Product: Mortgage

On XX/XX/year>, we experienced a plumbing issue as sewage backed up and overflowed into our home. The sewage backup caused damage to our bathrooms, office, laundry room, hallway, and kitchen. The insurance carrier came out and reviewed the damage and approved the mitigation that had already been done and the carrier approved the mitigation and construction company to complete the work. The insurance carrier issued a check to us to begin the work that had been done and to start the reconstruction work. We submitted the check from the insurance carrier that was issued to me in our names, the homeowners, and the mortgage servicer. We signed the check as asked by the mortgage servicer and submitted it to them for their signature. We were told that we could receive the funds faster if we sent the check via overnight mail to the servicers Claims Check Draft Department. We therefore paid {$30.00} to USPS to overnight the package and was told that it would be sent back to us also via Overnight Mail. It has been approximately two weeks since I sent the check via USPS Express Mail. The mortgage servicer kept the check and has requested unreasonable and illegal actions from both the homeowners and construction company. The mortgage servicer is asking the construction company to give up their rights of taking any legal action against the mortgage servicer. The construction company was approved by the insurance carrier. The servicer is asking us, the homeowners, to strong arm the construction company into signing away their rights. We can not force another company to sign away their rights it is unethical and possibly illegal. Now the mortgage servicer is holding their payment for work that they have already done and holding the payments for the reconstruction process hostage. The insurance policy is paid for by us, the homeowners. not the mortgage servicer. A portion of the funds were for me the homeowner to be able to stay at a hotel while the work is being done. This is vitally important to me for my health as I am dealing with a very serious health issue. We do not understand why the mortgage servicer is collecting interest on our check in their bank accounts and have forced us, the homeowners to slow down the reconstruction process while the servicer collects interest on monies that do not belong to servicer but in fact belongs to the homeowners to repair our home back to its original status. We contacted the servicers Ombudsmans Office for assistance in this matter and asked for an exception to the Monitoring Delinquent status ( PLEASE NOTE ; We are not delinquent ). We think that we were placed on this status in an attempt to hold on to our funds and to illegally collect interest on it by issuing a percentage at a time to us for the work being done. To date NONE of the funds have been issued to us or to the mitigation company. If the servicer was truly interested in assisting the homeowners in refurbishing the property to its original status, they would not have withheld the funds to repair our home. It feels more like the servicer is retaliating against us for seeking assistance from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because we sought the bureaus assistance with the Deferral process. It has been more than a month since the damage to our home occurred, and we are in jeopardy of losing our construction company since they have completed the mitigation and have not been paid. The same company was hired to complete the reconstruction as well, but they have now walked off the job. Clearly, we are very upset as the walls in our bathroom have been removed to the drywall there and in the hallway and laundry room areas. Bugs are now seeping in through the drywall and the construction company has not returned my calls and canceled appointments with us. There is no way that it is helpful to withhold the funds to repair my home. I am also having health issues due to the open construction area of our home from the dust, bugs, smell, and dirt. We are not new homeowners ; we built our home here from the ground up over 20 years ago, long before we ever heard of servicer or its investors, and we deserve to be treated with respect and to be treated fairly in regard to taking care of and repairing our home. Your assistance in resolving this matter is greatly appreciated.