Consumer complaint received 2023-03-20
Company: MIDFIRST BANK
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX, I refinanced my VA home loan with a company called Low VA Rates. During that time, I fell on hard times and was unable to pay my mortgage for several months during COVID, so I requested my mortgage be placed in forbearance.

Over the next several months, I started receiving statements from a couple different mortgagers, the last being Midland Mortgage. I figured my loan was sold to this company, although I never agreed to do so. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I received a mortgage statement from Midland Mortgage for hundreds of dollars more than the terms I refinanced with no explanation as to the reason for the increase. Additionally, there were extra fees added, causing my mortgage balance to increase drastically. 

On, XX/XX/XXXX, I applied for mortgage assistance with the Virginia Mortgage Relief Program ( VMRP ). I was approved for assistance to pay any delinquent amounts to up to {$40000.00}. Even with all the added fees, my balance was well below that amount at the time. However, although I was approved for assistance with XXXX, and Midland Mortgage acknowledged VMRP as an approved third-party to make payments on the account, Midland Mortgage absolutely refused to cooperate with VMRP. 

Both I and my VMRP caseworker attempted to contact and hasten the process with Midland Mortgage for months to get a SINGLE form back so XXXX could pay the balance. But, any time either of us called, we were told the customer service representatives dont have direct communication with that department and the most they could do was send an email expressing our complaints. However, Midland Mortgage continued to harass and call me directly EVERY WEEKDAY for payment. But when asked about accepting payment from XXXX, again they told me their department doesnt handle that portion. 

This cat and mouse game continued for 2 months until XX/XX/XXXX when I received a letter from XXXX and XXXX XXXX, the attorney for MidFirst Bank XXXX XXXX Mortgage ) stating that they were going to start the foreclosure process instead of just taking the funds made available by XXXX. I called Midland Mortgage AGAIN to try to figure out what was going on. The customer service representative I spoke with told me again that the department handling the mortgage assistance was a separate department and she could do nothing to help me. 

As if this wasnt headache enough, as a result of this call, Midland Mortgage erroneously told my homeowners insurance company that my home was VACANT when I asked them to send mail to my mothers home in XXXX after she had a XXXX XXXX. I NEVER told them I abandoned the home. This caused problems and unnecessary inspections with my insurance company. 

I reached out to XXXX again to let them know that Midland Mortgage had started the foreclosure process instead of taking the funds made available for the last 2 months. The caseworker requested the foreclosure letter and attempted to reach out to Midland Mortgage XXXX to no avail since there was no way to contact the department receiving and processing homeowner 's assistance payments. 

Eventually, my totals added up to over the {$40000.00} threshold and I received the attached denial letter from XXXX on XXXX because they could no longer assist me after over 5 months of trying to get payment to Midland Mortgage. 

XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX changed its policy to increase the threshold to {$50000.00}. Again, if my mortgage payment was at the {$1400.00} XXXX originally signed for with Low VA Loans, I should be well below that threshold. XXXX attempts to pay the balance with Midland again, but because this payment amount is increased and these mysterious fees have been added on, I am AGAIN over the threshold. 

The failure of Midland Mortgage to properly service my loan, inflated amounts, and mysterious added fees have caused unnecessary stress and obstructed my process to have my mortgage paid and enjoy my home in peace. 

By continuing to harass me daily while refusing to accept the funds made available and threatening to take my home, Midland Mortgage has violated 15 USC 1692d and 15 USC 1692f. 

Additionally, harassing calls at XXXX and XXXX am demanding payment are repeated violations of the Telephone Communicatons Practices Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

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 monetary relief