Consumer complaint received 2018-09-26
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: SC
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I called to confirm the closing of my mortgage with my preferred attorney, XXXX XXXX in XXXX, his office had no record of my closing and I was baffled because I had received an e-mail form XXXX XXXX at Freedom Mortgage indicating I would be closing at the address of his office on XX/XX/XXXX just a few days before my call. After speaking with several people at Freedom Mortgage who assured me my loan was closing with XXXX law firm I did not understand and neither did XXXX law firm. I asked to talk to the title company ( XXXX XXXX ) and they told me XXXX XXXX was closing my loan, but the problem is XXXX doesn't practice law with XXXX law firm, he is with XXXX Law Firm in another city, XXXX. I spend the next 48 hours piecing together my own closing that I was paying Freedom to originate and close on my behalf. The closing finally takes place because I have to switch to XXXX law firm. Reason being I had scheduled my family vacation and work schedule around closing on XX/XX/XXXX and XXXX law firm was booked, I was forced to close with XXXX or I would lose my rate lock an have to rearrange my schedule again to accommodate for Freedom 's missteps. ON XX/XX/XXXX I sent my preferred closing attorney docs to XXXX XXXX and Freedom Mortgage and she acknowledged the receipt on XX/XX/XXXX. This correspondence was forwarded to XXXX XXXX at Freedom Mortgage would was verbally handling my complaint details and trying to get a resolution for me. 


Email sent on XX/XX/XXXX and form filled our on Freedom Mortgage WEbsite : I have tried to come to talk with a manager about the closing of my loan on XX/XX/2018 by XXXX Law Firm, XXXX XXXX, lawyer. Property Address : XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, SC XXXX I spoke with numerous people at Freedom and have also emailed my customer care and closing coordinator ( XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX, respectively ). After a week of trying to speak with someone in upper management and completing the telephone survey conducted by Freedom on XX/XX/XXXX, I still have not received a call or any correspondence to acknowledge the errors made by Freedom in processing the set up of the closing on my loan. I am very disappointed. Please have someone in upper management that oversees any of the individuals that I have been in contact with, so that I can understand the missteps and bring resolution to this matter. If a response is not received in 3 business days, I will file a formal complaint with the XXXX XXXX XXXX and, if necessary, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to express all of the missteps made by Freedom in completing the closing of my loan. As of today, all I'm asking for is a person in senior management to call and discuss this situation with me at XXXX, I think I have earned this opportunity based on the missteps. Should you need the missteps I am sure that XXXX or XXXX would be happy to share with you my e-mails and experience with your company. I also dealt with the following people in the closing department that tried to help, but I really ended up doing their job for them in coordinating my own closing because Freedom did not use my preferred attorney. Their names in the closing department were : XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX. I really do not want to go through the channels of bureaucracy to have a conversation with someone, but if I need to go that route, I am happy to do that in order to move the needle here. 


I went back and forth with XXXX XXXX for over 60 days trying to get a formal response, but kept getting the run around and a delay about being compensated for my effort in coordinating the closing of this loan ( a job Freedom was hired to do ). I gave Freedom a chance to make it right bu XXXX XXXX INSISTED that I give a dollar amount for the compensation I was seeking, so I told him {$2500.00}, but ultimately what I wanted is for Freedom to explain the missteps, admit their wrong doing and pay me what they thought was a fair amount, but they insisted that I name the dollar figure, so I did. 

The transaction clearly breaks SC state law by allowing me to close with my preferred attorney in a reasonable time frame and due to Freedom 's miscommunication and lack of organization they failed to follow the law. AT no point was I offered to extend my rate lock or offered a lower closing cost prior to closing, so I feel this was my only option to ask for the money after the transaction. Freedom Mortgage failed and should be held accountable along with compensating me for my loss of time and XXXX over this situation for the last 80 days. 

I originally requested the company compensate me {$2500.00} for person time and effort put into following up and scheduling my own closing which I had hired them to do as a loan origination company. At this time I feel that my time and effort that has spent spent chasing Freedom Mortgage for an answer is worth {$5000.00} in punitive damages on top of my own time and effort for doing their job for them in the days leading up to the closing. It took Freedom over 80 days to respond to me with a final decision and the CFPB timeline for a response in writing is 30 days, nearly triple the government standard. On top of this, the stress it has caused me knowing I did their job for them in the most important part of the loan closing process. 

I also expect the state of SC to hold all of the following people accountable to the letter of the law for their actions and in-actions in this case. 

XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX ( all spoken with on XX/XX/XXXX who had NO IDEA what to do and where my loan was closing, I ended up calling the title company ( XXXX XXXX ) my self to find out that XXXX XXXX was trying to close the loan at a law firm where he doesn't even practice law ( my preferred attorney 's office XXXX XXXX ) because XXXX XXXX did not schedule the closing with my preferred attorney, SC state law requires I be given that right and Freedom essentially ripped it away from me because otherwise I couldn't close on time ). 

XXXX XXXX NMLS ID : XXXX, loan officer of the transaction, who tried to be helpful, but really did not see the deal to closing with my preferred attorney as a loan officer should do and failed to help after the closing other than to escalate to her manager ( unnamed by her, but that person should also be held accountable ). 

XXXX XXXX XXXX - person responding to my inquiry over 80 days later in writing, see attachment. 

XXXX XXXX - called to tell me a VP was working on a resolution around XX/XX/XXXX, no response after that to e-mails and not a call from her VP either. 

The following were all e-mailed as escalation points and no response to my e-mails or even an acknowledgement of the e-mail that would be responded to by some at Freedom XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX The ultimate message here is that Freedom Mortgage failed to honor my preferred attorney in the closing time frame that was agreed upon with XXXX XXXX. I had to do everything myself on behalf of Freedom to make sure the loan closed before the rate-lock expiration. Freedom displayed a gross misconduct of SC law and federal law by not allowing me to close with my preferred attorney in a reasonable time because of their failed systemic issues of clarifying loan closing dates with the preferred attorney on record.

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