Consumer complaint received 2025-03-31 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — VA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Payment process
Company: PLANET HOME LENDING, LLC
State: CO

Complaint narrative:
On Saturday XX/XX/XXXX, I received a letter from the Dept. of Veterans Affairs notifying me that I was delinquent on my mortgage. This prompted my immediate investigation into why I received that letter as I have paid all mortgage payments in full and on time since my purchase of the house on XX/XX/XXXX. Upon investigation, I noted all my statements showed that I was up to date and had paid my mortgage with a total YTD amount for XXXX of {$7400.00}. My bank also shows withdrawals each month to my lender, Planet Home Lending for the full amount shown on each statement. I then checked the Planet Home Lending online portal and saw that not only had my mortgage amount increased, but there were many transactions in the month of XXXX with the notation " misapplied funds. '' On Monday XX/XX/XXXX, I called Planet Home Lending to figure out what was going on. I was immediately directed to the loss mitigation department and told my mortgage payment was passed due and asked how I planned to repay it. I told the customer service representative that I received notice I was past due despite paying my payments and noting all my mortgage statements reflecting that I was up to date. After speaking with multiple customer service representatives and supervisors over several days, I was told by each representative that my mortgage payments were received in full and on time, but they were not being applied to my mortgage. When I asked where they were being applied, I was told they were being applied to " closing costs. '' When I objected to this as closing costs were paid in full at the time of closing, I was told that the title company we used to close was " taking the funds from my account '' and to speak with them. I asked why I have received no notice from Planet Home Lending that my mortgage is supposedly in default, and I was told " we left a voicemail. '' I told the customer service representative that they are supposed to notify me in writing and was told " again, we left you a voicemail. '' My husband did receive two voicemails from Planet on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX that both just stated to call them back with no further information. My husband is XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX and was in the middle of a XXXX XXXX XXXX with extended work hours and did not see these voicemails until the end of XXXX. No attempt was made to notify me, the other person on the mortgage, or to notify us by mail. 
I spoke with the title company who reassured me that all closing costs were paid at closing, that Planet Home Lending was wired their portion of closing costs, and that the title company has had no further communication with Planet. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I received my first letter from Planet Home Lending telling me I was behind on mortgage payments and that they had not received my payments for XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX This letter stated that the total I owed Planet Home Lending was {$7400.00}. This is the equivalent of three of my mortgage payments, which are {$2400.00}. This is oddly suspicious seeing as they state these funds were taken from my account to cover " closing costs, '' but somehow these " closing costs '' equate to the exact cost of three monthly payments. 
On Friday XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke with a supervisor at Planet named XXXX XXXX XXXX told me that Planet did receive my mortgage payments in full and on time since I purchased the house. He also confirmed that all closing costs were paid in full at the time of closing. He then told me that on XX/XX/XXXX, it was discovered that some closing costs that Planet received upon closing were " misapplied '' by Planet Home Lending. When this error was discovered, the " misapplied '' closing costs were then taken out of mortgage payments I had sent Planet that had already been applied to my mortgage. Because of this, my XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX payments were removed after being processed to my account and applied to my mortgage, which then made it appear as though I had not paid my XXXX, XXXX, or XX/XX/XXXX payments. I told XXXX that this doesn't make any sense and to please specify what closing costs were " misapplied. '' He told me " the VA funding fee and escrow. '' I told him I paid the VA funding fee as part of my closing costs, that I paid the escrow fees requested by planet at the time of closing, and that my escrow account had the required amount in it and offered to submit documentation to verify this. I also told XXXX that it appears Planet received my closing costs and they can not just take funds they misapplied out of my mortgage payment. XXXX then stated he would send my case on to the cashier department to review. 
I believe that I likely didn't receive notification from Planet that I was past due on my payments until the end of XXXX because I was not past due on my payments, and on XX/XX/XXXX, Planet removed my already posted mortgage payments for three months without my consent or knowledge, and used these payments to compensate for their error in processing closing costs. 
So far, I have asked for documentation from Planet to show me where my mortgage payments are going and I have not received anything. I have also asked Planet to assure me they won't report me to credit agencies ( seeing as we are about to be at 90 days past due despite me not being notified until 82 days past this supposed initial first missed payment ). Planet will not agree to not report me to credit agencies until I pay off what they say I owe, which would mean giving Planet an extra {$7400.00} for seemingly no reason. I also asked several customer service representatives to provide me with documentation that they received my payments and that the payments were being applied elsewhere and was told that they can not provide me with that documentation. I asked them to provide documentation to me and the Dept. Of Veterans Affairs to show that I have not missed any payments and they will not do that either. 
It's also important to note that Planet sent me a XXXX back in XXXX that reflected I paid {$4900.00} in interest for XXXX and had an outstanding principal of {$390000.00}. I then received a second " corrected '' XXXX at the end of XXXX that shows I paid {$0.00} in interest for XXXX and have an outstanding balance of {$390000.00} I don't understand how Planet can take my mortgage payments for the last three months and without my knowledge or consent, apply them elsewhere and tell me it's for " closing costs '' that I already paid at closing. I've sent them documentation from my bank to show that I have made all my payments, I've verified all my mortgage statements reflect that I have paid and am up to date, I have verified with the title company that all closing costs were paid when we closed 9 months ago, and for some reason it isn't enough. I asked how can I go about paying my XXXX payment, and I was told if I pay it, it will be applied to my overdue balance and until that balance is paid in full, my payments will continue to be late each month. I don't feel the correct way to address any issues that could arise from closing would be to remove the funds already applied to my mortgage 9 months later, not tell me, and then send me a letter talking about possible foreclosure. Multiple Planet customer service representatives have told me that all my mortgage payments were received in full and all closing costs were received in full, so I don't understand why Planet is charging me XXXX months of extra mortgage payments to cover their error and then reporting me to the VA. This seems fraudulent and very questionably legal to me. 
I have attached my XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX statements, both XXXX I received, a screenshot showing the multiple transactions in XX/XX/XXXX, a screenshot showing the funds removed from my bank by Planet, and a copy of the settlement statement from closing.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation