Consumer complaint received 2018-01-11
Company: Caliber Home Loans, Inc.
State: TX
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Our home was flooded during a building water leak on XX/XX/XXXX. Our insurance company made our claim check in the amount of {$20000.00} out to us and to our Mortgage lender, Caliber Home Loans. I reached out Caliber to find out how to get the check endorsed and the funds to us in order to pay the contractor, who had already begun work and who we had already made an initial deposit. I received a packet which included a substitute form XXXX for the contractor to fill out. The packet ( which included the insurance check endorsed by the mortgage holders ) was completed and mailed off in overnight mail along with a prepaid envelope to allow for a 3-5 day return of the funds. The packet was mailed XX/XX/XXXX and marked received by Caliber on XX/XX/XXXX, per the online website Caliber  encourages its customers to use. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called to see if the funds had been processed. At that time I was informed that the XXXX was rejected. I asked why I had not been informed immediately about the problem with the form and no good answer was available. A new form was completed ( it turned out the contractor had pulled his State Comptroller ID vs his EIN ) and uploaded to the portal that same day. Once again I was told it should be a quick turn around. 

On XX/XX/XXXX after still not receiving the funds and the Caliber website showing all documents received and a notation that the funds would be released four days after receipt, I once again called Caliber. I was informed that once again the XXXX was rejected. I again expressed dismay that at NO TIME was called or informed on my website portal that any documents had been rejected and that once again I had wasted time waiting for a check when none had been forthcoming. When asked why they had not contacted me there was again no initial answer. I asked what they could do to help me expedite this as I have had to borrow funds and sell other assets to pay for the work to my home while Caliber ( who has a strong interest in the homes repair ) has refused to communicate with me about getting the funds back to where they can be used. I was given two options : The first option was to have the contractor fill out a 3rd XXXX. When questioned he assured me that the EIN provided on XX/XX/XXXX was correct. When I asked the Caliber representative how we could be sure that someone one their side had not input the EIN wrong - I was told there was no way to know that. FYI - it turns out that the problem maybe that the contractor did not include LLC on their business name and per Caliber EVERYTHING has to match the IRS perfectly. Choosing this option - once again I would have to wait 3-5 days to see if the XXXX was approved. 

The second option was to request an exception since the {$20000.00} only exceeded the {$20000.00} limit for adding the contractor to the reimbursed funds by such a small amount. I said great - how long will that take? 3-5 days. Of course. 

I then requested they send me funds of {$20000.00} and keep the XXXX until they could verify the XXXX. They are not allowed to do that. I requested to speak to someone with authority and was transferred to the escalation dept. where the same discussion ( see above paragraphs ) took place. When asked why she was escalation representative, but had no additional authority over the first representative she had no response. I then asked to speak to her supervisor. I was transferred to a voicemail asking to leave my callback information and promised a return call within 24 hours which I did not, nor have not received. 

XX/XX/XXXX, after the 24 hour waiting period I called back the escalation team and requested to speak to a supervisor. In the meantime, I had obtained and uploaded to the portal the actual IRS notice with my contractors business name and EIN the difference being LLC. I wanted to know if now that they had a copy of the IRS notice if they would release my funds. I specifically said I did not want to be transferred to a voicemail, but was told they had no way to accommodate me. Once again, I left a message this time stating I would be filing a complaint with the CFPB. I have not yet heard back. 

To summarize my main complaint is the TOTAL LACK OF COMMUNICATION by Caliber, their representatives lack of ability to mitigate the issue and any supervisors lack of response. Our insurance company was able to set up our claim, send out an adjuster, approve and pay our claim in less time than Caliber has held our funds. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. I have sat around for 27 days waiting on them, not knowing that my request was on hold and needed to be corrected. This has caused me to have to sell stock I did not intend to part with and to borrow money from family in order to move the rebuilding process forward. Being in XXXX, TX post Hurricane Harvey one can not afford to bypass available contractors and subs, plus - cabinets, countertops etc are in such backorder status due to the hurricane that waiting a month causes even extra delays. In the meantime my family is living in a hotel with our home demolished ( though slowly coming back together with no help from Caliber ). 

NO ONE SHOULD BE HELD HOSTAGE BY THEIR MORTGAGE COMPANY WHEN THEY ARE TRYING TO REBUILD THEIR HOME. SHAME ON YOU CALIBER HOME MORTGAGE.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief