Consumer complaint received 2023-02-06
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: MI
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
My mortgage was sold to Freedom in 2022, my payments beginning in XXXX. The misinformation and lack thereof began from the first call I made to the company. I called towards the end of XX/XX/2022 to make sure my automatic payments were setup correctly and to get some general information about the process of removing my escrow account and changing my homeowners insurance company. I was told then I simply had to send a message to the company and request the removal, no mention of an appraisal. I called back in XXXX of 2022 to get greater details about removing my escrow account. AGAIN I was told by customer service that I only had to fill out a message requesting the removal, AGAIN there was no mention of an appraisal, XXXX, or any type of counseling as to what the process entailed. I pushed my first request through in early XXXX and was quickly denied by a letter only stating that it was because of my XXXX. I called Freedom again to have the reasoning explained to me. The agent I spoke to explained what XXXX stood for and informed me that I had to submit an appraisal along with the request in order to be considered. This being the third or fourth attempt to get a straight answer out of someone at this company, I repeated the agent 's instructions back to him and made sure to clarify that he was telling me that I needed to go out and spend several XXXX dollars on MY OWN appraisal, even made sure to mention that I need to make sure the appraiser was certified or the document would be rejected. I then found an appraiser, spent the hundreds, and resubmitted the request with a copy of the appraisal attached within the same week. Within a few days I received a message from Freedom Mortgage explaining that I would need to fill out a document and submit {$100.00} for an appraisal that MUST be completed by one of THEIR appraisers, and that any outside appraisal would not be accepted. I called AGAIN and asked for that request to be explained to me. I wanted to know why every time I called each agent was so incredibly misinformed and that I expected a refund for the several hundred dollars I paid out of pocket with the thought that I would make up that money when my next mortgage payment was much cheaper due to my escrow being removed. I was then transferred to a customer advocate who told me that they would play the call back and if I had in fact been misinformed, they would issue a refund for the amount I paid. I asked why I could never get a proper answer from the customer service calls and how I was supposed to be able to trust that the information this time around was accurate. I explained that I have had nothing but issues and that each time I place a call to the company the issues get worse, not better. I explained that my payments have always been on time and I've not had any issues with payments so far, but I still have had the most horrible and unsatisfied experience as a consumer than I've ever experienced in my life. It didn't take them long to review the call because the same customer agent called me back within the same business day to let me know that they absolutely made a mistake and that they will be issuing a refund check in the amount I spent for the outside appraisal. I expressed that I felt helpless and stuck with a company that I wanted to leave, but couldn't because refinancing wouldn't make sense at the moment because my interest rate would sky rocket. I also let them know that if this was not handled properly I would be looking into consumer protection, better business bureau complaints, and possibly seeking legal action because I feel that I've been so mislead and misinformed that it is now costing me money and way too much of my time. There's no reason a person that an individual with an up to date, on time mortgage payment should be struggling so much with their lending company. That was on XXXX XXXX XXXX I called back on the first of XXXX to check the status of the check because I want to make sure I'm mindful of the mail and because I'm out several XXXX dollars that I do not have to waste on unnecessary expenses. I explained that I'm a sole income payer and that I believe the process should be expedited due to it being the company 's error and they should do right by their customers and try to improve upon the horrible experience I've had since starting with them. This agent told me that the check was " processing '' which meant that it was in the mail and that if I didn't receive a check by the end of the weekend to call back and check in. I still have not received the check, so I called again today, XX/XX/XXXX. This time the agent was rude and short with her answers. First, she told me there was not a check coming to me at all. I informed her that I've been told on two separate occasions that there is a check coming, I'm just hoping to find out when. She told me she had to double check the notes. She did and saw that I was to be issued a check. She then told me that the check was NOT in the mail, that it hadn't even been printed yet, and there was no way to tell when the check would be mailed. I asked if there was a way the process could be expedited and was told " No, there's a lot of people waiting on their checks. '' I responded by asking why so many people were due checks from the company, was there that many people who were misinformed about their appraisal? " Well no, but there's lots of people waiting on their checks. '' It seems to me like unless there are several serious problems, mortgage companies should be receiving a lot of checks, not issuing them. I asked again, " There is NOTHING that can be done to expedite the process of the check getting into the mail..? Even though this whole thing is the fault of the company. '' A simple no was the response. I asked to speak to a supervisor or another customer advocate. I was left on hold for several minutes before the same agent came back to say " Nobody is answering me. Do you want to go back on hold again? ". I said no and plan to call again in the morning, but don't expect to see any results. After just a quick internet search it is blatantly clear that this company has literally THOUSANDS of complaints filed with one agency or another and every single one that I read mentioned their terrible customer service costing consumers ridiculous amounts of money. I am so fed up I'm considering refinancing with an astronomically higher rate just to get away from this deplorable company.

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