Consumer complaint received 2020-05-11
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: NV
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I was contacted by XXXX XXXX from Freedom Mortgage about a product I qualified for. It was called a streamline mortgage, and I was told it was a pretty seamless process and it should be done fairly quick once I fill out the paperwork and send it in to her. Never was I told their would be any challenges with the process. I didn't have to have my credit verified, my monthly payment would go down, and I would be able to take advantage of " skipping a payment '' for a month. Everything sounded great, so I accepted the terms presented to me and started the process. Especially the " skip a payment '' option because I planned to change jobs in the near future and to not have to pay the mortgage one month was a very beneficial benefit for me. As time, went on I received loan docs in my e-mails, so I signed them and it seemed that everything was going smoothly. Then I started to notice no one would follow up with me. I began working with XXXX XXXX, Customer Advocate, as she explained the documents I was signing, and next steps. Just when it seemed like it was time close and go into the new loan, I received documents to sign. I signed different documents on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX. It would get frustrating, because just as the month would be ending and I would be thinking the loan would close any time now, no one would follow up with me. XXXX passed, then in XXXX came an issue that I had owed back child support payments which was incorrect. That was corrected, so I thought, ok in XXXX this will finally close. I didn't get any phone call, so I contacted XXXX XXXX on XXXX or XXXX ( don't remember the date ). She explained everything looked good and instructed me to NOT make my XXXX mortgage payment. This was a sign the process was going to close and everything was OK. However, as the end of the month came closer, I did not receive any calls. Finally, for fear of there being an issue, I called XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. Our air conditioning unit went out at our home and the cost to get it fixed was going to be approximately {$7500.00}. I am still not working due to the Covid-19 issue as work is not ready to start until Nevada shut down has been lifted. Now more than ever, I needed that " skip a payment '' option for the mortgage. I asked Ms. XXXX what the status was on our streamline refinance. She looked up in her systems and said that Underwriting denied my loan because I did not meet their original criteria of having 1 or less late payments in the last year. She told me I was now " close '' to meeting the criteria and I may be eligible in the next 1-2 months to reapply. I was practically speechless. After going back and forth for over 3 months, Freedom Mortgage 's Underwriting department denied the loan because I didn't qualify for it in the first place? If this is true, this is very poor service. This company had me dangling along for over three months making me think that I was qualified and practically done with the process only to tell me at the last minute I shouldn't have been called in the first place? There is something very wrong with this picture. How can a mortgage company make an offer to a customer, provide steps for the customer to follow, and then take back their offer over 3 months later because they shouldn't have made the offer in the first place? Not only is this bad customer service, this company is not operating in good faith. I almost feel like this is borderline fraud and that this company is practicing deceptive processes to make their numbers look better. Why was I even called in the first place? Never have I contacted an elected official or have gone to the attorney general of the state, but I am tempted to do so - this is so egregious, I feel like I have been taken advantaged of. Do I pay the mortgage? Or do I use the money to add to the purchase of a new air conditioning unit for the home? The other concern is, if I don't pay on time, then I may be disqualified again for the streamline loan. Please, I want a lower payment each month but how do I know this same think won't happen again? This is just all around bad for Freedom Mortgage to do this to a customer. The other issue is, was anybody ever going to tell me I was denied? And provide me the official reason? Ms. XXXX said an official " no '' letter was mailed to me on XX/XX/XXXX. However, I never received it. Had I not called, this issue would never have been addressed. I deserve to know the official reason in writing why my loan request was denied. Ms. XXXX did not provide me any recourse other than to call in Customer Service. I called in the following day and spoke to XXXX. He was able to waive the late fee per my request and provided me another number to call. I called that number the following day and eventually spoke to a supervisor. I explained to him what had happened but he didn't really do much. He stated he would follow up with Ms XXXX and Ms. XXXX but I am not sure what that would do for me. I felt there was no real customer service on this call - no real help provided for me, the customer that suffered during this ordeal.

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