Consumer complaint received 2026-02-26 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem — 
Company: BMO BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: WA

Complaint narrative:
I have a mortgage with BMO, and my checking account is at XXXX XXXX XXXX. My monthly mortgage payment increased from {$5100.00} to {$5600.00}. I logged into XXXX and set up a new auto-pay for {$5600.00} from my checking account. On XX/XX/year>, the correct amount of {$5600.00} was taken out of my checking account and credited to my mortgage. But an additional {$5100.00} was also taken out. I called BMO, and they said the {$5100.00} was set up on the XXXX XXXX XXXX side as a bill pay and I would have to contact XXXX XXXX XXXX to stop it. They also said I could get the {$5100.00} back if I submitted a request in writing. I checked my bill pay settings in XXXX XXXX XXXX and could not find anything for BMO. So, I called XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX said the {$5100.00} was an ACH initiated by BMO and that I would have to call BMO to stop it. I told them that BMO said it was initiated by XXXX. XXXX insisted there was nothing they could do, and I would have to call BMO. I called BMO again. I told them that XXXX said the transaction was initiated on the BMO side. They insisted that it was initiated by XXXX and that there was nothing they could do. They told me I would have to call XXXX. The original auto-pay of {$5100.00} was set up years ago. Truthfully, I do not remember how it was set up. I do know that the original mortgage holder was XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, and that loan was later acquired by BMO. BMO and XXXX are pointing fingers at each other. Both banks are refusing to investigate the matter. XXXX told me that the only way I could stop the payments was to put a " stop pay '' on anything going to BMO. But that included the correct payment of {$5600.00}. So I requested the stop pay. In early XXXX, I attempted a one-time payment of {$5600.00}, but that got reversed because of the stop pay. So I had to lift the stop pay to make that payment and then reimpose it. I set up a different checking account with a different financial institution. But until I can get my employer to reroute my paychecks to the new account, I have to manually make transfers into that account to pay the mortgage. My XXXX mortgage payment bounced, because I had not put enough money into the new account. I fixed the problem, but not in time to avoid a {$220.00} penalty and a negative credit report. Incidentally, the {$5100.00}, which BMO took in XXXX, has still not been returned to me. I made the request in writing in XXXX. After not getting a response for a month, I called BMO. They said I also needed to provide a bank statement showing the money had been taken from my checking account, which I did. Still no refund. I'm disappointed in the lack of customer service from both banks. All they have done is point fingers at each other. They should be able to figure out how to stop the auto pay of the old amount, {$5100.00} without me having to hassle with setting up a new checking account.

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