Consumer complaint received 2022-04-08 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: Dovenmuehle Mortgage, Inc.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
For approximately one year I have requested multiple Mortgage Pay-off statements from my mortgage servicer, Dovenmuehle Mortgage , Inc . However, when I use the tool to generate a statement, it fails. The error message is shown on my screen then claims that a printed statement will be mailed to me. However, as of today, I have not received anything in this regard. 

According to Regulation Z of the CFPB, I am entitled to know the actual balance of my mortgage. And, upon request, should be furnished to me without delay. 

Furthermore, I should also be entitled to know the running balance of my escrow account as well. However, Dovenmuehle appears to use some type of scheme to hide my current escrow balance within my online account dashboard. Instead, they mix inexplicable balances within various XXXX page views of my Account History. Thus, making it appear as though the current ( negative ) balance, existed several months, or even years ago, when that is not the case. This is very troubling because it makes it difficult to view, at a glance, mistakes that may exist and need urgent attention. 

However, if I use the download tool that is rather small and obscured, I can get the CSV file. Once opened onto a spreadsheet, I can then see my true escrow balance and history, despite the erroneous errors shown within the online XXXX. Please bear in mind that this takes additional time and a special accounting program to accomplish, and is something that the average consumer should not have to be burdened with. 

On a separate note, my Account History is also in question. The principal balance ( s ) shown for various dates do not match what is on my statements. However, there is also a CSV download tool available on the website for me to use. Once I've downloaded my Account History, I notice that it includes Payment ID 's Transaction dates and Transaction IDs, which is a good thing. However, when I compare this balance sheet with the balance sheet furnished to me by XXXX XXXX, Loan Servicing Manager at XXXX XXXX ( Employer of Dovenmuehle, there is an {$8700.00} discrepancy in Dovenmuehle/XXXX  XXXX 's advantage. 

Additionally, on XX/XX/XXXX, without my consent or fore-knowledge, Dovenmuehle processed a Deferment, that by design, was supposed to bring my account into balance, post forbearance. However, this has never happened. At the time, my outstanding balance was {$10000.00}. This outstanding balance was comprised of {$6200.00} ( principal and Interest ), {$4100.00} ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ), and {$250.00}. ( Escrow surplus/cushion ). 

A nice clean headache-free Deferment should have been processed for {$10000.00}. However, for reasons yet to be explained, the servicer processed a deferment for {$8700.00}. The difference between the outstanding balance and the ( un-authorized ) deferment is {$1600.00}. The exact amount that was disbursed from my escrow to cover property taxes, was on XX/XX/XXXX. Per XXXX XXXX guideline XXXX ( b ) : Capitalization rules- The Servicer may capitalize any expense or delinquent amount outlined in the table below provided that such capitalization is not prohibited by applicable federal, State or local law, the amount to be capitalized is part of the indebtedness secured by the current Mortgage, and the expense complies with Exhibits 57 and 57A. ... Funds advanced by the Servicer, or to be advanced and paid to a third party, prior to the date the Borrower executes the loan modification agreement for the payment of any property taxes and property and mortgage insurance premiums. 

The forbearance I was placed in ( without consent ) was processed on XX/XX/XXXX, by XXXX XXXX. Either she or someone else then backdated the forbearance to begin on XX/XX/XXXX and scheduled to expire on XX/XX/XXXX. 

Additionally, because I was unaware I had been placed in forbearance, I submitted a mortgage payment ( late ) which covered the month of XXXX. Hence, technically, my forbearance should have been considered to have begun and ended on XX/XX/XXXX of the calendar year. Whether the start and end date of my forbearance were either XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX, there is no logical explanation why the tax payment that occurred on XX/XX/XXXX, was not properly calculated, repaid to my escrow via the deferment, and then capitalized along with the other property tax and insurance payments that impacted my escrow only a few months prior on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. 

I never requested a deferment to cure my outstanding balance. On multiple occasions, between XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, every phone contact I had with customer service specified that I was interested in a loan modification. Whenever an agent mentioned Deferment I would always interrupt them and tell them to please stop talking about the Deferment and explain in more detail how the Loan Modification worked. As I recall the many conversations I had with customer service agents, I remember several times an agent would insist that they needed to read the script as it was written. This tells me that the scheme to push people into Deferments was premeditated. 

Had the Deferment been properly applied, and free of miscalculations, it would have sufficed, and been less issue to deal with. Unfortunately, the manufacturing of an escrow shortage by Dovenmuehle had an immediate effect on my monthly mortgage payments. According to XXXX XXXX guidelines : 8201.1 : Escrow for property taxes, ground rents, and assessments or other charges- ( ii ) Escrow shortages : If the Borrower is unable to pay an Escrow shortage as a lump sum, then the Borrower must pay the shortage as part of the monthly payment ( " Projected Monthly Escrow Shortage Payments '' ) on the Mortgage. If the Borrower must pay Projected Monthly Escrow Shortage Payments, then the Servicer must : Spread the repayment of the Escrow shortage amount in equal monthly payments for not more than 60 months ; and Account for any remaining unpaid amount of the Escrow shortage in any subsequent Escrow analysis to ensure that the Borrower is able to continue to pay all Escrow shortage amounts over the remaining portion of either the current remaining Escrow shortage repayment period or a period up to 60 months. The Servicer may not accelerate or compress the remaining Escrow shortage amount into a new Escrow payment or shorter repayment period as a result of a future Escrow analysis. 

In violation of the aforementioned guideline, Dovenmuehle later neglected to spread this shortage over 60 months as prescribed by XXXX XXXX, but instead, it spread the shortage over 12 months. Thus making my payment unaffordable. 

Dovenmuehle not only crafted an escrow shortage, but they also duplicated the adjustments field entries for my Deferment on two separate ledgers. In short, they have effectively doubled-counted my outstanding balance, while simultaneously short-changing my escrow balance, and have placed me on a path to homeownership failure. 

According to my online statements, my principal balance, AFTER adjustments should be {$100000.00}. However, each time I am presented with a Loan Modification offer, the deferment for {$8700.00}. is added on top of my principal balance, for a new principal balance of {$110000.00}. This, however, is incorrect. My true principal balance ought to be {$100000.00}. 

I am also mindful of the fact that during the past several months that I have been protesting the mistakes on my account, additional outstanding payments have accumulated for {$7700.00}. According to Dovenmuehle 's estimate, my total owed is {$120000.00}. However, this total includes duplicate field entries of the deferment ( {$8700.00} ) and is therefore erroneous. At best, my principal balance should be {$110000.00} = ( {$100000.00} + {$7700.00} ). 

The above equation can be verified by looking at Payment ID # : XXXX, Transaction Date : XX/XX/XXXX, Transaction ID # : XXXX. Between XXXX/XXXX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX, I made XXXX regular monthly payments, my escrow account had a positive balance of {$28.00}. The fact that my downloadable loan history ( CSV Spreadsheet ) contains Transaction and Payment ID # s, I trust this information more than the spreadsheet prepared by the loss mitigation department. It is evident, that someone has carried the wrong rial balance from one sheet to the next. 

Had Dovenmuehle presented a loan modification using the proper principal balance owed ( {$100000.00} ) amortized over a 40-yeaXXXX term, it should have been $ XXXX 2.875 %. This payment would have included Principal and Interest, as well as Taxes and Insurance ( $ XXXX ). 

However, the first loan modification I received in XXXX of XXXX had a payment of {$770.00}. XXXX 2.875 % ). Approximately $ XXXX, more per month than what a properly constructed loan modification should have been. 

Now, after one year of protesting, the current loan modification offer on the table is $ XXXX. @ 3.5 % interest. However, when I calculate a 40-year term with a principal balance of {$110000.00}, the payment should be {$730.00}, not {$870.00}. So again, Dovenmuehle is doing something behind the scenes to cause such a discrepancy. 

On XXXX I phoned Dovenmuehle 's Loss Mitigation Department, along with a Representative from XXXX, a non-profit agency tasked with assisting homeowners to get back on track with their mortgages. We were connected with a person by the name of XXXX. Although XXXX asked me the reason for my call before I could finish articulating the many errors that concerned me, all of which I have outlined above in this complaint letter, XXXX interrupted me and I never was able to get a word in edgewise from that point forward. Before I knew it we'd been on the phone for two solid hours, and not a single issue mentioned above was resolved. 

At one point, when I thought that perhaps I had finally gotten at least one point across, that being, why was my Deferment used to repay only {$2500.00} of my escrow shortage, but not the full {$4100.00} that existed at the time? Suddenly XXXX had no answer or comeback. she then placed me on hold for several minutes. When she returned to the phone, she still had no answer but began deflecting and talking about something else. When i attempted to nail her down with closed ended questions so that we could at least move along one -step at a time without deflections, she began stating that a person by the name of XXXX XXXX XXXX would be reaching out to me to better explain the numbers. I asked how long would it be for a call. She stated 24-48 hours. It has now been seven days, and no calls or emails have arrived from XXXX XXXX XXXX. It may be worth mentioning, that on XX/XX/XXXX, I received a email from XXXX XXXX. The email contained a so-called breakdown of the first Loan Modification offer I had received with the inexplicable increase to my principal balance and a $ XXXXmonthly payment. Almost immediately I discovered the discrepancies. I wrote her back immediately after running my calculations, and I have never heard back from her since. 

I do not understand the resistance to correcting the errors within my mortgage account. I am doing my very best to resolve this issue amicably. However, this has become a serious problem. Before I secure legal counsel, I would like to request that the CFPB take a good look at the documents I have submitted, and force Dovenmuehle to provide an answer as to why there are two different balance sheets with conflicting numbers and balances on the same identical dates?

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation