Consumer complaint received 2023-05-11
Company: Mr. Cooper Group Inc.
State: CO
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
My home is in the early stages of foreclosure because Mr. Cooper misrepresented and misled me. My family was negatively impacted financially during Covid and this is a VA loan so Mr. Cooper was required to offer a forbearance, and when that ended they are required to allow options to recapitalize the delinquent payments into the loan balance or review for loan modification or partial claim or repayment plan. As I understand it they are not allowed to demand the full past due balance from the Covid forbearance in a lump sum, but that is exactly what Mr. Cooper is doing to my family. My wife and I are both back at work full time and do not have a problem making our regular monthly mortgage payment, the issue is the {$12000.00} in delinquent payments from the Covid forbearance. 

I served my country proudly in the U.S. XXXX for 4 years XXXX XXXX and 4 years inactive as a XXXX. I bought my home in XXXX in XXXX with a VA loan and never had any financial issues. I live in the home with my wife and two XXXX and have worked as a XXXX for XXXX for the last 5 years. My wife XXXX is a registered dietician and when Covid hit our nation she was working at a XXXX XXXX. Unfortunately she was frequently sent home because she tested positive for Covid several times. Each time she tested positive she had to allocate time to quarantine and due to the frequent illness had her hours and income cut in half, and then they went out of business. This was a major hit to our family finances. My hours at XXXX were steady during XXXX and was still getting overtime but in XXXX Covid hit my industry and my hours and pay significantly dipped. We went through all of our savings but things finally caught up with us and we called Mr. Cooper and they said that I qualified for a Covid forbearance and that I did not need to send in the payments for six months so that we could get back on our feet. They told us that they would put the missed payments back into the balance of the loan and that we did not need to worry about it. When the XXXX months was over we resumed making our payments in XXXX and XXXX. Our monthly payment was {$990.00} but we paid {$1200.00} each month because we wanted to get caught up and pay down the missed payments. The Mr. Cooper agent we spoke to asked for a line item list of our bills and also asked for my paystubs. They said that I don't need to worry about anything, you don't even have to send paperwork in because we will run the numbers and this will all work out. 

In XXXX we tried to make our regular monthly payment through the automated system but it would not work. We had to press 0 for help and the agent that answered said no, sorry, you need to pay full past due balance because I had been denied for the assistance program. They did not tell me what programs I had been reviewed for or explain anything or disclose the income they used in the evaluation. They told me the only possible option was to reinstate the loan in full. I now owe about {$12000.00} included the late feels and legal fees and I got a intent to foreclosure notice on XX/XX/XXXX. 

The agents at Mr. Cooper told me I had nothing to worry about, that I could accept the forbearance plan and they would work with me to resolve this. They have not worked with me, they have misled me. My wife is now back working full time for the school district and I again have full time hours at XXXX. We have sufficient income to make our mortgage payment, the issue is that we don't have the full amount to reinstate and need help with that. We know that VA loans do have programs available to help people with this issue, but Mr. Cooper is denying access and starting foreclosure

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation