Consumer complaint received 2020-05-07
Company: MUFG AMERICAS HOLDINGS CORPORATION
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
Union Bank ( MUFG ) has spent six weeks claiming they have not received our completed loan modification packet despite it being sent via their secure message center and are only seeing blank pages when sent to the email address they provided us with. They have internal inconsistencies, but blame the borrower for these actions while pushing out the loan modification review process at a time of a pandemic. We understand these are difficult times, but the treatment during our last phone discussion was uncalled for and left little confidence they will follow through. The following is my call log with Union Bank and hopefully it will illustrate why I don't feel further communication on my own may be successful : XX/XX/XXXX : I phoned Union Bank to inquire on a loan modification and information about the process as I have never done one before. I spoke to XXXX who said I wouldnt incur a late charge nor would it negatively impact my credit thru end of XXXX. I agreed for him to transfer me to mortgage assistance for a deferment program. I spoke to XXXX XXXX who advised he will be my contact moving forward, will activate a " loan for loss mitigation '', mail a packet to us by tomorrow morning as well as send it over online, that we have 30 days to complete and that Union Bank will have another 30 days to review. He then gave me his direct line at XXXX, hours of XXXX PT, M-F, and the XXXX XXXX number of XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX left a voicemail to call him, but did not indicate the reason for his call. 
XXXX : I returned XXXX call and left a message with a customer service agent to have him call me back to which I never received a call. 

XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX : I attempted to call again, but was placed on hold for 5 minutes before being electronically asked to call later due to high call volume so I hung up. 

XX/XX/XXXX & XXXX : I submitted our loan modification packet online via secure message center which was how I received the packet from XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX. We never received the hard copies, but it it was alright since the soft copies were sufficient. I had to send two secure messages as the files were too large for one message and stated that with details of what were attached. ( I had sent a secure email to XXXX earlier in the week about questions on the packet, but did not receive a response so completed what we could. ) XX/XX/XXXX : I called Union Bank ( UB ) at XXXX to check on status. Spoke to XXXX who referred me to XXXX, the Mortgage Assistance Group. I spoke with XXXX who is part of customer service and said she was fielding all loan assistance calls and process was to file task requests for team members like XXXX to respond to. She will email him directly in hopes for a response sooner than the 3-5 days currently required due to high volume. It appears UB was triaging now. 

XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX : I received a call from someone who sounded like XXXX asking for my husband, to phone him at XXXX. I returned the call at XXXX and spoke to XXXX from customer service. It seemed very difficult to get a hold of XXXX. XXXX stated he will have someone from his group return my call. Later that day we received a letter from XXXX dated XX/XX/XXXX indicating they aren't able to offer a workout option because they didnt receive our loan modification package. 

XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX : I called and spoke to XXXX and informed her of the letter to which she indicated our package must be buried in their message center mailbox, and to resend the completed loan modification packet to the email address XXXX where she will forward to XXXX XXXX She offered forbearance as a solution to give UB time to review our packet and to see it as a combined option with a possible loan modification down the road. I accepted based on new terms she will mail me by next week : no interest, no penalty fee, no negative impact to credit history, for 3 months from XXXX, can be reviewed and extended at end of term to continue if needed and modification can be an option in addition to forbearance. She stated our account is now flagged for deferred payments or on hold starting on XX/XX/XXXX. She indicated once she received my emailed packet she will only have time to reply with " received '' so that I know she got it. I forgot to confirm repayment to be added to the end of our mortgage. 

XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX : I attempted to call UB @ XXXX which was the last number XXXX said to contact her at to see if she received my email. The call dropped 19 minutes later. I was also hoping to discuss why the no interest, no penalty fee, no negative impact to credit history was not in writing ; and to change the repayment option from due immediately after expiration of forbearance period to add to end of mortgage instead. I decided to call again later. 

XXXX, XXXX : I missed a call from UB leaving no message, but phoned back and spoke with XXXX who asked if we still needed the forbearance plan because the XXXX payment went through which was a surprise to me because that was not the case. She then realized we were on autopay which was the reason for her mistake, but she will remove the autopay from our account to be certain they don't make a withdrawal. She advised if we see any debit to our bank account and overdrawn fees are incurred to give them a call for reimbursement. She also said to give them a call 2 weeks before XXXX to discuss if we need to extend forbearance period and if not then to ask for the 90 day repayment to be tacked on to end of loan and continue mortgage payment on XXXX as usual or do a loan modification if needed. I informed her we also had not received any acknowledgment as XXXX had promised, but XXXX didn't see anything in their mailbox. She indicated she will email XXXX to inquire on my XX/XX/XXXX email of the loan modification packet and asked to confirm my email address so XXXX can use it to flag the email down more quickly. 

XXXX, XXXX : I received a call from XXXX to phone him back at XXXX, but no other explanation. 
I phoned back at XXXX and spoke to XXXX who again asked if I was still interested in forbearance. I was confused as that was cleared up with XXXX the day before. She apologized and mentioned that due to Covid-19, the forbearance is indeed a good alternative which buys us time and is common prior to a loan modification. She indicated she will send a message to XXXX to inquire on whether he received our packet. I told her the other service reps have informed me of the same, but I'm not certain the communication gets through as it's been a while. She hoped to have an answer and gave me the 800 number she will call me from so that I know it's her. 

XXXX, XXXX : XXXX left me a voicemail and I returned his call at XXXX and spoke to XXXX who says his initial notes show to ask if we want a forbearance or another type of loan assistance? I'm thoroughly confused by now and indicated I had already confirmed this with two of his other colleagues. XXXX was able to transfer my call to XXXX and for some reason the connection was poor and very choppy. I informed him weve been placed on a forbearance plan already and was asked to again send our loan modification packet via email for consideration while on forbearance. XXXX indicated what sounded like 2 forms in the packet came up blank. I tried to paraphrase what he said and gave up asking him to repeat himself to which he then said the whole packet consisted of blank forms. I pointed out it was a zip file because it was very large and asked if they had trouble with it being a zip file. He indicated he just received it yesterday from another internal group that handles the emails before passing it on to him. He then asked who placed us on the forbearance plan and that one can only be on one program at time. I informed him XXXX did and what transpired in my conversation with her. Then he said only the collections department can do that and XXXX is no longer with them. Once he said collections I grew very anxious. He says what XXXX told me is not accurate to which I was very confused as he seemed to make it my issue instead of UB 's inability to communicate in a consistent manner. XXXX had sent us the forbearance agreement so I repeated what she told me to which he seemed to sound agitated and asked, " why do you keep saying, " XXXX, XXXX, XXXX and want to argue?! '' which was very inflammatory and unprofessional. I was taken aback sensing he had no intention to seek out a solution, but replied that it didn't matter whose name it is and whether they are still employed, but what we've been asking for since XXXX was their assistance with mortgage relief. He then asked how he was to help me and I'm just shocked he put the onus on me. He didn't explain why using the secure message center did not work. Nor did he offer another solution to securely submit a packet filled with private information. In fact, he didn't seem to recall using the secure message center. He simply said we can only be on a loan modification or a forbearance plan and if we didn't want the latter he will have to pull us off. However, that didn't make much sense seeing UB put us on the forbearance plan because they couldn't find our loan modification package to begin with. He didn't appear to want to help at all and said he will have his manager, XXXX XXXX call me immediately if possible. We have not heard from them and are afraid it will get us nowhere seeing this is only how far we've gotten in seven weeks.

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 non-monetary relief