Consumer complaint received 2023-10-20
Company: Mr. Cooper Group Inc.
State: IA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage
Sub-issue: Trying to communicate with the company to fix an issue related to modification, forbearance, short sale, deed-in-lieu, bankruptcy, or foreclosure

Complaint:
I am a 100 % XXXX veteran who lost income during Covid which led to financial problems with my mortgage. I called Mr. Cooper in XXXX 2020 to see if they could help me since I had a VA loan. I was told there were no options for help and no one told me about the CARES act forbearance. I was unable to keep up on the loan because my job as a XXXX XXXX was devastated and eventually eliminated due to the pandemic and restrictions from XXXX and XXXX and my wife was out of work. I called back a few months later to ask again if there were any programs to help. The agents told me there was forbearance available, but they provided me with false information saying if I took the forbearance as soon as I was back to work I would have to pay the full amount back all at once. That seemed like a worse option than trying to get caught up on my own so I did not accept the program. I have since learned that is not how this program works and because of these lies I have been spinning my wheels for 2 years and had to file bankruptcy to stop the foreclosure sale of my home. 
If I knew the truth about the government mandated forbearance I would have accepted the program and once I was back on my feet worked with Mr. Cooper to find a reasonable and fair solution to reconcile the missed payments. I was never given this chance. I continued to check in every few months to see if there were options for help and was never given any options except for a repayment plan. Since I had begun working part time again I requested terms for a repayment plan but this option raised my payments almost {$400.00} per month and I could not afford it. A few months later when I was back on my feet financially I contacted their office again to be considered for all options such as deferment, loan modification or recapitalization of the late payments and again they told me the only option was a repayment plan with a monthly payment of {$2100.00} which was {$1000.00} more than my original payment. 

I cant believe that this is how Mr. Cooper treats veterans. I served in the XXXX XXXX for 7 years and was hit by an XXXX  while deployed in XXXX. I have had to undergo six reconstructive surgeries and have now been classified as 100 % XXXX. I contacted Mr. Cooper to ask for help, and their agents lied to me about how the XXXX program works to dissuade me from accepting that program they were required to offer. As a result of the obstruction of these programs I am $ XXXX behind and in foreclosure. 

I live in the home with my wife and XXXX young children. The VA recently increased my monthly benefits and my wife is going to school to be a respiratory therapist and is part of a work study program where she gets paid while training. Our hardship is resolved and we have the means to afford our mortgage payment. The problem is that your company has misled me and denied access to government programs that you are required to consider me for

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation