Consumer complaint received 2018-03-28
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: IA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
My mortgage provider, Freedom Mortage, has refused to cancel my PMI now that the LTV is below 78 %. They are demanding that I get an appraisal and that the percentage of automatic removal is based on the age of the loan. In accordance with the Homeowners Protection Act and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, they are required to cancel my PMI at 78 % of original value at anytime it occurs. 

Per Freedom mortgage, the principal balance on the loan is {$230000.00} and original appraised value is {$300000.00} XXXX although it would be even higher than that now ). But even with these numbers, it is an LTV of 75.9 %. 

I originally requested removal of PMI in XX/XX/XXXX/XX/XX/XXXX. At that time, I was told that it would be automatically removed in XX/XX/XXXX. This did not happen. I called back in XX/XX/XXXX and in XX/XX/XXXX, and I was told they would start the process. Once again, nothing happened. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke with XXXX ( employee ID XXXX ). He said, and I quote, for some reason, the PMI removal process didnt start on its own when it was supposed to. He and his supervisor, XXXX, assured me that two things would happen : 1 ) PMI would be removed by XX/XX/XXXX ( 5 days from the phone call ) and 2 ) due to this being Freedom Mortgages error, wed be credited the amount that we overpaid our PMI ( IE the amount of PMI paid from the time the LTV hit 78 % to present ). XXXX said he wasnt sure if we would be reimbursed via a check or directly through our escrow, but he would have the cashiering department contact me about that. Once again, nothing happened. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a letter stating : for loans aged between 2 and 5 years, the LTV has to be below 75 %. We have had a loan longer than 5 years on this home, but just not through Freedom Mortgage. Please note, it was NOT by our request that Freedom Mortgage took this loan over. They simply bought the loan from our previous provider, XXXX. We should NOT be penalized for something we had no control over, and quite frankly, didnt even want. We have never had a late payment, and weve specifically been paying extra toward our principal to get PMI removed more quickly. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called back again. I was told that PMI would be automatically removed in XX/XX/XXXX because that was the schedule, based on minimum payments, for it to fall off. When I inquired about the fact that Ive been paying extra principal for years in order to get it removed more quickly, I was very rudely told ( by XXXX, employee ID XXXX ), in so many words, that it is only 8 more months of PMI that I have to pay and to just XXXX it up. 

Based on LTV, weve been wrongly paying {$110.00} of PMI for the past 13 months, and according to Freedom Mortgage, will have to continue this for another 7 months. That is {$2300.00} ( $ XXXX ) of overpayment that I should be reimbursed for. 

Thank you

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