Consumer complaint received 2023-05-15
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: NC
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
We bought our house on XXXX XXXX XXXX, with XXXX XXXX.  Unfortunately, our mortgage was sold to Freedom Mortgage right away.  We never made one payment to XXXX, we have always made the payments to Freedom Mortgage.  When our mortgage was sold, my husband and I read their 1.7 star reviews and knew that this was not a reputable company, but seemingly, we were stuck with them.  In hindsight, I wish we somehow fought for Freedom not to take over our mortgage because dealing with them has been an ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE.  Our original mortgage payment was XXXX, including our escrow account for taxes, homeowners insurance, and our PMI.  Unfortunately, I cannot attach an original statement because their website only goes back 6 months and doesnt allow you to see any payment history prior to that.  In XXXX XXXX, we received our mortgage statement with a new payment of XXXX due in XXXX  (see attached of XXXX  statement.) On XXXX XXXX, we received a letter from them (attached) stating that they had previously sent us an escrow check in the amount of XXXX, as well as an escrow analysis.  In the letter it stated that if we didnt receive this, to call them and they would reissue the check.  I called them on XXXX XXXX XXXX, told them we never received that, and they told us they would issue another check to us and it would take 7-10 business days.  We never received that, so I called back on XXXX XXXX.  The woman I spoke with said whoever handled it previously never submitted it, and she would take care of that now and it would take another 7-10 business days.  
On XXXX XXXX, my husband called them since we still hadnt received this elusive escrow check.  The woman he spoke with told him that the escrow check was canceled because now our account was showing an escrow deficit, so not only would we not receive the check, but our mortgage payment was increasing to XXXX.  There was no prior communication of this and we would have never known if we hadnt called them.  We did receive an Escrow Account Disclosure Statement dated XXXX XXXX (attached) that explained this, but we didnt receive this until XXXX XXXX, over a month later.  When my husband got off the phone after 18 minutes, I called them back because I was not satisfied with the explanation given.  I was on the phone for 59 minutes talking with a woman who explained that when our taxes were analyzed, they werent analyzed for county taxes, only town taxes.  I went through our closing disclosure (attached) and explained that it states county and town taxes were included, and that there is a XXXX  estimate of XXXX for both the county and town tax (attached.) (When I called the tax office, our town and county taxes are paid together, as one fee.)  On our closing disclosure, it states that the town property taxes are XXXX a month and our county taxes are XXXX per month.  When I explained this on the phone, the woman said that something seems off with the account and she isnt sure what happened, so she was going to have it audited and put it in for review herself.  Again, we were told we would hear back in 7-10 business days.  
	On XXXX XXXX XXXX, someone from Freedom Mortgage did call me (for the first and only time since this started) and I missed the call so I called back.  I spoke to a man who explained our escrow analysis was incorrect for XXXX  and thats why we were in a deficit.  He blamed this on XXXX, stating that this is what they received from XXXX  when they acquired the mortgage, but according to our closing disclosure, XXXX  did their job and estimated the taxes.  I have also attached the Initial Escrow Account Disclosure Statement from XXXX  for XXXX XXXX-XXXX XXXX.  On this sheet, it states that our payments to the escrow account would be XXXX a month, resulting in our original XXXX mortgage payment.  After that document, I have also included the portion of Freedom Mortgages Escrow Account Disclosure Statement that shows their projections for XXXX XXXX-XXXX XXXX, showing our escrow payment to be XXXX.  That is almost XXXX less in projected escrow payments.  Freedom Mortgage clearly analyzed our taxes incorrectly, tried to place the blame on another mortgage company, and then we had to pay for their mistake so our mortgage payment went up. 
In that same call, the man I spoke with also told me that an XXXX payment had been applied to our account on XXXX XXXX, the same day I had previously called to discuss the escrow check, and that our payment of XXXX, not the new amount of XXXX was due in XXXX.  XXXX  payment had already been applied to our account, which was also reflected on their website.  I asked him to tell me which account that XXXX payment came from because neither my husband, nor myself had made that payment, he said he is not authorized to tell me which account it came from.  My husbands uncle knows our account information and has paid money towards our mortgage before, and we had assumed this was the case.  This was an incorrect assumption on our part that Freedom Mortgage would apply money to the correct account being that all of the account information had to be on the screen, including our loan number and names.  We received a letter (attached) on XXXX XXXX dated XXXX XXXX confirming the above payment.  It is our loan number, however, not our last 4 digits of our bank account, which I stated in that phone call.  
	On XXXX XXXX, I called to ask why our mortgage payment was XXXX instead of the XXXX that I was told it would be on XXXX XXXX and why on their website it still says that we owe XXXX.  I was told because of our escrow deficit, but I explained that we were told on the phone of XXXX XXXX our XXXX  payment would be XXXX.  We then received two letters on XXXX XXXX dated XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX respectively (attached.) The first letter states they have been trying to contact us about our account.  I have not received more than one phone call from them, nor any voicemail.  The one I had received was the missed call that I previously stated. At this point, I had contact them so many times that if they needed to discuss anything about my account, they had many opportunities.  The second letter states that our account is 2 payments past due and to call them.  When I called them on XXXX XXXX to ask how this is possible, because we have never missed a mortgage payment, let alone been late on one, the woman told me the XXXX was rescinded and applied to the correct account.  I explained that I said it didnt come from our accounts when we were told about it.  She told me that it was a huge error on their part because in order to apply a payment to my account, all of my information, including our loan number, needs to be on the screen.  Again, I was told that she would look into it and we would hear back in 7-10 business days.  Our XXXX  payment was drafted from our account on XXXX XXXX XXXX, so at this point, we were only 30 days behind because of that XXXX payment. We then received a letter dated XXXX XXXX (AFTER I called the previous day) saying they have assigned us a single point of contact.  This has been of zero help because every time I do call, no one knows what the last person said.  I have to ask everyone to go back in the notes and listen to the recordings.  
	Since we had not heard back, yet again, my husband and I called on XXXX XXXX and were on the phone with them for 111 minutes.  We were first connected with a woman named XXXX, and we asked immediately to speak to a manager.  We explained the entire story to the manager and she said that she would apply the XXXX back to our account to take care of it. We told her not to do that, it wasnt our money, and it was just going to make more of a mess.  She finally understood that we were concerned because of their mistake, now we are considered late in our mortgage and it is going onto our credit report as a late payment of 30 days, plus we are being charged late fees on top of that.  She was able to get it off our credit report for XXXX  (attached) since it was their error, but then told us to just go ahead and make another mortgage payment to get us caught up.  I told her that since our XXXX  payment was already drafted, we didnt have the money to make another mortgage payment 6 days later.  She told me that there was nothing else she could do, so again, I asked for it to be escalated.  I was put in contact with someone named XXXX.  I explained the entire situation again, and XXXX  told me that she would try to get it deferred to the end of our mortgage since it was their error so we wouldnt be considered late on our credit and we wouldnt need to pay late fees.  Again, we were told we would hear back in 7-10 business days.
	On XXXX XXXX, not having heard back from them again, I called and immediately asked it to be escalated.  I was put in touch with XXXX XXXX XXXX, who is apparently a supervisor for the loss mitigation department. She told me that since this was their mistake, she was going to try to bypass the regular application for deferred payments. XXXX  said she wanted to get in touch with XXXX  from my previous conversation to get all of the details correct. Again, I was told we would hear in 7-10 business days.
	On XXXX XXXX, I yet again had to call them.  I asked to speak to XXXX  and gave her ID number.  She was in training that day, but I was told they put a message in the system for her to call me.  I was also told that our concern was in underwriting, but that I needed to respond by a certain date and since I hadnt, they had to submit it again.  I was told that if Im not notified that I have to respond, how would I ever know that and I was also told that someone would call me.  I was told again, I would hear in 7-10 business days.
	On XXXX XXXX I called back and spoke to a man who again, put in a request for XXXX  to call me back.  He said he understood my frustration and hopefully they could get to the bottom of this.
	On XXXX XXXX I called again.  I was told that I did receive a call on XXXX XXXX  I went through my phone logs and didnt see a missed call from them, nor did I have any voicemail from them.  I explained that now we are in the process of trying to finance our car since our lease is up and we cannot get financing because we have two payments on our credit report of 30 days late.  I said that this is completely ruining our credit and in turn, our livelihood.  Before this, we both had great credit.  He went through the notes and explained to me that in order for the payment to be deferred, it has to be more than 30 days late.  I was NEVER told this before.  In order for that to happen, he wanted us to stop our automatic payment due to come out XXXX XXXX XXXX  so that way it would be considered more than 30 days late and then it can be deferred.  We absolutely cannot do this.  Two 30 day late payments have already significantly damaged our credit, we cannot have it damaged even further.  
We need this resolved and taken off our credit report immediately.  It is harming our livelihood, and they have gotten away with this for too long.  Dealing with anyone at this company is a disgrace.  My husband wanted me to escalate this back in XXXX, but I kept telling him to let them make it right.  I should have listened to him because this is going on 6 months of no communication between the employees who work there, no communication between Freedom Mortgage and the customer, the employees do not seem to understand what they are doing, they all give you the runaround, they dont call you back, they dont communicate information, there are grave mistakes made.  There are no notes on their website, any letter we have received from them comes an untimely two-three weeks after its dated.  All of these conversations I have had with them are all well documented because they record every conversation.  It says at the beginning of the call and I asked them because I have asked them to go through the recorded calls.  They all seem to agree on one thing: that it was their error in the first place, but no one can do anything to help you.  We have been patient enough and have given them the benefit of the doubt, but now we are escalating this in every way we possibly can.
Thank you,
XXXX XXXX

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