Consumer complaint received 2026-01-29 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Escrow, taxes, or insurance
Company: Valon Technologies, Inc.
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
I bought my home in XXXX of XXXX through XXXX XXXX XXXX. I never had any problems with XXXX. In XXXX of XXXX, my loan was purchased by Valon Mortgage. Once this happened, my monthly mortgage payment started to increase. At first, I thought it was just taxes ; however, from XX/XX/XXXX to the present, my monthly mortgage has increased from {$1400.00} to {$1700.00}. During my time at XXXX XXXX XXXX  from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, my original payment was approximately {$1200.00} and XXXX to {$1400.00}. So, in a matter of XXXX  months, my monthly mortgage payment with Valon Mortgage had gone up more than it had in the prior XXXX  years with XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX 
I called Valon to find out what was happening, and they told me that my homeowner 's insurance had expired during the transfer because they had not received the information. Valon told me they sent me a letter by mail to address the situation ; however, I either did not receive it or threw it away, assuming it was a mortgage statement, which I handle online. Valon told me that because they had no insurance information, they had installed an LPI ( lender-placed insurance ) on my account, which, in turn, had raised my monthly mortgage payment. I asked how I could fix this problem, and Valon told me to obtain a new homeowners ' insurance policy, and that they would cancel the LPI, and my monthly payment should go down. 
I did as they told me and obtained a new insurance policy through XXXX XXXX XXXX, which was cheaper than the LPI but more expensive than my original Nationwide policy because I am paying a lapse-in-coverage charge. I shared the information with Valon and asked for an escrow analysis to update the monthly mortgage payment. I received an email stating that I would be refunded the remaining LPI to my bank account and that I would need to go to Valon 's website and make a payment to my escrow balance only before I could receive my escrow analysis. This was on XX/XX/XXXX. A couple of weeks went by, and I still hadn't received the refund, and my monthly payment never decreased. 
So, I called Valon back, and they told me they had refunded the LPI and that I did not need to worry about it. So, I asked for a new escrow analysis since I never received one, and asked Valon if I should expect my monthly payment to go down. They responded that it should drop to approximately {$1500.00} per month, stating that, due to rising taxes, it would not return to what it was, which I agreed with. 
I received the escrow analysis on XX/XX/XXXX of XXXX, stating that my new monthly payment as of XX/XX/XXXX would be {$1800.00}. So, I once again called Valon to have someone explain to me why my monthly payment went up again, even though my new insurance policy was cheaper than the LPI, and I was told, multiple times, that my monthly payment would be going down to approximately {$1500.00}. I spoke with a gentleman who explained that when the LPI was placed, Valon made an escrow advance to cover the costs, which increased my monthly payment. Then the gentleman told me that taxes were due soon after that, and they had to do another escrow advance, which raised my monthly payment again. Then the gentleman told me that when I obtained the new homeowners ' insurance policy through XXXX XXXX XXXX, Valon did a third escrow advance, which raised my monthly payment even more. 
I was told that I am on track to have a balance of - {$3400.00} in my escrow account by the end of XXXX if they do not raise my monthly payment to {$1800.00} to cover the losses. This has never happened to me. So, I verified with Valon that all of this stemmed from the LPI being placed and that, because I had insurance when they bought my mortgage from XXXX, the LPI should never have been placed, meaning the domino effect of escrow advances should never have happened. The gentleman I was speaking with agreed with me and said this was an unfortunate situation for me, but that I had to pay the shortage or have my monthly payment increased. 
I asked to speak to a manager about the situation, and the gentleman transferred me to a manager. The manager was extremely rude as I was explaining my situation ; she kept speaking over me, telling me to stop. She kept telling me it was my fault for not replying to the letter they sent. I told her that, due to research I had done, it was my understanding that it was Valon 's responsibility to obtain that information from the original company, XXXX XXXX XXXX. She continued to tell me that I was misinformed and that it was my fault I was in this situation. 
Infuriated by her inability to deal with me reasonably, I had to hang up on her before I got extremely rude. Once I settled down, I reached out to my realtor to see if this was anything he had ever heard of. My realtor was astonished by my situation, saying that in all of his years of practice, I think XXXX  years, this is nothing he has ever heard of. He told me he never even thought to tell his clients to be aware of insurance transfers when their loan is transferred, as loan transfers are very common. He advised me to reach out to XXXX XXXX XXXX  and see if they sent a complete file with my insurance information to Valon Mortgage during the transfer. 
So, I did just that : I spoke with a gentleman at XXXX and asked him if he could provide any paperwork confirming that my insurance information had been transferred. He sent me a document stating that the expiration date of my original insurance policy was XX/XX/XXXX. Which means that I had insurance when my loan was transferred, and the LPI should never have been placed by Valon. The gentleman told me that XXXX probably sent the bill to XXXX and didn't know that my loan had been transferred. He then told me that XXXX probably didn't know where to send it, so my policy expired because it was not paid. 
My realtor also told me to contact the original insurance company, XXXX, and ask them to provide any documentation they have. I did this also, and XXXX provided me with several documents, XXXX in total, XXXX for each year I was covered. You will find these documents attached to this letter. They told me they sent me a notification by mail, but they had my grandfather 's address listed as my mailing address because that was where I lived when I bought the policy before I moved into my home. Because of this, I never received the notice. 
It is my understanding, based on research I have done, that because I relied on XXXX to pay and renew my homeowner 's insurance policy since purchasing my home XXXX  years ago, I am not at fault for my policy lapsing and expiring, as that was XXXX 's responsibility. During the transfer, XXXX and Valon should have worked together to obtain all insurance information and continue payments through my escrow account, as had always been the case. 
To verify this, I reached out to an attorney, who advised me to file this complaint. He agrees that my transfer was handled improperly and that, as a result, I am being taken advantage of to the tune of {$3400.00}. I recently left my XXXX career, rented my home, and moved back to XXXX  to return to XXXX  and earn a degree in XXXX XXXX. I rented my home for a set price in XXXX of XXXX before all of this happened. Since my monthly payment has increased so much that I am now losing money on my home, where I was breaking even before, in an effort to keep it rather than sell. If I am forced to pay the increased balance, I will be forced to sell my home because of a mistake made by XXXX and/or Valon, as I will not be able to rent my home at a cost to break even. This is highly concerning to me.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation