Consumer complaint received 2023-06-22
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: CT
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I have been having an ongoing issue with being overcharged unspecified fees by Freedom Mortgage Corporation on my monthly statements since XX/XX/XXXX. I have inquired every month since XX/XX/XXXX for a detailed explanation of what these fees are on my monthly statements. On XX/XX/XXXX when I first called Freedom Mortgage customer care about this issue, the Freedom Mortgage representative told me that there was an escrow shortage of {$81.00}. She told me that this was due to the escrow analysis done on XX/XX/XXXX and went to effect on XX/XX/XXXX. This Freedom Mortgage representative told me that making the payment for the escrow shortage would fix the issue and that every month after then there would be no fees. I made a payment with this Freedom Mortgage representative on this call of my monthly payment of {$840.00} and the {$81.00} for a total payment of {$920.00}. The Freedom Mortgage Representative told me that would fix the issue moving forward. It did not. My XX/XX/XXXX statement listed an unspecified fee of {$40.00}. I continued to have this same issue of unspecified fees each month. I consistently have called every month since XX/XX/XXXX and every time I have been told a different explanation of these fees from a Freedom Mortgage representative. No one has sent me any written explanation for these fees either. Below, I have detailed every date I have called Freedom Mortgage customer care ( XXXX ) to get this issue resolved. 

Dates of calls to XXXX XXXX : XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Freedom Mortgage customer care and requested to have this issue escalated with the Freedom Mortgage representative. That representative shared with me that the issue was that I was still being charged the old payment before my escrow analysis that went into effect XX/XX/XXXX. This same representative told me that Freedom Mortgage Corporation is still charging me {$880.00} every month. The amount of {$880.00} was my monthly payment amount before the escrow analysis done on XX/XX/XXXX. That escrow analysis changed my payment to {$840.00} effective on XX/XX/XXXX. It was explained by this representative that Freedom Mortgage has been taking {$40.00} out of my escrow for months due to charging me {$880.00} per month instead of the new monthly payment of {$840.00}. Every month, since XX/XX/XXXX, besides XXXX when I was incorrectly charged an additional {$81.00}, I have been making on time monthly payments of {$840.00}. That representative that I spoke to on XX/XX/XXXX, escalated the issue to the escalation team. At that point, I was being charged {$81.00} ( {$40.00} x 2 months ) again in fees on my XXXX monthly statement. This Freedom Mortgage representative also shared that the payment of {$81.00} should not have been taken on XX/XX/XXXX because the escrow shortage is a mistake with the Freedom Mortgage system. 

After this, my statement for XX/XX/XXXX did not have any fees listed so I thought the issue was fixed after being escalated. I also called the Freedom Mortgage customer care on XX/XX/XXXX to confirm and that representative shared that the issue had been resolved. However my XX/XX/XXXX statement again had a charge under fees of {$40.00}. I called in XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX as mentioned above and none of the Freedom Mortgage XXXX resolved the issue. They were only able to notate the account and tell me to call back. Those Freedom Mortgage representatives I spoke to had no explanation for why this was happening. On XX/XX/XXXX, when I called Freedom Mortgage customer care I requested a detailed written breakdown of these other fees that were on my monthly statement. Which at this point totaled {$120.00}. The Freedom Mortgage representative I spoke to on this day did not have any information to send me the breakdown and could not explain what these fees were for. The representative told me that they had to put in a request for another department to mail me a breakdown of these fees listed on my statement. The representative said I would receive this information in the mail by XX/XX/XXXX. I also requested this Freedom Mortgage representative to send me my payment history since XX/XX/XXXX. On my online portal, the payments Ive made each month are not accurately shown. The representative was able to email me the payment history, however the document emailed to me was not clear. The payment history Freedom Mortgage has listed on their online portal does not match the payments they have taken from my bank account, which is another issue I am having. On XX/XX/XXXX I did not receive anything from Freedom Mortgage as the representative had told me. I called the Freedom Mortgage customer care line again on XX/XX/XXXX to request an update. I called around XXXX XXXX and that Freedom Mortgage representative was no help. The representative 's name was XXXX. That representative could not explain what was happening and said I would have to wait until XX/XX/XXXX for the breakdown of the fees to arrive by mail. I made a request for this Freedom mortgage representative to escalate my issue. The representative put me on hold to speak to their leadership and when they returned told me that they could not escalate my issue nor could they escalate the request for the statement that would break down the fees. I ended the call with that representative and called Freedom Mortgage customer care back to speak to another representative. I called around XXXX pm EST on the same day, XX/XX/XXXX. I requested for my issue to be escalated with the new representative and this representative said that they actually could escalate this issue to their escalation team. The representative got the Freedom Mortgage escalation team on the line and I explained the 8 month issue with my account. 

The Freedom Mortgage escalation representative name is XXXX XXXX. XXXX went through the specifics of the escrow analysis with me. After XXXX looked further into my account with a supervisor, XXXX said the same thing as the Freedom Mortgage Customer care representative that I spoke to on XX/XX/XXXX. Which was, the fees '' on my statement were from an escrow shortage due to Freedom Mortgage taking {$40.00} for months out of my escrow. XXXX told me she sent an email to the Cash Department for details on the charged $ XXXX to my escrow for multiple months. XXXX said to me that her supervisor is looped in and confirmed my contact number on file ( XXXX ). XXXX told me she would follow up with me when they received a response to that email to the XXXX Department. I shared with XXXX that since {$840.00} ( my new payment since XX/XX/XXXX ) and {$40.00} ( the unexplained fees taken out of my escrow ) equaled a total of {$880.00} ( my monthly payment prior to the escrow analysis done in XX/XX/XXXX ), that it seems to me that the representative that I spoke to on XX/XX/XXXX was correct all along and that Freedom Mortgage has been overcharging me, taking funds out of my escrow and then charging me for the escrow shortage on my monthly statements. XXXX agreed that that is what it seems to be but that she wanted to be certain by having the Cash Department confirm in email. I have asked for an email to send this letter to but was told there is no email by two Freedom Mortgage representatives. They advised me to send the letter through the message center on the online portal. On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent a letter to Freedom Mortgage through my online portal. I received no response. I also have had no update from the escalation team member XXXX XXXX. I called Freedom Mortgage escalation team on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke to a representative named XXXX, member # XXXX. XXXX was not able to assist. He read all of the notes in my account and told me he had reached out to XXXX for her to call me back same day. 

At this point, the issues with my Freedom Mortgage account have become unethical. Freedom Mortgage has been made aware of my account being overcharged monthly since XXXX and for 8 months has not resolved the issue but instead has continued to overcharge my escrow. Along with that, on XX/XX/XXXX the Freedom Mortgage representative that I spoke to charged my bank account an additional payment of {$81.00} for incorrect escrow shortage fees that I did not owe. It has been 8 months that I have been given the run around with no resolve from Freedom Mortgage. With that, there is also the issue of inaccurate payment history records on the Freedom Mortgage online portal that do not match what Freedom Mortgage has withdrawn from my bank account every month.

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