Consumer complaint received 2023-10-23
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage
Sub-issue: Application denials

Complaint:
I am widowed. My husband held the loan and we both held the deed. The contract for the FHA loan on our house says that as his widow, living in our home I can assume the loan without having to provide financial evidence that I can afford the payments ( which I can afford. ) My husband died from XXXX in XXXX, after putting the loan into a XXXX forbearance. When that forbearance ended in XXXX, I contacted Freedom to get the payments that had been in forbearance placed into a partial claim, as permitted by the XXXX forbearance program and to move the loan to my name. 

Initially I was told that that wasnt a problem and that the assumption and partial claim could all be started then. I provided the documents they requested and waited for them to complete their process, which I was told would take weeks. 

When I received additional requests for the documents I had already provided, I provided them again and I was assured by Freedom that they were working on everything. 

Instead of getting the requested assumption and partial claim, I got a foreclosure notice. This happened when I was supposed to be giving them time to process everything. 

I am now over a year into fighting with Freedom to get the loan in my name and the partial claim established. During that time they have refused to allow me to make payments so the amount past due has grown. 

They have twice offered a partial claim only to rescind that offer. The first time they refused to process the notarized contract because it arrived too late. ( They had said theyd call and set up the notary and never did. I ultimately paid for it out of pocket and returned the packet. ) The second time they said Id get the packet for the partial claim they never sent it. They canceled the process without notifying me. 

They have listed my house auction, despite me trying to work with them and the numerous times they have failed to follow through on what they promised. I have had to resend documents numerous times because they didnt see them in their system, they asked for the wrong document, or they gave me an outdated form to complete. 

They ultimately told me that I had to file financial documents proving I can afford the loan ( despite the contract saying otherwise ) and are now refusing to facilitate the COVID related partial claim ( because my husband is XXXX XXXX XXXX - I was told that had he lived, the partial claim wouldnt be an issue. ) I was also told that since the loan is past due, I am not entitled to assume the loan under the terms of the contract. 

I provided the documentation they requested and they are now again saying I have failed to provide the requested documents ( because the SSA proof of payouts for my children doesnt explicitly say XXXX benefits. ) They again have my house actively scheduled for auction despite me actively trying to complete their ever changing loss mitigation process.

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