Consumer complaint received 2024-04-03 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Fees charged
Company: NEW YORK COMMUNITY BANCORP INC
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
In XX/XX/XXXX my loan was transferred from XXXX XXXX XXXX to Flagstar Bank. At this time I have already paid my XXXX mortgage payment to XXXX XXXX however I noticed it never transferred over to XXXX and XXXX asked me for the XX/XX/XXXX mortgage payment. I proceeded to contacting personnel from both institutions and opening a case for investigation with XXXX for the payment I made that was missing. 

When I first opened the case in XX/XX/XXXX I was reassured by customer service they will look into this and it should be tracked down fairly quickly. I was advised to hold on my payment until they can track down the missing XX/XX/XXXX payment since I have a 60 day grace period when I switch servicers. I continued to follow up every week to every two weeks. The case barely moved and had no resolution until XX/XX/XXXX when I received an email saying the case was resolved and the money has been transferred and will go to my account. 

By this time I have at least reached out to the bank on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and spent countless hours on the phone and in email exchanges with them also gathering paperwork and documentation from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and Flagstar Bank to provide evidence to support my case. I was advised, towards the end of my 60-days grace period in XX/XX/XXXX to bring my account up to date as they look into this missing payment. I paid the full {$5400.00} ( XXXX per month for 3 months, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX ) and brought my account up to date as I waited for them to find the additional missing payment. They promised this amount, once found, would be applied to the account separately or towards the next month. 

I checked XXXX account on XX/XX/XXXX and noticed the amount in XXXX ( equal to the one month they need to credit to myself ) was accounted to " Charges and Fees '' under transaction history recordings. I did not have any outstanding fees or anything reflecting such in my account previously or up to this point. Nor did the bank notify me of any fees through all of my calls. During the XX/XX/XXXX call customer service reassured me the misapplied amount will be moved to my principal for the mortgage and it should be taken care of in 4-6 business days. 

I checked the account on XX/XX/XXXX to see if the amount has moved to principal and it had not. I called the customer service line again and this time was told the amount can not be moved to principal because it was to cover the XX/XX/XXXX mortgage payment ( Which I already was asked to pay and already paid for in XX/XX/XXXX ). When I disputed this they claimed the money can not be moved because I had a fee on my account and they have to use the missing payment to " pay themselves back ''. This is the first time I have heard I have a fee on my account of any sort that was in addition to my mortgage with the company, also the fee is in equal amount to the missing payment we were investigating. I was then transferred to their escrow department where they are supposed to tell me what the fee is for but couldn't. They told me the fee was under " corporate advancee '' and they will file a complaint for me since I never heard I have a fee on my account and reach out to find out what the fee is for. 

At this point the customer service and escrow has no idea what the fee is for but has refused to move the money back to my account and apply to my mortgage principal as it should be applied.

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