Consumer complaint received 2020-04-11
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: ID
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
On Thursday, XX/XX/2020 we received an email from XXXX XXXX, representing Freedom Mortgage. Here email stated " Your loan is eligible for our new program where we drop your rate .25 % for absolutely no cost to thank you for being a Freedom Mortgage client. This means your new rate and APR will be 4.125 % and you get to skip a payment! We can write a new 30 year loan that will give you a monthly savings of $ XXXX/M or we can shorten your mortgage term 12 months and keep your same monthly mortgage payment of {$2100.00} ( saving you {$20000.00} in payments on the loan ). In order to start the process, I would need to pull a new copy of credit. Once in process if you needed an appraisal we would pay for it and assuming you are still employed with XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX is still with XXXX XXXX XXXX, you do not need to provide us with any income documents. The whole thing takes between 2-4 weeks ( appraisal depending ). '' On Sunday, XX/XX/XXXX, I replied to Ms. XXXX stating we would like to pursue Option B ( i.e. shorten our existing mortgage by 12 months and retain the same payment ). 

With that, Ms. XXXX began the necessary paperwork and we started to receive new loan documents to sign electronically. 

On Friday, XX/XX/XXXX, I emailed Ms. XXXX wondering why Freedom Mortgage was only offering a rate of 4.125 % when research showed other banks offering as low as 3.7 %. Her response was " We are covering ALL of the closing costs with this program. If you would like to explore a lower rate we can do that but there will be cost added to the loan amount. '' We decided to stick with what was originally offered but then in the process of electronically signing documentation we discovered more errors that showed a higher monthly payment, extending out to 30 years, etc. On Friday, XX/XX/XXXX I wrote the following email to Ms. XXXX ; " XXXX, this is getting very frustrating as conditions seem to constantly change. Please remember, Freedom Mortgage approached us with a refinance and we agreed to the following terms in our discussions ( as can be seen below ) : 1. Our monthly payment would not increase above the {$2100.00} 2. Our mortgage term would actually shorten by 1 year 3. We would get to skip a monthly payment I just signed yet another set of loan documents this morning that shows our Estimated Total Monthly Payment of {$2200.00}, which obviously contradicts number 1 above. 

Im more than happy to continue this process if the 3 conditions listed above are met as was promised. If not, Im not sure I want Freedom Mortgage to handle my mortgage any longer if this is an indication of its business dealings. Please let me know how you would like to proceed so I can begin looking for a new lender if necessary. '' She assured me that items 2 and 3, as well as no closing costs would occur. However item 1 totally depended on our property taxes and as such that monthly payment may go up ( which I agreed to ). 

On Friday, XX/XX/XXXX at XXXXXXXX XXXX the State of Idaho notary showed up at our home to sign the final loan documentation. The notary had just driven 3 hours for this process. As the first action she asked how we would be paying the {$1900.00} of closing costs, to which my wife and I stopped the process and unfortunately had to ask her to contact the Title company and let them know what had happened. 

In addition, Freedom Mortgage told us to not make our XXXX mortgage payment because as they stated, we would be getting a new loan and would be able to skip XXXX. We have great credit and do not want that exceptional credit being degraded because of this. 

Lastly, I sent an email to Ms. XXXX, Mr. XXXX XXXX ( part of her team ), and her manager, Mr. XXXX XXXX expressing my frustration.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation