Fifth District Savings Bank

Fifth District was great when we went to purchase a home and they gave us a very simple process to obtain a mortgage loan. I recommended them many times as I know many realtors however they really disappointed me when it came to the personal service a local bank typically has an advantage of a large bank. 3 years ago my ex and I purchased a home together and this last fall we split, with an agreement my ex kept the home and would refinance my name off the mortgage within 2 years. I am a small business owner and in June was denied the extension of our credit line due to recent late mortgage payments which shocked me. When I looked into it, the bank had sent an escrow analysis to the house in the fall and it subsequently changed the payment on the house which was an auto draft from our bank account. This resulted in the mortgage payment being short and they called my ex to let her know it was short and she brought in a larger lump sum payment to bring it current. She did not understand at that time that the amount of the payment still needed to change or it would, and did fall short again in April this year and she then corrected the amount being debited to $300 more than the new higher payment even.
When I called the banker and explained that I was unaware and my ex simply was not used to handling the finances they gave me a change of address form so I could be copied on future mailings however went seemingly out of their way (the banker Dawn, and then her manager Dodie, whose number I requested) to describe to me in technical detail how right they were that the payments were late. I understood this but was making a plea to remove the 2 late reports from my otherwise perfect credit because this was not a matter of blatantly not paying our obligations, it was a matter of not understanding that the lump sum paid in the fall was not the entire amount and the mortgage payment itself needed to be changed, and was changed over and above when she understood that. I normally would never ask this but late mortgage payments would have an effect on her refinancing the loan out of my name, my ability to purchase in the future and most importantly it was having a crippling effect currently on my small business and ability to borrow money for inventory. I sent my plea in an email after speaking to both of them with no hope and told them that I hoped they could be understanding that we take our obligations and credit seriously and the lates would portray that we had a blatant disregard for paying our bills and they of all people know we do not, otherwise they would not have given the loan in the first place. Credit reporting is voluntary and the agencies are private and in no way run or controlled by the federal government. Banks do not have to report payment history at all and only do so for the benefit of a sense of punishment if a borrower is slow paying or doesn't pay. If a lender feels that a delinquency was a misunderstanding and not a true failure to pay the obligation they have every right and are in fact encouraged to correct reporting to reflect a more accurate picture of the borrowers ability to repay debt.
In the end, the bankers I spoke to (who are the specific people that report these lates to the bureaus each day) not only kept the 2 lates that were effecting my credit, but then went back and showed the delinquencies from the fall that had not been previously reported, now making it 7 x 30 day lates. I will never understand why a local bank who has the advantage of personal relationships with its clients would take actions like this. I was never rude and would be happy to provide a copy of the email I sent to anyone on the fence.
In my previous career I was a fully delegated underwriter for Fannie Mae, FHLMC, FHA, VA and two other less known entities. In my 12 year experience as such, many times I had to look into late mortgage payments for this very reason and never once did I speak to a mortgage servicer for any of these entities that was so hell bent on painting an inaccurate picture of a person's ability to repay debt simply for the fact that they could. If you want a bank that wants relationships, Fifth District is NOT the bank for you. I underwrote for large banks during my career and as large as we were, if someone called us with this request we would never hesitate to do everything in our power to give them the benefit of the doubt. Understandably, that was not ongoing but if instead we went back and made things worse, it meant we probably were not the right people for that job. From this experience, it is a good example of how poor performance comes from the top down and the bank as a whole needs to really examine what management is either allowing or condoning in its mortgage department.