Consumer complaint received 2018-04-12
Company: Flagstar Bank, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
We've had our mortgage through Flagstar Bank for almost ten years. We've always worked hard and paid our bills and like any other family, experienced hardships along the way, due to medical issues and other unexpected financial impacts. We have no credit card debt ; we pay everything in cash, which can put pressure on our bill payment cycle but it's also been a smart decision as we didn't want to get in over our heads with credit. We've always made our mortgage top priority and over the last year, we've been 1-2 months late from time to time due to multiple reasons. As we approached the holiday and experienced the fires, we were one month late on our payment but had scheduled to bring it to date. XXXX advised us of a program they were offering to support homeowners during the difficult time and we were so relieved to learn and take advantage of the offer as we had multiple expenses relating to being outplaced for 1.5 weeks ( XXXX service  disruption/evacuation ). I spoke to a representative at XXXX following the fire and they clearly advised that they we'd be relieved of three months payments and there were NO contingencies ; the outstanding amount would be applied to the loan arrears. I'm not someone who will take advantage of something and not ask questions so I had them clarify several times that there were no reimbursement stipulations or risk and was assured there were no such obligations ... that the three months would be pushed to the end of the loan. We got through the next few months and I was laid off from my job. I contacted XXXX to advise and they told me that the loan was now 4 months overdue and that we were on a repayment plan. First, I NEVER spoke to or agreed to this plan nor was I aware that they changed the terms of the offer into a forbearance and were now liable for paying this three month relief back ASAP. We would never take advantage of that offer as it just puts people in a more difficult position and if we'd known, we'd have continued paying our mortgage. I was livid and complained and asked for the recording of my initial conversation as this was unacceptable, I wanted to contact them to see if our loan could be modified due to the recent setback with employment and was beyond upset and stressed that they were claiming the new terms and that we were in real danger of losing our home. I spoke to a financial advisor who  confirmed this has happened to many homeowners in XXXX CA with other mortgage brokers and XXXX, as well and to submit a complaint here. I started the paperwork for loss mitigation to modify our loan and make it easier to pay now that we were on one salary and they've provided abysmal customer service over the last three months. Every time I call to confirm they received all my documents, I'd be advised that there was " one thing missing '' and then I'd call and a week later it was " one thing missing ''. No one from XXXX has called me until yesterday and I've asked for supervisors to call, my single point of contact, etc. and no one will provide any support. This is our home, our daughter has been battling an illness and admitted to XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX hospital and Flagstar 's been nothing but difficult to work with. You'd think that they'd be encouraged to support people in this situation and try to help them or be kind as our home is everything so we're now trying to identify our best option as we have a tremendous amount of equity but need to lower our payment and not sure we want to work with a company like this. They were much more helpful years ago but these couple of situations have completely shook us and we're not sure how to get help as it's just completely unethical. 

Apologies for the long note and thank you in advance for reading through it and for your consideration in supporting us and other families with similar issue.

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