Consumer complaint received 2025-05-08 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Escrow, taxes, or insurance
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
I will go into detail below but the just of this is that I have had ongoing issues with Fifth Third Bank for going on 5 years and they have been horrible to work with. This latest issue is that I went into my county 's tax office today to pay my XXXX property taxes that were due in XX/XX/XXXX for school and XX/XX/XXXX for county to find out that Fifth Third never paid my XXXX property taxes and that funds appear to still be sitting in the escrow account that was set up for that year. Below is a detail recount of the ongoing issues with this bank. 

I was behind on payments during COVID in XXXX when I wasnt working In XXXX of XXXX, filled out all loan mod

paperwork after making the 4 trial payments. Loan mod was sent to county clerks office but never implemented.

Term was supposed to be 40 years, 4.375 %, with escrow, around $ XXXX {$1100.00} a month XXXX of XXXX  Even though I was paying the new amount, nothing ever changed on my statement to reflect the changes so put in an inquiry I was told that the loan mod never was implemented and could not be given a reason as to why even though everything was done on it, and filed with the county clerks. Was told I would need to start the process over. 
Around XX/XX/XXXX, I was on my 2nd or 3rd trial payment for the loan mod ( again, not given a reason as to why this wasnt done the 1st time ) and needed to file a XXXX  XXXX ( because of XXXX XXXX  putting me into foreclosure, it was the only way to stop it ) Made all 4 payments and was waiting for loan mod paperwork. When inquiring as to why I Did not receive it, was told that filing the XXXX  XXXX halted the loan mod Forced placed insurance was added on. Had a hard time finding XXXX as I was going through the XXXX XXXX. Found a company to take it on and Fifth Third never paid the premium and was cancelled for non-payment. 
During all of this time through XX/XX/XXXX ( when bankruptcy was discharged ) continued making payments. 
Bankruptcy attorney went to court and courts force Fifth Third to implement the original loan mod from XXXX. 
Found out in XX/XX/XXXX that my XXXX  taxes ( Due in XXXX of XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX were never paid by Fifth Third Bank resulting in penalties ) Spoke to Fifth Third and found out that since the loan modification was never completed correctly back in XXXX, any funds I was paying over the XXXX XXXX XXXX  payment was not going to an escrow account but was being applied to the principle of the mortgage. It took weeks to sort out and I spent countless hours and days calling and emailing representatives from 5/3 Bank and finally, they were able to reallocate these funds into an escrow for payment on these back taxes. If there was not enough funds for the payment, I agreed to let them tack in on the back end of the mortgage just to simplify things. At this point, I thought it was settled. 
I took escrow off at this time mainly because I have no trust in how this bank does business so I went back to just a XXXX XXXX XXXX only payment XX/XX/XXXX Went to the county tax office to pay XXXX taxes ( due XX/XX/XXXX for school & XX/XX/XXXX for county ). I almost had a breakdown when the employee gave me a statement ( XXXX  ) breaking down what I owed and I saw the XXXX taxes on there as still not paid. 
Since this was not paid by 5/3 Bank, there are additional penalties, and it is now public information in the newspaper as delinquent taxes in my name which is embarrassing. I work in banking, so this can effect my livelihood as well if seen by others within my own organization. 
I looked through my transactions on the app and saw that there was an escrow credit applied on XX/XX/XXXXXXXX  for {$6500.00} which sounds about right for what was owed for the XXXX taxes. 
The county employee looked through her outgoing correspondence as she stated that if it was for the wrong amount, it would have been sent back but she saw nothing sent out. 
Her theory was they either never sent it, or they sent it to the XXXX of XXXX XXXX which at that point in time ( already being delinquent ), they would have been sent back as delinquent payment need to go to the county. 
The {$6500.00} has now grown to {$7200.00} because of penalties and I would like to reiterate that this has caused me personal embarrassment due to my employment. I am also in the middle of applying for a state job in the finance field in which this is now a growing concern for me to have this in the public. 
I was unable to pay my XXXX taxes because they can only take payment for the whole amount of {$13000.00} I dont know how that will work. If the bank only sends them funds for XXXX, it will be sent back. They will either need to send it to me, payable to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX so that I pay XXXX at the same time or they can make the whole payment using the {$6500.00} they are holding and tack on the rest to the back end of my mortgage as a courtesy putting me through this ( minus the {$1300.00} in penalties and {$20.00} in advertising fees that have applied )

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation