Consumer complaint received 2020-08-12
Company: Mr. Cooper Group Inc.
State: AE
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
We entered into an FHA backed mortgage in XXXX on a home in XXXX, Kansas. The principal sum of the mortgage was {$91000.00} with a 6.5 % interest rate per annum. Originally, in XXXX my husband was laid off from work and consequently we fell behind on the mortgage. We were told we must be a total of 3 months delinquent before applying for modification. We applied for our first modification after being delinquent 3 months and the mortgage company came back and denied the request. Due to increasing financial difficulties my husband joined the United States XXXX and went XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. We received XXXX  orders to XXXX, XXXX and moved out of the home XX/XX/XXXX. Upon notifying the mortgage company that the home was vacant they immediately sent someone from their vacant properties division to put a lock box on the home and initiated foreclosure proceedings on the home. In an effort to save the home we contacted Nationstar in XXXX to initiate another modification on the loan to avoid foreclosure. At that time, I had a XXXX of Attorney to deal with the modification while my husband was XXXX to XXXX. I contacted the Foreclosure prevention representative to discuss options and was told the modification was denied due to the fact the home was not " owner occupied ''. I took the matter to the legal office here in XXXX where they contacted the mortgage company through an attorney on XX/XX/XXXX requesting alternative modification options be made available to us. When no response was given to the representing legal agent, and foreclosure proceedings were pushed by the mortgage company, I filed a consumer complaint through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in XXXX. After filing the original complaint the mortgage company finally contacted the legal department and agreed to postpone foreclosure proceedings under the XXXX. We received a resolution letter form the XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX advising us that foreclosure would not proceed as long as my husband was XXXX XXXX in the military. We were also advised in the resolution letter that FHA has their own guidelines for modification and a modification would not be offered until the property was owner occupied. We could not afford to support the mortgage and desperately needed to get out from underneath the weight of this home. We contacted the mortgage company again several times requesting help with the mortgage and were told that we must start a new modification request each time we called for help. We complied with the request in hopes of reaching a short sale agreement. In XXXX we initiated yet another modification request in hopes of getting past the modification level and reaching a different type of agreement because all modifications were denied without further options for help. In XXXX we contacted the company again and were told over the phone that a realtor had been assigned to handle a short sale on the property. At that point we were contacted by the local realtor and the house went up for sale. We received an offer on the home in the summer of XXXX for {$49000.00} ... ..and we had a contract to sell. The realtor contacted the mortgage representative for approval and the representative stated he had no record of the company agreeing to allow a short sale. We have correspondence from the realtor begging the company to work with her on the sale but the company eventually stopped responding. When we inquired to the company about the process they said FHA will not allow a short sale. So they said we could attempt to apply for a XXXX XXXX XXXX and see what happens, but we were told that in order to proceed with the process or to proceed with options of modification my husband would need to waive his rights under the XXXX. We felt hopeless in the process. My husband waived his rights under the XXXX, the XXXX XXXX XXXX was denied and now we were served court papers dated XX/XX/XXXX for foreclosure to our APO box in XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. They are now going forward with the foreclosure and have filed a petition with the courts in Kansas. We were told he had to waive his XXXX rights in order to get help and now we feel we have been deceived. We understand the FHA backed loans have special guidelines but we feel we have been fighting a losing battle for many, many years. For military members subject to PCS orders who can not remain in their home it states that to avoid potentially misleading or harming homeowners with PCS orders, mortgage servicers ( including financial institutions acting as mortgage servicers ) should : Provide homeowners with PCS orders with accurate, clear, and readily understandable information about available assistance options for which the homeowner may qualify based on the information known to the servicer ... this did not happen for us. 
And further, ensure that employees do not request that the service member waive legal rights in order to receive assistance, which they did to us.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation