I have a mortgage with Fifth Third Bank (5/3 Bank). I wanted to pay the principal down to the point where I could get rid of the PMI (personal mortgage insurance). I inquired with 5/3 as to how much I would need to pay (ie: at what amount of remaining principal) to make that happen. They told me it would be 80% of the amount I borrowed …then, on a second call to verify that, No, wait a minute, it’s 80% of the purchase price …so, on a third call verify, No, it’s 80% of the assessed value of the home. On a fourth call, I was assured that the last one was correct, 80% of the assessed value. Just to be sure, I verified that last number a third time; yes, that was correct.
I made an electronic draft from my usual checking/savings bank (thank God, 5/3 only manages my mortgage, not my money!) to 5/3 for the amount they had verified three times. First, they lost my money for several days. Then they found it and when I called to request a removal of PMI (as I had been instructed to do after the payment cleared), they said it needed to be in writing. OK, I wrote a letter requesting the PMI to be removed …and then it was denied. Seems I’d need to pay twice as much as I paid because, No, it’s not 80% of the assessed value after all …it’s 80% of the purchase price. (or is it? They don’t seem to be too sure about anything) So, now I’ve spent the money I could have used for other projects if I’d known that it wouldn’t achieve what I was trying to do …and I’d have to drain my savings and have no spare money for anything else in order to complete the pay-down.
When I complained to 5/3 about this, they essentially blew me off. One underling passed me to the next underling, all claiming “this is standard policy”; several inferred that it was my own fault. When I asked to speak to someone higher up, I got a low-level manager (the supervisor of the underlings who answer the phone) who claimed he was the highest person in the 5/3 corporation for dealing with these kind of complaints. He essentially inferred that, yes, it was my own fault …and when I pressed him about customer dissatisfaction he hung up on me.
I don’t know which issue Kevin Kabat (5/3 CEO) and his associates should be concerned about: the fact that their underlings are so inept and rude …or the fact that they claim to customers that they are the highest people in the 5/3 corporate ladder. BEWARE: do not let Fifth Third Bank manage your money or your mortgage. Wake up Fifth Third, the world is angry about people who do business like you.