Consumer complaint received 2023-10-17
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: GA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage
Sub-issue: Foreclosure

Complaint:
We are facing a foreclosure auction on our home on XX/XX/XXXX and are looking for help to fix the missed payments. We first struggled with this loan due to XXXX in XXXX which led to income loss and when we contacted Freedom they offered a XXXX month forbearance. However, after the forbearance Freedom Mortgage did not provide a plan or an option to defer or recapitalize those payments and we had to pay extra each month to get caught up on the mortgage. We paid as agreed until a few months ago when my husbands XXXX became so serious that he was unable to work for several months which led to us missing the mortgage payment in XXXX. We tried to make partial payments and get caught up but it was not possible. Now XXXX is refusing to accept payments from XXXX and telling us we need to pay {$8400.00} in XXXX payment to catch up the mortgage otherwise you foreclose. I have owned this house since XXXX and it is home to XXXX and I and XXXX children ages XXXX and XXXX. We do not want to lose our home and urge Freedom to provide options through HUD programs to help us get caught up on the past due payments. XXXX is back to work full time and our hardship is resolved. 

We have always paid our mortgage on time until we were impacted by XXXX. XXXX works in remodeling and construction and when the pandemic hit his income dropped. We hung on as long as we could until we asked for help in XXXX from Freedom. We appreciated that we were offered a XXXX month forbearance and ended up making extra amounts in our payments to pay back those payments that had been set aside. I have now been made aware that since we have an FHA government backed loan that Freedom was required to offer us a forbearance if impacted by XXXX. This program was to stay in place as long as we were in a hardship and could have been extended to 6 months, 12 months or even 18 months. After the forbearance ended XXXX was required to come up with a plan to address the delinquent payments that did not include full reinstatement. We were only offered a XXXX month forbearance and even though our hardship was not over, we resumed payments and actually paid extra to catch up on the delinquent amount. I feel that if Freedom had complied with the government guidelines and allowed us to stay in the forbearance for a longer period of time ( our hardship was not resolved when we resumed payments ) and given us a different option to address the payments that were set aside we would be in a different place. 

In XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX got worse and he was not able to work. He has been granted partial XXXX benefits through XXXX due to this condition. We tried to get caught up on the mortgage but it became a situation where I had to choose between paying for food and electricity or keeping up with the mortgage. I contacted Freedom to ask if we could be considered for another forbearance or assistance options. I was told that there XXXX be options but that I needed to go through a rigorous process in order to be considered. I was overwhelmed with my husbands illness and making sure the lights stayed on and when I tried to speak again with their agents about getting help and applying it was very confusing and I thought it would be easier to just start paying back extra on the mortgage like we did during XXXX. When I tried to call in to make payments I was told that they would only accept the full past due balance. Next thing I knew there was a sale date. 

XXXX has been back to work for XXXX months now and we are in a stronger place and our hardship is resolved. The problem is that we do not have {$8400.00} to pay to Freedom to stop the foreclosure auction.

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