Consumer complaint received 2023-04-29
Company: PENNYMAC LOAN SERVICES, LLC.
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
I am shocked and disappointed at the way my mortgage company Pennymac has handled our FHA mortgage loan. Our family has suffered major health issues and have communicated and continued making payments as best we could to Pennymac who was happy to accept them. Now that we are back on our feet Pennymac is refusing to accept the mortgage payments and has started the foreclosure process. They are sending back our payments and setting us up to lose our home, even though our hardship is over and we can make our mortgage payment. Pennymac is telling us the only option is to pay back {$18000.00} in late payments and interest and legal fees in one lump sum payment and we can't do this. This is an avoidable foreclosure if Pennymac allowed us to be considered for FHA homeowner assistance programs. that Pennymac took this major step against us without ever offering any options to be considered for homeowner assistance programs. Pennymac was well aware of the health issues and I never avoided communicating or trying to pay my mortgage. During our struggles and conversations with Pennymac we were never told that there were government programs available for distressed homeowners to get caught up on their mortgage such as loan modification, loan restructure, forbearance or repayment plans. We have never been considered for any of these programs and instead of trying to work things out with us Pennymac is trying to take our house. We are back on our feet financially and can afford the mortgage payment, the issue is that we do not have the full past due amount to pay in one lump sum. 

Shortly after buying our home I was diagnosed with XXXX  and went into hospital because of the pain  and had my XXXX XXXX XXXX and went on short term XXXX. I was still sick and in pain and the doctors were not sure what was wrong with me. My employer notified me that short term XXXX was ending in XXXX and I was still too sick to go back to work. I did not want to be fired from my job so I resigned so I could focus on getting healthy. The doctor did an XXXX  and realized that a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX After figuring out the problem the doctor was able to prescribe medicine to treat the condition and manage the pain. Because I was out of work we did not have funds for the payment and I contacted Pennymac in XXXX to explain the situation. No one discussed a forbearance or modification or unemployment programs at that time that could have helped me fix this. 

In XXXX we made a partial payment of {$800.00} to Pennymac which they accepted. I spoke with an agent on the phone who told me that we would need to make two consecutive payments of {$2000.00} in order to get back into good standing. Again there was no discussion of any type of government program to help us deal with this situation even we understand that Pennymac is required to make these options available. I was still sick and had picked up some part time work but we could not make the two payments of {$2000.00} and fell further behind. I was able to get my old job back at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  in late XXXX. My partner XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX His job and income are steady. Once I started receiving my regular paycheck again we immediately tried to resolve things with Pennymac and made a {$2300.00} payment in XXXX. However when we tried to make payments in XXXX and XXXX they returned the money back to us and told us that we were going into foreclosure. This is an avoidable foreclosure. Our hardship is over and we have enough income to afford a reasonable mortgage payment. We understand that Pennymac is required to provide options for us to cure the delinquent amounts through other means than full reinstatement in one lump sum.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation