AmeriNational Community Services, LLC

AmeriNat paid the amount of property taxes billed by the county. When the borrower called on 12/20/16 regarding the Annual Escrow Analysis Disclosure statement he received.  He stated the taxes paid were too high as the county had not issued a Homestead credit on his primary residence but...

did on his investment property in error.  We was directed to contact the county to have this corrected. As a result of the county error, the county issued a refund for several unrelated properties to our tax service provider and it was received by them on 1/11/17.  Before funds could be released by the tax service provider, a reconciliation was needed. This resulted in an out of balance and the tax service provider is still working with the county for resolution.  As a standard, accounts are not adjusted until the refund is received. However, on 1/26/17 after speaking with the borrower, borrower's monthly payment was recalculated based on the lower amount of taxes that are projected to be paid in 2017. This was communicated to the borrower on 1/26/17 during a phone call and via email. On 1/26/17, our phone system was down for a few hours due to a problem with the service provider's phone lines in the area.  This was communicated to the borrower on the phone call we had on 1/26/17.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2016/03/09) */
A letter has been sent to the borrower with this information. It appears that the borrower did not recieve the quality customer service that is our standard. Our Customer Service staff have been reminded of our standards.
When a Check by...

Phone payment is taken over the phone the fee should be disclosed at the begining of the call and when all the information is reconfirmed before the payment is completed. Since it appears there was some confusion, the $7.00 fee will be waived.
the borrower was sent in January 2016 an Annual Escrow Account Disclosure and new payment coupons reflecting a payment change effective with the 2/1/16 payment. A copy of the Annual Escrow Acct Disclosure was resent, and if the borrower needs more coupons information on how to request them was provided.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 9, 2016/03/10) */

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/30) */
When the borrower's payment was returned from the issuing bank as non-suffient funds, a letter was sent to the borrower. This letter was sent 6-4-15. As a result of the borrower's check being returned, the account became due for the May...

payment. The funds for the May and June payments were both received past the 15 day grace period and late fees were accessed. I have agreed to waive on of these late fees.
We have no record of calls or emails being recieved that were not returned. I have sent the borrower the attached response.

The servicing of the borrowers loan transferred not sold, to AmeriNat effective 10-1-16. On Sept. 14, 2016 a Welcome Package that included a Notice of Servicing Transfer containing our contact information was included. Unfortunately, this initial notice contained an incorrect toll-free phone number...

for the Customer Service Dept. However, on September 20, 2016 a revised Notice of Servicing Transfer and cover letter were mailed to the borrower.  I believe the borrower was calling the incorrect number provided. The borrower has also stated that she did not know how to pay her mortgage payment. In the Welcome Package, a billing statement with the payment address information was included. Our billing information is also on the Notice of Servicing Transfer.  At the time the borrower was trying to log into our website, her loan was not yet active, this was the reason for the error message. However, our website does include our toll-free number.  She should have been able to reach our offices. The attached letter has been sent to the borrower.  If the borrower has not yet mailed in her payment, we have offered to waive the Check-by-Phone fee if she would like to make a payment via the phone. The borrower should be able to reach our Customer Service Department by calling the correct toll-free number.

They are not reporting accurately. we took out a home improvement loan in 2007. We lost our home in 2010 to foreclosure. In 2009 the home improvement loan defaulted because of our foreclosure situation , we had both lost our jobs and were unemployed for 3 years. This home improvement loan is 10 years old. we have never agreed to make payments to AmeriNat. They are claiming that the payments we agreed to make when the loan was first taken out are what they are now claiming is 180 or more days late. They call this a mortgage, and they say it is an Annual payment. I don't understand how 180 days late and annual payment go together. They are calling this a mortgage, and their is no mortgage. We don't have a mortgage. As far as Mr. Merritt saying they always return calls, that is not true either, I left 2 messages for him to call me, one on 3/13/2017 and the other on 3/14/2017, he never returned either calls.

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I am rejecting this response because:
A recitation of the AmeriNat procedures/policies is not an adequate response to this issue. I cited specific circumstances unique to my family's situation in January, including a previous mismanagement of records and a late fee that was assessed in October but was rescinded by AmeriNat because it WAS processed on time. October was NOT a courtesy waiver of a fee, but further evidence of AmeriNat's intention and scheme to overcharge consumers. AmeriNat processed the payment before the late fee deadline, but still assessed us fee. After tracking down the negotiated check from my bank and sending the negotiated check to AmeriNat, the customer service agent rescinded the late fee due to AmeriNat's error - NOT as a courtesy.October's issue is further indication of a scheme by AmeriNat to hold payments for an unreasonable amount of time to generate late fees and penalties. My payments have always been sent to arrive on the 12th. I send payments this way to three other mortgage companies for other properties and sent payments this way for 18 months to AmeriNat. I didn't have a problem until AmeriNat changed processing centers. It wasn't until AmeriNat changed processing centers to Dallas that they began to mismanage payments and assess late fees. I believe AmeriNat is more than 50% responsible for the delay in this payment being processed because they are aware of the problem and are failing to resolve it. Per the customer service agents I have spoken with, AmeriNat is aware of delays resulting from processing payments in Dallas. I assert that it is unethical for AmeriNat to continue to charge customers for fees they are directly culpable in generating.Also unique to our fee assessment in January payment was the snow storm that hit Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston, SC did not have any air traffic, mail service, or other logistics for more than three days. Additionally, the 15th was a federal holiday. Combined, these could have impacted the ability to process mail. Additionally, I have completed the process to sign up for ACH'ing by AmeriNat because of their complete inability to timely process physical payments.As a customer who is timely paying more than the minimum payment each month, I find it unreasonable and unconscionable that AmeriNat insists on charging my family more than $100 for a penalty when payments have been sent timely for nearly two years and when I have taken the steps at their urging to stop payments from being late in the future. I assert AmeriNat is taking advantage of consumers and manipulating their processing in order to generate late penalties and fees by intentionally mismanaging their receipt of payments. Furthermore, AmeriNat is taking advantage of a natural disaster resulting in a complete halt in air and ground control out of a metropolitan area where they do business in order to generate fees and penalties.

A call has been made to the borrower to discuss her account and answer her questions. All payments received from the borrower have been posted to her mortgage account. She did not understand why she was getting collections letters. It was explained that here account is past due as she is paying...

late. She did not understand why all of the payments made in 2015 were not showing on the year end statement from AmeriNat.  Her loan transferred to AmeriNat for sub-servicing effective 9/1/15, payments made to the prior servicer will not be reflected on the AmeriNat history or year end statement. She will need to contact the prior server for a payment history prior to the servicing transfer. The increase in payments was due to her account having an escrow deficit due to an insurance premium increase. We are currently working with our client and the borrower regarding the escrow deficit and payment amount.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/05/05) */
Borrowers account was delinquent at the time of transfer to ACS for servicing effective 6/5/09. After review of the account, it was found that the incorrect next due date was set up, it should have been 6/1/97 not 2/1/91. Upon review of payments...

posted it was found all payments received were posted, however they posted as principal only not principal and interest. All the payments were reversed and reapplied. The current outstanding balance is $10,069.29 and the next payment due date is 12/1/98. A letter has been sent to the borrower explaining this and a copy of the Promissory Note and Loan history were included. It is recommended the borrower contact out Collections and Loss Mittigation Department as soon as possible.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/05/05) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
How can the next payment due date be 12/1//98? I have made payments and the error of not applying the payments to both principal and interest is the fault of the company. I believe in an effort to defraud my account. My account balance was listed approximately $10, 000 and because the payments were not applied to principal also, I will be treading water instead of reducing the balance with this deceptive practice.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/05/15) */
Further researched borrower's account and found that it was serviced by a collections agency prior to transfer. Collections agency added unpaid late charges to principal balance before loan was boarded with our company. spoke with our client and they agred to reduce the principal balance by $335.33 bringing principal from $10,069.29 to $9,733.96. due date is still behind as payments were not received for over 6 years throughout the loan term. provided borrower a letter of explanation and a copy of the reconstructed payment history that details the month payments were received as well as the months no payments were received. Advised borrower to contact Collections and Loss Mitigation to work on a plan to bring account current.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/17) */
Business Bureau Case #[redacted]
Dear Revdex.com Representative:
This letter is in response to the above case filed with the Revdex.com. Specifically, the complaint indicates a representative from Amerinational left a voicemail on the...

borrower's accountindicating the account was due for June's payment and that a payment was needed to bring the account current.
A representative did leave a voicemail for the above referenced account regarding her June payment.Per federal guidelines, the representative correctly identified herself, her employer, left a telephone number to return the call and referenced the debt which was the reason for the call. The representative did make an error in indicating that a payment was needed to bring the account current as payment was not yet due on the account. The representative subsequently attempted to contact the borrower to
apologize for the oversight, and did contact the investor to inform them of the oversight as well. In our letter we did formerly apologize for the representative's incorrect interpretation of the accounts due date. We also informed the borrower that we did not willfully release her private information to a third party as the information left on her voicemail was played in the presence of a third party.
Amerinational sincerely regrets any inconvenience this issue may have caused the borrower.

Attached you will see the response letter which was mailed to the borrower. Payments are posted on the same day they are received assuming all information needed to locate the loan is included with the payment – accurate loan number and/or payment coupon. The borrowers September payment did not have either of these and required an additional manual review. The waiving of the September payment was a courtesy. Per the date stamp on the check, the payment was received after the grace period had ended. Late fees are applied to accounts when the payment is not received before the end of the stated grace period as defined by the loan documents. The amount of the late fee is also document defined. If the borrower would like to confirm AmeriNat’s receipt of payment, borrowers may access their account anytime online via LoanLink or contact customer service directly. Customer service is available Monday through Friday from 8:00 am EST to 8:00 pm EST.