Consumer complaint received 2021-04-08
Company: MIDFIRST BANK
State: WA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
So, I was married to my ex husband in XXXX. In XXXX we brought a house. Prior to buying the house there was a lot of emotional abuse. Once moving into the house thing got worse and the physical abuse happened. I was under so much stress that in XXXX I woke up with half my face paralyzed. XXXX XXXX caused by too much stress. Once obtaining a protection order ( XXXX ) after being physically assaulted by him, I had him removed from the home. I did not extend the protection order as I was more worried about my safety than ever. I ended up getting another one later as he came to my house and was screaming and yelling at me and banging on my door. 
I filed for divorce soon after using the help of the XXXX XXXX XXXX legal services. I was a student and not working and my ex was the bread winner. At the divorce hearing I had a really good case in order to be able to get alimony as well as part of his large XXXX and his medical. I was also going to ask for the house especially due to the XXXX. I even had a recording and transcript of it of him yelling at me and making threats. But he begged and pleaded for me to drop it and just get divorced. He swore that he would just walk away and leave me be. So, on our divorce decree, with the house it says *parties will decide at a later date*. He tried to take me back to court in XXXX to force me to sell but the judge denied him. He is still on the house. During this, my credit went from XXXX down to under XXXX. I had to file bankruptcy. My car, his truck, loans etc. 
I have been living in the home and providing all maintenance care for the home and paying the mortgage. Ive never gotten a dime from XXXX. 
I finished school, started working as a XXXX  XXXX advocate which has led me to my position today which is helping people who are facing homelessness. A place I was before. 
My house is much older. After covid hit, it seemed like everything was hitting me at the same time. My family members passing away from covid, being immune compromised myself and things starting to break left and right in my house. Since I no longer had credit to rely on, everything had to be paid in cash in full. Broken pipe in the upstairs bathroom leaked down to the first floor. {$1000.00} for a plumber to come fix the pipe, but thats it. The ceiling still has to be repaired. I had water pipes under my house bust that cost almost XXXX to fix. I just had a hot water pipe burst in the garage a few weeks ago. All things that I had to pay upfront. 
. This caused me to have to choose between repairs or paying my mortgage. I got on the forbearance plan thinking it would be ok because they would just move my missed payments to the end of my loan. I told them several times XXXX does not live here. No problem they said. 
I decided to take my self-off the forbearance plan early. I turned in the documents they asked me to right away. I then got a statement that says there is XXXX due and its considered late. When I called, they explained that unless my ex signs the paper then my only option is a repayment plan which is payments on top of my mortgage payment. Not to mention that my escrow is negative now and property taxes increase significantly. What that means is they are going to raise my regular payments anyway from XXXX to whatever needs to be added to cover the loss of the escrow to make my payments for taxes. 
My first stimulus was spent on a lawyer when my ex took me to court. I have saved the last 2 stimulus checks plus money I borrowed to total XXXX. I was going to put it down on my escrow, so my payments dont increase anymore. Then after begging my ex to sign, I offered him the XXXX to see if he could please just sign the paper to help me apply. He wouldnt. He said I should refi ( cant due to credit ) or see and buy another house ( cant buy for a few years due to credit ) then he said that I should be paying him monthly for him to sign. 
Its required since his name is on the house. Midland Mortgage tells me they are sorry for what I am going though but that with him on the house in WA state, their hands are tied if he wont sign. 
They offered me an extension on the forbearance so I have more time. but if I cant get him to sign, I dont know what I can do with extra time except incur more costs.

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