Consumer complaint received 2018-04-30
Company: PENNYMAC LOAN SERVICES, LLC.
State: PA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Other type of mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX I lost my job for the 2nd time this year and in XXXX i was having an issue with my bank and money and was going to struggle to pay my mortgage that month. So near the end of XX/XX/XXXX or beginning of XX/XX/XXXX I contacted PennyMac and informed them of my financial situation. They were eager to help and ran through an application process about my current income/assets/debts and pulled credit. They came back and approved me for a USDA unemployment forbearance for 6 months with a monthly payment of only {$5.00} and at the end of 6 months I would resume making my previous monthly payment amount of {$550.00} but never stated in writing how the delinquent months would be recouped, but verbally told it would be rolled into onto the end of my mortgage with a modification. I asked if I should make my XX/XX/XXXX and was told DO NOT pay it because it could make my forbearance plan void that it would be rolled into the end of the mortgage as well. I was excited that it was this easy to get the help I needed to get through this stressful time being without a job and short about $ XXXX {$800.00} a month for bills. I made my XXXX required payment by phone after chasing down my single point of contact XXXX XXXX. I left numerous messages without returned calls and when I finally spoke with her I was told you don't need to talk to me you can talk to anyone on this team. I again made a payment in XX/XX/XXXX for {$10.00}. XXXX came and another financial blow, I needed my car inspected ( {$40.00} ), but to do that I needed brakes ( {$40.00} ), tires ( {$320.00} ), and wipers ( {$20.00} ), so an additional expense of {$420.00} when I was already short cash for bills. So I had to wait until XX/XX/XXXX to call in my payment and because of my financial situation and had to use a friends account to call in the check by phone because at the time I didn't have an account of my own. After a big run around and lecture for talking on speaker with my friend because she was driving they processed the payment about mid afternoon eastern time on XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$10.00}. A few days into XXXX I start getting calls from PennyMac about the status of my account, when i return their call I get told my XXXX payment didn't clear, I want to say this call happened on XX/XX/XXXX because I made a payment of {$10.00} that day. I also believe at this time I started the process to request a modification. I left numerous messages for XXXX XXXX 's boss ( XXXX I believe ), none of which had ever been returned. I wanted to know why I was not called to inform me of the payment not clearing since i had an assigned representative to assist me in retaining my home and it was paid out of my friends account so i had no way to know it didn't clear. I would have then made a payment immediately to clear up this issue. It was not until XX/XX/XXXX i received written confirmation of my forbearance being denied, my account being delinquent and possibility of applying for a modification, and also notice of intent to accelerate/foreclose. I believe i already did the verbal interview to apply for the modification but was waiting for the paperwork to come in the mail. After waiting for nearly a week and not receiving the application for modification I called PennyMac again and they said I could print it off on their website, so I did. I rushed to complete the package and gather all paperwork required and uploaded it to the PennyMac system after struggling for days because i couldn't upload the paperwork unless I did it one page at a time. They reviewed my paperwork and sent a letter it was incomplete because i didn't have 30 days of pay stubs, though i provided my first stub since I only started my new job through a XXXX XXXX at XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX and the email confirming my hours, rate of pay and start date, which should have been sufficient to verify my pay. So I had to wait over a week until my 2nd pay stub was available for the review to be completed. Again another hold up though, during that time I was informed by XXXX I would be hired full time through them starting XX/XX/XXXX, now we needed a written verification of employment to confirm my pay would be the same as it was through the XXXX XXXX. I provided my HR contact 2 different times and nothing was sent out by the underwriter at this point XXXX. Since i work for a XXXX XXXX currently and have been employed as a XXXX XXXX XXXX  or XXXX XXXX for over 14 years I printed off a form filled in the contact information and provided it to my HR contact to be completed and fax back directly to XXXX. After receiving it she said she couldn't use it because she didn't send it out and then finally sent it to the HR contact. So she already had the information that my pay rate was the same buy delayed the review again. Mind you I have NEVER to this day spoken with XXXX and i called endless times during the process. I provided a letter of intent to file Chapter XXXX bankruptcy in XXXX once it would have the maximum benefit to file for my situation. After some time passed I logged onto the PennyMac site to find out my modification was denied. I asked why and was read off the sheet the 3 reasons. Housing ratio excessive, DTI excessive, and negative cash flow. I asked what figures they were using to calculate this information and was read the items for denial again. Insisting I be provided with the income and debt figures I was transferred to my underwriter XXXX, guess what I got again ... Voicemail, no return calls again. I called in again and insisted on speaking with someone who can discuss the denial and again read the reason but not given the financial figures requested and transferred to XXXX again, and no response. I started leaving messages for her manager to discuss my denial and very clearly stated I needed to be called after XXXX eastern time due to my work schedule and not being able to accept calls while at work. They couldn't follow this request either and called during my work day. Since i work in the mortgage industry so long qualifying people for home loans I started digging for answers and options. I stumbled across the USDA guides for loss mitigation. I then called in and questioned why I was denied when other options could be available to avoid foreclosure and help me retain my home as they state they are. I was told I breached my contract and voided my forbearance, however in the USDA guides a 30 day late on a forbearance plan is NOT a breach of contract, that requires a 60 day delinquency. A 30 day delinquency applies to a Trial Repayment plan which I am 100 % sure my modified mortgage payment wasn't going to be {$5.00} as the paperwork I received stated I would go back to payment my {$550.00} a month after the 6 month forbearance. I should have never been removed for breaching the contract. I have yet to figure out what type of modification I was ever going to be approved for as my DTI has always been under a 31 % and the USDA requirement is to lower the payment to get the DTI from above a 31 % to below. My DTI has always been over a 55 % percent even including going back to my previous employment with PrimeLending using only my {$38000.00} base pay. I did receive a substantial amount of commission at that job but did not have a 2 year history so it could not be included in my DTI calculation. My cash flow as also always been negative. So how did missing a {$5.00} payment change my approval for a modification to bring my loan current. I have asked several times and told I breached my contract. Yet I did not per USDA guidelines and I tried to have someone go through them with me but was told NO you do not qualify sign your home over for short sale or deed in lieu of, rather than letting them foreclose on my home. I said USDA allows the servicer to apply for an exception to extend the forbearance under certain circumstances to allow the borrower time to get their financial situation corrected if they have a foreseeable plan, which I do. I plan on filing bankruptcy ( Chapter XXXX ) in XXXX once I have my car for 2.5 years so they can wipe out about 12K I am underwater on it and amortize my payment based on the remaining balance. I also would be including all unsecured debts and credit cards practically reducing my monthly expenses by half even with the repayment to the bankruptcy court. I was told numerous times I can't afford my home, end of story. I was also told I probably didn't even obtain and attorney to file bankruptcy why should they believe me that I am filing it. After being told that by a representative that also said I didn't qualify for a modification I hung up on her. So at some point the computer must have come up that i could be eligible since i was provided the Mortgage Assistance Package initial but the 2nd time just told NO. Someone needs to explain. To me this is clearly misrepresentation of options and misleading information causing me to accept a forbearance plan that essentially set me up for foreclosure due to having a negative cash flow during the forbearance. How did they expect me to come up with {$4000.00} to cure the delinquency? By their reasoning for denying the modification I NEVER fit that box at any point. I submitted a written formal dispute for denying the modification and provided them the USDA guidelines so they can review all options they could provide to assist me in saving my home

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation