Consumer complaint received 2017-09-16
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
I currently have a conventional fixed mortgage with CitiMortagage, and I 've never missed a payment, I 've always made on time payments. However, I recently was impacted by the hurricane in Florida and I 've been struggling to find the best course of action. Then as I logged onto Citi mortgage, there was a link for hurricane victims to get mortgage assistance, I was very thankful! In short, I called into Citi and multiple options were presented to me, such as 1. Up to 6 months of suspended payments with a balloon payment of the months taken due of approximately {$10000.00} due at once if I took the 6 months 2. Up to 6 months of suspended payments, and restructure the loan at the end of the 6 months 3. Up to 6 months of suspended payments and moving the suspended 6 months of payments to the end of the loan. 
In speaking with the multiple agents throughout the process, I expressed my concern with the first two options being that the I would not be able to afford to make a lump sum payment at once in a regular circumstance, especially not now after a disaster and because I have a 1.6 % interest rate, restructuring the loan would cause me to lose my interest rate. 

I then asked for the third assistance option, which I believed to be the best option for a hurricane relief and I was informed that all of my notes were put into the system and I would need to be forwarded to another mortgage specialist. The next day another specialist called me and stated that the 3rd option to put the payments on the back of the loan was unavailable and I only had the first two options, I expressed my concern and he stated " I understand your concern but maybe you should look at doing a hardship request with your 401k to get the necessary money for the hurricane repairs if you do not want your loan restructured '' I declined to do this and thanked him for helping me. That night I went home and prayed and called back again, speaking with another agent and she informed me that all 3 options were in fact available for hurricane relief and that she would update my account, in updating my account one of the questions was if one of the borrowers on the loan served in the military, and when I resonded yes, she says " we have additional options for disaster relief for military however I will have to transfer you to that department '' I expressed my concern in being transferred especially because the last mortgage specialist did not honor one of the options and she told me not to worry that she had put all of the notes in the system. The following day I received another call from a mortgage specialist and he informed me that the 3rd option did not exist, again with my concern in knowing that two mortgage specialist informed me that I could move the 6 months of suspended payments to the back end of the loan, I asked for a supervisor. The supervisor then informed me that the 3rd option was available, but only to certain customers. I asked him to further explain.. He stated that my Mortgage loan was funded through a " Citi Bank Portfolio Investor Loan '' and they only offered the first two options to these type of customers, this was my first time hearing of this so I asked for documentation. He stated that he could not provide any documentation, only verbal confirmation. I was then transferred to another supervisor because I believed that any information that is on my account should be given to me in writing if requested, now in customer service and explained everything above.. She then stated to me that she was unsure of any stipulations mentioned to me and that any mortgage assistance available to all customers that I should be granted the assistance and she did not understand why I was forwarded to her because Citi owned my loan. She then further explained that I needed to take up my concerns with the supervisor in mortgage assistance, I was then transferred back to a supervisor in mortgage assistance, now to a different supervisor than before " XXXX -Account Manager Mortage Assistance ID : XXXX and explained everything to her and she explained to me that she could have a letter mailed to me stating that I had a " Citibank portfolio investor loan '' but she could not send me anything stating that I did not qualify for the 3rd option.. She then stated to me that I would need to pick one of the two options available to me, I then asked for her direct supervisor, " XXXX - Unit Manager Escalation ID : XXXX and she explained to me again the same thing but stated that it was not in her power to provide any documentation to me stating all of the mortgage assistance options for the hurricane or documentation stating that Citi provided select hurricane relief to certain customers, or why my loan is now a " investor broker loan '' and that was not stated in my closing documents. She then stated that sometimes closing documents do not provide as such information. Again being skeptical of this process and my belief that the company was intentionally withholding aid to me a hurricane relief victim in an effort for me to restructure my loan and lose my interest rate, I asked to be escalated further. She then informed me yesterday, XX/XX/17 that a member of the Executive Response Unit Team would be contacting me next week. I had a little bit of relief, until I began to research the company and found that in XX/XX/XXXX, CFPB Director XXXX XXXX issued a release stating that Citi Mortgage intentionally kept customers in the dark about mortgage options or were burdened with excessive paperwork and I too believe that this is happening to me. In the wake of a major hurricane and attempting to make steps in the right direction, I am asking for assistance from my mortgage company, the same assistance afforded to everyone else and if not, written documentation stating that this will not be afforded to me detailing the reasons. Even if I can not be helped, I hope that this will somehow find the level of management that can ensure that correct business practices are implemented to help hurricane victims, not trap them into restructuring their loan to increase their interest rate. 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