, they need to correct our account immediately. Even after the XXXX 's assistance, they refuse to do so. Also, Newrez had been sending letters stating that we had to show proof of insurance, although they've paid it without our consent & also sent a letter stating that we did not have insurance between XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX therefore they'd charge us for insurance that they plan to purchase for that period unless they can verify that we had insurance for that period. I called customer service insurance dept on XX/XX/XXXX ( was transferred to them ) & spoke with " XXXX ''. I explained that we could not purchase home insurance until our roof was replaced. She asked if I wanted them to waive being insured by their own choice of insurance companies, I said YES. She placed me on hold, the call dropped or I was hung up on. I called back immediately, did not speak with anyone but was on hold for 5 minutes, I then hung up as I felt sick & that my XXXX XXXX was elevated, XXXX was pounding. Newrez mentioned to XXXX that this was unresolved, I replied to Newrez XXXX XXXX that they had dropped the ball, not us! We've never heard from the insurance dept since then. We asked Newrez how they planned to take that fee from our escrow when knowing we no longer have an escrow account! End of XXXX XXXX, or first part of XXXX XXXX we asked Newrez how much we owed for not having insurance for 6 wks, to date they have not replied! Newrez is not only incompetent but appear to be crooks. They should not be allowed to conduct business of servicing anyone 's mortgage unless & /or until they KNOW HOW to! They try to make their errors our fault & refuse to admit & correct their errors for the most part. I hope that the Gov will shut these people down as we're locked into this XXXX company as we can not refi & don't know of any other way to get a better mortgage company. We have mailed Newrez & XXXX several letters with attachments of emails & other docs to prove our case since XXXX XXXXXXXX. *We have continued to pay our incorrect monthly mortgage payments but we will demand that Newrez/Shellpoint refund us for the overpayment ( by check ) from XX/XX/XXXX until this is resolved correctly. We want this nightmare to end NOW. Someone, PLS make them fix our account! Thank you!

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation