Consumer complaint received 2026-01-20 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Escrow, taxes, or insurance
Company: FIRST UNITED BANK AND TRUST COMPANY
State: OK

Complaint narrative:
XXXX my dad died. He had put his house into a trust ahead of his death. 

XX/XX/year> the payment went up, I spoke with the Vice-President of Escrow in an attempt to send a check to deal with the new insurance premiums and tax increases. I was told point blank ; " We aren't required to accept prepayments by law so we don't ''. During this conversation it was made clear that unless they accepted the payment we would be forced to find new insurance coverage. It's worth noting that the Vice-President of Escrow for First United Bank XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX told me point blank they know this forced people to either raise their deductible, get a different insurance policy or refinance ; they just didn't care. At this point they were given notice by someone they believed to be my dad that we would NOT be keeping our XXXX XXXX policy and instead we would be FORCED to get a new policy through a new provider when the policy came up for renewal. This means they were given official notice in XX/XX/year>. 

XX/XX/XXXX ( XXXX, date disputed ) I received a voicemail from First United Bank. I returned the call AND FOR THE FIRST TIME THEY VERIFIED WHETHER OR NOT I WAS XXXX XXXX. Until that moment they had not bothered to verify who they were speaking to. I informed them dad was dead at which point they suddenly wouldn't speak to me & couldn't figure out why they had called me. 

Toward the end of the call the representative said " You have to send us a death certificate and your ID '' at which point I said " I'm not sending you shit ''. The representative did not explain WHY they needed the documentation, they simply demanded it. Unfortunately for them NO ONE demands anything from me regarding my fathers death unless explaining why they need it.

I called back a short time later and told them they didn't have to speak with me, I would talk to them since I already knew why they called about. The homeowners insurance had been through XXXX XXXX and was set to expire XX/XX/year> at which time it would not be renewed. The NEW and CORRCT policy was from XXXX which was indeed the policy they were supposed to pay. That policy was to begin XX/XX/year>. I asked multiple times if they needed anything else or had any questions and I was repeatedly told " NO '' but was assured if they needed anything else they would contact me. I also told them not to contact me UNLESS they actually needed something because it's a waste of my time to return a voicemail only for them to play stupid like they don't know why they called. 

On approximately December 4/5 2025 I received a refund check from XXXX XXXX for over {$4600.00} made out to my dead father for which there is no probate and which I had no way to cash. I immediately called First United Bank XXXX XXXX XXXX ) and spoke to their insurance servicing department who informed me that on XX/XX/XXXX AFTER SPEAKING WITH ME the escrow department had instructed them to pay XXXX XXXX and ignore XXXX in a complete contradiction to my instructions. 

While having this conversation I had made it to my bank who refused to honor the check as it was made out to my dead father ; I then went to a local First United branch while on the phone with one of their customer support reps ( unsure which department ) who instructed me to have the teller deposit the XXXX XXXX refund check directly into escrow. When I tried to do this the teller told me she could but would NOT do so because " I don't like your attitude ''. When I informed her I couldn't care less how she felt about my attitude because it wasn't their money to mess with she did indeed deposit the check. 

I then spent over TWO WEEKS calling and emailing the mortgage servicing department trying to find a solution to this mess. They refused to do much of anything until I had " verified '' my identity. When I informed them their own Vice-President set the ground rules back in XXXX that neither of us does anything we aren't required to do by law and asked them to show me a state or federal law requiring me to give them anything they routinely refused. 

Also during this time the " verification '' documents needed changed no less than 5 times. The initial phone call in early XXXX it was simply death certificate and my ID. Then it changed to death certificate, ID and a form with all my personal info including DOB and social. Then trust documents for both trusts were added to the list ( When I bought my sisters share of the property it was spun off into it's own trust ) and then the requirements were changed yet again to include the literal deeds used in the transfers. 

By the time " verification '' was done I had LITERALLY built them an updated abstract for the property and actually ended up sending a picture of my father in his freaking casket at the cemetery moments before we lowered him into the vault. 

Keep in mind, virtually ALL of this could have been found with a simple, free, public records search in less than 60 seconds. It's literally all available through the XXXX XXXX XXXX office. 

By the time they finally " Verified '' my identity the end of the year was approaching. My identity was finally " Verified '' on XX/XX/year>. At which point they had to call XXXX and pay for the policy over the phone with a credit card because they no longer had enough time to overnight a check. 

I received an automated email from XXXX around XXXX am XX/XX/year> informing me I was about to be billed personally for the policy because they had jacked around so long. 

They literally met the deadline by less than a few hours after knowing of the issue for months. By this point I had sent a QWR demanding an answer in writing as well as a demand letter outlining the harms and costs that had accumulated this far that need to be settled in order for this matter to be resolved. 

I received the QWR response yesterday, XXXX. My initial QWR was sent XXXX. In their QWR response they suddenly indicate that the phone call that ended with a voicemail and launched this whole saga was not made until XX/XX/XXXX ; which is weird since their own people have always referred to that call as being made on XX/XX/XXXX. 

Now they suddenly changed the timeline and claim XXXX XXXX sent them a renewal bill on XX/XX/XXXX which is highly suspicious as both myself and my XXXX XXXX agent had tried to get this renewal bill and it was not yet ready as of XX/XX/XXXX according to the State Farm Agent I spoke with who we have had for over a decade. 

Now they claim they paid XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX ( almost a full month before renewal ) and just so happened to receive the bill from XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX but decided to wait until XX/XX/XXXX to call and ask about why they had XXXX bills from XXXX insurance companies for the same property. 

They proceed to use the rest of the QWR to grossly mis-represent what was said in the phone calls immediately following the voicemail when I called back and informed them my father was dead. I gave them EVERY opportunity to tell me if there were other issues or if there was anything we needed to discuss. They repeatedly told me there was not. I told them not to call me again UNLESS they actually wanted to talk to me about something because to return a voicemail and have them play dumb like they don't know why they called is both annoying and a complete waste of my time. 

So in their QWR response their failure to act after being given notice was because I wasn't verified, but their reason for not calling me back was also because I wasn't verified but they interpreted what I said as an instruction not to call back so honoring that is fine even though I wasn't verified. Misrepresenting and intentionally misinterpreting what I said does not fly with me. 

Keep in mind, if they thought this was all fraud they had a responsibility to try and verify. I live in the house, my phone number is the number on the account. NOT ONCE did they attempt to contact my father after being informed my father had passed away which means they either knew I was being honest and did nothing or they suspected fraud and did nothing. 

Either way, unacceptable. In addition, it doesn't matter whether the initial phone call was on XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX. They were given notice BACK IN XXXX that there would be a new insurance policy before renewal and THEY THOUGHT THAT NOTICE WAS GIVEN BY MY FATHER because their own Vice President of Escrow had that conversation leaving us no choice but to find a new policy through a new provider. Yet they still paid XXXX XXXX anyway! 

In short, this is completely unacceptable. They were given notice IN XX/XX/year> that if they did not accept payment we would be forced to find new insurance and then PAID STATE FARM ANYWAY IN XXXX. 

I find it incredibly suspicious that their own people have always referred to the call informing them dad was dead as being on XX/XX/XXXX, had their own insurance department tell me that they had both insurance invoices on XX/XX/XXXX and had received instructions to ignore me on XX/XX/XXXX after verifying the phone call was made on XX/XX/XXXX only for it now to change to XX/XX/XXXX. They're the ones with the recorded calls that are time and date stamped. When I tried to record calls they refused to talk to me and hung up on me. It's also highly suspicious that now they claim the XXXX invoice showed up the next day ; just a weird coincidence. 

Regardless the fact remains initial notice we would not be continuing the XXXX XXXX policy was given directly to the XXXX XXXX of XXXX in XX/XX/year> by who they believed to be my father. They paid that policy anyway after having received this notice and then created a situation they knew, or should have known, was likely to cause harm. They NEVER tried to contact my father after learning of his death. They NEVER tried to contact me and explain they NEEDED documents to verify me so they could act instead of demanding them like they're entitled to anything at all regarding my fathers death even though by their own admission they knew for at least XXXX weeks this would lead to a disaster of a mess. 

And then when that disaster arrived they took almost XXXX weeks to " verify '' me before acting at the last second ; while changing verification requirements 5 TIMES! Violations include RESPA 12 USC ss 2605, Regulation X 12 CFR ss 1024, escrow administration failures, Unfair Deceptive or Abusive Acts or Practices UDAAP, along with many others including violations of the Federal Privacy Act. 

This is COMPLETELY unacceptable and I want them held accountable. As I've told them every step of the way : The one thing they knew for absolute certain is that the money they had in escrow did not belong to them. 

You can contact them at First United XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, TX XXXX. First United is a bank chartered in the XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX 

I have over XXXX emails between me and First United just from the month of XXXX. If you would like me to forward them to you please provide me a way to forward them directly as I can not upload them here and meet your upload size requirements. 

I have attached a copy of the initial QWR.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation