Consumer complaint received 2020-09-16
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: OH
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I spoke with a customer service representative at Freedom Mortgage Corp regarding the COVID Forbearance plan that they were offering. I was told on that day that the forbearance plan would have zero effect on my credit report and credit score. I was told that at the end of the forbearance period, the total amount of payments not made would be due. The representative then told me that if I had any interest in refinancing, that I could choose to do that at the end of my forbearance period and just roll the total amount due into the loan balance of the refinance. Well, come XXXX my amount due was {$10000.00} by XX/XX/XXXX. At that time I called and spoke to a refinance representative who at that time told me, " no you absolutely can not refinance while in an active forbearance plan ''. I explained that I was told on the phone at the time of my forbearance request that I would be allowed to refinance my loan and his response was " was that person licensed? ". How would I know if whoever I spoke to is " licensed '' or not and why would that matter? Regardless I was stuck in a terrible situation of having a large payment due to get caught up on something I thought was supposed to be helpful, but only ended up hurting me in the long run. Due to this inaccurate information that Freedom Mortgage provided to me, I had to take a loan out on my XXXX to get the money to bring my mortgage account current. 
After I submitted and brought my account up to date, I then tried to refinance with my bank that I am not only a customer for over 20 years, but I am also a XXXX  since XXXX. Once my application was submitted, I was called by the loan officer with the news that he can not proceed with my application because my credit score is down to XXXX. That is about 100 points less than what my average credit score was before this forbearance plan. I am an XXXX with my  company and work in a highly respected area. To get that call was one of the most embarrassing moments in my career. The amount of stress and money this whole forbearance plan has caused me is absolutely ridiculous being that this was supposed to be helpful and have no negative impact on me due to the pandemic. It was exactly the opposite of what Freedom Mortgage promised. 
I have decided to take legal action. So today ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I called Freedom Mortgage and requested a copy of the phone conversation that took place on XX/XX/XXXX with all of the misinformation given to me. The representative I spoke with, XXXX, told me he was not allowed to release that to me and he asked why. I told him of all the issues mentioned above and he told me " yes at once point we were told we could offer refinances on forbearance plans, but that they took back what they said because it was not allowed to be offered ''. I told XXXX well that news was never told to me. After that initial forbearance call, I all along was under the assumption I could call and refinance. He told me he would have to put the request into his manager regarding the voice recording and that once his manager listened to it, he would call me to discuss. I am still waiting for that phone call. My attorney will be sending a subpoena for those records and will move forward with legal action.

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