Consumer complaint received 2023-04-13
Company: Mr. Cooper Group Inc.
State: MD
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Lender/Servicer : Nationstar Mortgage dba Mr. Cooper RE : PMI Mortgage Insurance Removal request In XXXX, XXXX I called Nationstar about having the PMI removed from my mortgage payment. A property I had purchased in XXXX had increased in value enough to eliminate PMI, and I wanted to make that happen. I was told on the phone that the home needed to be appraised, and I made that request to the lender. An appraiser came out in XXXX, XXXX, and that was the last I heard about my request. I never received the appraisal nor had I received any indication of whether or not my request was approved. I did see a charge for the appraisal on my online account which I have not yet paid. 

Today, XX/XX/XXXX, I remembered that I had not received an answer to my request and called Nationstar Customer Service to ask why I had not received a response. 

The first customer service representative ( CSR ) tried to help by emailing me a letter, dated XX/XX/XXXX but which I never received until I asked for it on the phone today, which stated that my principal balance had not reached 80 % of the original value of the property. I also asked for a copy of the appraisal which she sent me via email but which would not have been sent had I not asked for it. 

It's important to note that the " 80 % of original value '' was not a condition when I made the request and agreed to pay for an appraisal. In fact, when I inquired in XXXX, XXXX I was told on the phone that the appraisal was needed to determine whether the principal balance was 75 % or less of current market value. I only agreed to the appraisal because it would determine the current market value, and I was confident that my principal balance was lower than 75 % of current market value. 

Upon reviewing the appraisal, my loan clearly met the 75 % or less of current market value condition. I asked the CSR why my request was declined. She could not explain why and transferred me to another person. XXXX ( no last name given and no city given but stated he was working in Texas ) read me the letter I was already looking at. I asked him to do the math so that I could understand why the request was declined. He refused and, instead, read the letter over the phone again. 20 minutes of this back and forth and getting nowhere I asked for the name and number of someone I could call to discuss this loan. He refused to give out any names or phone numbers and instead said someone else would call me and read the letter to me again within 72 business hours. Obviously, this was extremely unhelpful, and, knowing that the call had been recorded, I asked for a recording of the conversation. XXXX stated that I would need a subpoena from a judge to receive the recording and refused to volunteer any other options for solving this customer service problem. If we were to listen to the recording, one would hear both of us becoming quite agitated at various points in the conversation and also that the CSR was not interested in finding a resolution to this problem. 

There are two issues here : 1. The principal balance on the loan as of the date of the appraisal ( which I did not receive until I asked for it today ) was less than 75 % of the market value on the appraisal date, therefore, the mortgage insurance requirement should be removed.

2. If, in fact, Nationstar wishes to enforce this new condition that the principal balance must be 80 % or less of the purchase price, then I was told to spend money on an appraisal for nothing because everyone involved, including me, knew very well on the day I inquired that the principal balance did not meet this condition. 

Please feel free to contact me for additional salient details.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation