Consumer complaint received 2018-04-06
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: ID
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
I am contacting your organization to file a formal complaint against Freedom Mortgage. I bought my home with an FHA loan that is now held by Freedom Mortgage. After a bad injury on the job I went through some hard times and missed some payments. My hardship is over and I am trying to work things out with Freedom Mortgage. At first they were very helpful and told me that I would qualify for an assistance program. Several months later I am still waiting as they continue to misplace my documents, tell me they have not received paperwork that I send to them via certified mail ( so I know they have received it ) and tell me that I have no options. When I offered to make a large lump sum payment in order to fix this problem they tell me that the amount I owe has increased several thousand dollars due to late fees, Attorney fees, inspection fees and junk fees and that I can only pay the full amount. they have now set a foreclosure sale date for XX/XX/XXXX. I make a good living and have the means to pay my mortgage -- I am certain that I would qualify for one of the government programs such as modification, repayment plan, partial claim or special forbearance but Freedom won't even give me a chance. 

I bought my house almost one year ago. I have a large family ( wife and XXXX kids between the ages of XXXX and XXXX  months ) and we were excited to have our own place. I had a good paying job working with the state of Idaho for the last 20 years and there was no reason to think that there would be any problems with making the monthly payment. About 4 months later I was injured on the job -- I XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and all of my XXXX and was in extreme pain. Due to doctor visits and the pain my working hours were limited. I had to go from doctor to doctor to figure out exactly what the problem was ( my XXXX  had been XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) and how to fix it and finally an XXXX was done and I went in for XXXX. I missed a few weeks of work after the XXXX and they put me on some heavy pain medication. This led to additional problems and XXXX which also cut into my ability to work. 

I contacted Freedom Mortgage shortly after I defaulted and explained my situation and was assured that there were programs available and that I qualified. I then began the process of sending in the application documents and began a vicious cycle because Freedom continually lost the documents. I got sick of faxing and began sending the documents through the USPS with tracking numbers in order to ensure that Freedom received the documents. I would get the receipt showing it was received, and then when I would follow up their loss mitigation department would say that they never received the documents. I was eventually told that I did not qualify for any programs, although no specific details were given relating to what programs I was reviewed for, what income was used in the calculation etc. or if a full review was even conducted. 

I then discussed a large lump sum payment of {$6000.00} in order to get me back into good standing. Their agents told me that this was not good enough, because when they added in the late fees and Attorney fees and the junk fees the total amount owed was closer to {$10000.00}. I am contacted often by their agents now, but it is not to offer help or to conduct a review of my current and correct financial circumstances. It is to harass me and to tell me that if I don't make a lump sum payment of {$10000.00} that they are going to take my home away from me. A sale date has been scheduled for XX/XX/XXXX. 

My hardship is over, and I make more than enough income to qualify for these homeowner assistance programs. The issue is that Freedom won't give me a seat at the table. This is wrong, and I believe they are violating FHA and HUD guidelines.

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