On Friday, February 13th, I submitted an online payment, just as I have done each month since June when I took out a mortgage with TBW. While I realized that this would result in a late penalty the next month since it would not be processed by the 15th, this was necessary as my paycheck was delayed in February for reasons outside of my control. I attempted to call TBW and explain that the payment would be a couple of days late, but had to give up after waiting on hold for OVER 60 minutes. After submitting the payment, I received an e-mail confirmation.
As I watched my checking account over the next few days, I noticed that the payment wasn't go through. I attempted to call TBW several times, each time either having to get off of the phone due to other appointments or being cut off by the system system after waiting no less than one hour. I would put money on the fact that I have spent over 12 hours on hold within the last 30 days. The last week in February, I received a letter from them informing me that the bank had returned my payment because they were "unable to locate my account." I called my bank and they stated that they had no contact with TBW within the last several days (I bank at a small community bank and honestly would not be surprised if I was the only TBW mortgage account there). So, I once again attempted to contact TBW customer service.
After several more days and several more hours of waiting on hold with TBW, I decided to just submit a second online payment due to the fact when I logged on, in red letters above the payment option it said "It's not too late to make this month's payment online!" I thought, oh, perfect, I will get this all taken care of, so on March 3 I set up a payment to be taken from my account on March 5th. I again received a confirmation e-mail of a successful transation:
Thank you for your payment request submitted on 03/03/09 7:13 AM CST.
Your confirmation number is *.
A recurring payment has been set up for the account listed below...
Again, March 5 came and went and no action in my bank account. On Saturday, March 7, at 8:00 P.M., I received an automated collection call informing me that I needed to call the TBW office ASAP. That is easier said than done. On March 9 I called TBW, stayed on hold for over an answer, and for the first time got through to a human on the phone. However, this was by mistake. When the young woman on the other end of the phone answered, she said "Oh, hello..." in a semi-aggravated tone. I said "Excuse me?" and she explained that she had picked up the wrong line on her phone and had intended to answer another. I asked her why my payment hadn't been processed and she informed me that I was ineligible to make an online payment since I was late. I attempted to explain to her that this is NOT what the website DIRECTLY stated, but she didn't really seem to care. I then asked why my check had been returned when my bank had no recollection of being contacted, and she wouldn't help me with that, either; she said that she could provide me no explanation and that it would be in my bank's records. I was informed that if I wanted to pay over the phone I would have to pay a fee, so I said that I would just mail a check in, since a check mailed on the 9th should obviously be in the office by the grace period of the 15th. She told me that it would have to be processed before the 15th in order for there to not be an additional late fee.
On Friday, March 13th, I attempted to call the office in order to confirm that the check had arrived and to request it to be hurried through processing to avoid a late fee, had it not already be processed. I began the "hold" process at 5:05 P.M. Central time. At 7:30 central time, a recording came on stating that I would be cut off due to a "system error."
Here are my complaints against the company:
1. When the bank bounced back my payment, I should have been notified immediately by phone or e-mail, not a letter in the mail two weeks later so that I could have immediately rectified the situation.
2. If they do not accept online payments for late payments, do not have popups that encourage clients to do so
3. When the second online payment was rejected, I should have been notified immediately by phone or e-mail rather than waiting until it was too late I would have to pay a second late fee.
4. No client should have to wait for hours on the phone and have their e-mails ignored. How do I make things right if I can't talk to them?
5. Today, I received a letter in the mail saying that I was in default. This is all just one huge misunderstanding and I have tried THREE times now to make my payment. I have good credit and sufficient income and should in no way be in default.
I have attempted to settle things with you directly, but have only gotten very generic "We are sorry that you are not satisfied with our service" e-mails. This is unacceptable and unethical. It is also unethical that I would be charged two late payments simply because the company refuses to take the time to communicate with its clients.
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