Consumer complaint received 2021-08-15
Company: CARDINAL FINANCIAL COMPANY, LIMITED PARTNERSHIP
State: MD
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
Consumer Advocacy Department ; As a client with Cardinal Financial for 2 years, I have never experienced such a continued level of incompetence and utter lack of common sense, and customer service as Ive been subjected to monthly since XX/XX/XXXX while being forced to interact with the Debt Department. 

SUMMATION : Since initially reaching out to Cardinal Financial XX/XX/XXXX to resume making regularly scheduled payments, Ive been forced to contact Cardinal representatives at least 23 times, spoken to at least as many employees of Cardinal, accounting for over 524 Minutes or just under 9 Hours on the phone attempting to have my loan properly serviced so I make regularly scheduled payment once again. During this same time period, I have made 5-payments as of XX/XX/XXXX totaling {$18000.00} ACTION TAKEN : XX/XX/XXXX : XXXX  Complaint Case # XXXX ( Ref # XXXX ) filed against Cardinal Financial. XXXX received complaint and stated they would follow up to address the situation. No follow-up has been received to date. 

SITUATION : XX/XX/XXXX, in response to the federal authorized COVID-19 forbearance program, our household requested forbearance on our primary home associated with the VA mortgage held by Cardinal Financial. Forbearance was authorized and payments ceased from XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX ( 9ms / 9 Payments ). 
XXXX o XX/XX/XXXX, I reached out to Cardinal Financial on two calls covering 55 minutes. I spoke with a rep that I wanted to resume payments and have my loan modified per the option *4, having my payments from XXXX through XXXX added to the rear of my loan so I could resume monthly payments. During the call the rep stated that they would submit the necessary paperwork to begin the process and recommended that making a payment today would assist in expediting the process. A payment was made in the amount of {$3600.00}, debited from my account ending in XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. 
o This payment was NOT processed and applied to my loan until what looks to be XX/XX/XXXX. For reasons unknown. 
o The representative submitted me into a program of loan modification that requires a trial period which I was NOT informed of at the time and would not agree to doing as I explicitly stated I wanted the modification completed and I would address the minor increase that would be required to bring the escrow account to current. 
XXXX o XX/XX/XXXX, I called to make a XXXX payment and to confirm the loan had been adjusted accordingly. On a 16-minute call with a Cardinal Financial rep I was informed of two key things ; first that the loan had not been adjusted and that any payment I made at this point would NOT go toward XX/XX/XXXX but instead would be applied to the past due amount. This seemed to be a less then optimal process as it would alter/effect a process that I was told was in work and should be in effect shortly. With the rep in agreement, I held off on the XXXX payment with to assumption being that the loan modification would be in effect shortly and I could resume payments as normal by following month. 
XXXX o XX/XX/XXXX for 57 minutes, then again XX/XX/XXXX for 17 minutes, and XX/XX/XXXX for 14 minutes ; I had multiple conversations regarding the status of the modification with a representative named XXXX from Cardinal. XXXX was the first to inform me that the loan was delayed in processing and was resubmitted for adjustment once again. Further, this was the first point that I was informed of a mandatory trial period which I contested as unnecessary and not in alignment with my wishes moving forward. 
Following the first two conversation with XXXX, our conversation on the 5th resulted in being directed to make a XXXX payment that would be used toward the 3-payment requirement and assist in removing our loan from forbearance. 
A payment was made over the phone with XXXX XX/XX/XXXX for {$3600.00} o XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX calls totaling 50 minutes, corresponding with Cardinal representatives regarding a letter of signatory agreement received that I was to begin making mandatory trial period payments beginning XXXX but requiring my signatory compliance. I called for clarification. 
o XX/XX/XXXX call, XXXX minutes in length, I was informed that the modification had been delayed/restarted once again and that I should hear from a representative shortly. I did not hear back from any rep. 
XXXX o XX/XX/XXXX a 55-minute call, representative stated the initial modification program of XXXX had been Approved and I was to begin a trial period payments. 
o Confusion arose on the XX/XX/XXXX double mortgage payments listed as processed by Cardinal Financial. The assumption was that they could/would apply one for XXXX and one toward XXXX and that if I made a payment on the XXXX, they would apply it toward the XXXX mortgage payment. 
o I made a monthly payment {$3800.00}, the amount that the representative stated I needed to pay for the month of XXXX. 
o The payment was processed by my bank, XX/XX/XXXX but not applied to my loan till XX/XX/XXXX and for a lesser amount of {$3600.00}. 
XXXX o Prior to the XXXX payment, 4 calls from XXXX XXXX totaling 72-minutes with representatives were made to discuss further letters received from Cardinal showing that my mortgage statement still had not been adjusted. 
o The representative stated to disregard those at this time because I was still in the trial Mod program which I once again expressed that I did not agree to the trial period and wanted my loan adjusted as I should have the right to have done. 
o The representative stated shed take my payment that was due for the month of XXXX of {$3600.00}, which I paid XX/XX/XXXX, and the representative stated they would follow-up with their boss and get answers. 
o During the XX/XX/XXXX calls totaling XXXX minutes, the representatives stated that the original paperwork had been delayed and that XXXX had modified the start period without informing me to XXXX ; not in alignment with my original request made in XXXX, not in alignment with the attempted correction to original plan in XXXX, and not in alignment with prior notices stating the trial period began in XXXX. When I once again broached the topic of this isnt what Ive ever asked for and I want to know why I am being forced into a process I did not agree to, the rep stated they would look into it and I should expect a follow-up within the next 48 hrs. Once again, no one called or followed up. 
XXXX o XX/XX/XXXX I called Cardinal to make my XXXX payment. The representative told me my monthly due was {$3600.00}. The payment was processed by my bank, XX/XX/XXXX and applied to my loan the same day o The most helpful of any representatives, 2 calls were associated with XX/XX/XXXX for a total of 100-minutes. The representative listened to every twist and false line that I had endured to date, took a significant deep dive into my payment history to attempt to understand how exactly all the payments were assess to my account. She further looked into the process and informed me that the original loan was setup incorrectly as a VA Loan modification program vice the VA Disaster Loan Modification program which would have complied with my original request and bypassed the trial period. 
o Discussions took place on whether to process an adjustment to the original request or to leave it alone as the XXXX payment completed the prior programs XXXX payment requirement. The decision was made to let the current program expire and resume normal payments in XXXX. 
XXXX o I went online to make my XXXX payment finding that my account had still not been released back into normal reporting as of the first week of XXXX. 
o I contacted representative to make the XXXX payment and to get clarity on when it would be released, 4-calls from XXXX XXXX totaling 51-minnutes, I was informed that the underwriters had concluded that I hadnt met the requirements of the program as I was supposed to pay {$3800.00} vice the {$3600.00} per what the representatives had told me monthly was due. 
o Due to my oversite as they stated, the original 3-month agreement is Null and I was going to be required to start a new 3-month period.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation