Consumer complaint received 2023-02-06
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
XXXX XXXX : XXXX The nature of the dispute is based on my grandfathered flood insurance premium. When we purchased the house in XXXX of XXXX, we took over the previous owner 's flood insurance and applied for a grandfathered premium. This was approved. We were paying for our insurances ( flood and homeowner insurance ) via escrow. Every month for the whole year we paid on time our mortgage and escrow. We have a VA loan as I am a full XXXX Veteran. On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, we received a letter from the flood insurance dated XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, stating that our insurance has being canceled due to payment was received by mortgage past the 30 days grace period provided. I opened that letter when we were in the airport about to get on the plain for a family trip. I immediately called the insurance company and they stated that Freedom Mortgage failed to pay the premium on time. They received the payment 30 days pass the grace period and 10 days past due. By that time the insurance was already cancelled. I never received a warning letter from the insurance or freedom mortgage on any reason of why the payment wasnt made on time. Due to the cancellation, the flood insurance sent the payment back. I called Freedom and they said that they had an issue with their internal payment system and therefore they were unable to pay on time. Due to this mortgage company incompetency, I had to contact and be on a three way call between Freedom Mortgage insurance department and my flood insurance company to get this issue resolve and have my over {$500.00} house cover again for flood as we didn't know our homestead home was not longer covered for food in a high risk flood area. At this time, on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I had to get issued a new complete insurance coverage that cost me over {$440.00} since the insurance company didn't considered my grandfather status anymore and I was considered a new client now. Freedom paid for that first overage, but they refuse to make adjustments in my escrow to reflect a credit for the remainder of the years I have left to pay off this mortgage, They say for me to call yearly and try to get a credit for the increased amount or for me to find a cheaper flood insurance. Because of this, my monthly mortgage payments went from XXXX to XXXX. They are charging me for the new flood insurance amount on escrow when they were the ones that caused my grandfather premium to be lost and left me without flood insurance on a flood zone. Freedom Mortgage has failed to provide me with a final and long term resolution. 

I submitted a XXXX XXXX XXXX complaint and it was closed with no resolution on XX/XX/XXXX. Freedom Mortgage keep stating that 'Ultimately, the responsibility for ensuring adequate insurance coverage for your property is on you ( Customer ) and could have made a payment to prevent cancellation. ". I did contacted the insurance and Freedom Mortgage when I received the only and final insurance cancellation notification letter, and made a 3 way call to ensure it was taken care and Freedom Mortgage paid for my flood insurance with the money I had on escrow. The only resolution from Freedom that they offered when I contacted them last month was to put {$440.00} on my escrow to pay for this year 's difference due to losing my grandfathered status because of their lack of payment. When I told them I was not going to accept that due that their incompetence will cause me over $ XXXX, that only counting the duration of the loan and not for the entire time we will keep our home, which is our post military home, they came back with a one time offer {$2500.00} as " Good Faith ''. knowing this is not even close to what they are financially causing to my family, we put in a XXXX  complaint, in which the agency, Freedom Mortgage, stayed solid in their response that it is " Ultimately, the responsibility for ensuring adequate insurance coverage for your property is on you ( Customer ) and could have made a payment to prevent cancellation. ". They have failed to show emails and faxed they stated they sent to the flood company attempting to pay my flood insurance. I have asked them to play the recording of XXXX XX/XX/XXXX call I made to them, where their escrow and insurance agent stated that they were having internal payment issues and that was the main reason of the delay and caused of my flood insurance coverage, yet, and now, Freedom Mortgage states that they had the wrong payee, which is not correct, as they paid this same company for my XXXX coverage just a year prior. 

Below is the response I sent to their response to XXXX  where they came back and stated for 3rd time that it was my solely responsibility as the consumer to ensure the payment was made for my flood insurance and not taking any responsibility of their actions. 

Sent : Sat, XX/XX/XXXX, XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX wrote : Good Evening XXXX XXXX, I apologize for sending this response in this format as I have just submitted it via the website. I was afraid I was running out of time to submit the response and to add any attachments as the system told me I had only 30 minutes to answer. So I didnt even do spell check or add all documents. 


Complaint : XXXX I am rejecting this response because : Freedom Mortgage keeps failing to take full responsibility for their lack of action and for their fault at not paying my flood insurance on time and causing a gap in coverage and in us losing our grandfathered status. This is making us lose thousands of dollars in the future. I have called and talked to numerous representatives, and they keep making excuses and telling me it's my responsibility to ensure the insurance is paid. Yes, it is my responsibility to ensure the lender has my money in escrow every month by me paying my mortgage and escrow on time and for them to pay as they should. I have never been late on my payments nor I ever got a letter or call from Freedom Mortgage stating that they had an issue with the payee. Which is not true. I have asked Freedom Mortgage to release my conversation on XX/XX/XXXX with their insurance agent when I found out we lost coverage for lack of payment from the insurance. Yes, I immediately took action and ensured I got coverage again by contacting both the Flood insurance and Freedom Mortgage. I didn't sit at ease until I ensured I got both Freedom and XXXX XXXX on the phone and solved the issue. Freedom failed to pay my insurance, as per the attached letter, and their response at that time was that they had issues with their internal system preventing them from paying some policies. THey never told me or the XXXX XXXX agent that they had the wrong payee information. THey had the right information, as they had paid that same policy a year prior. 

Freedom states that they sent email and fax, I am sure that was not the case. Where is that evidence attached? If that was the case, why did they never reach out to me to let me know they had an issue paying my insurance? My over half a XXXX dollars house was left without policy because of their incompetence and lack of care. This is my Post Military retirement home, and the one I will probably die in and be left to my children. I am not moving from here, and they made me lose my grandfathered status and caused enormous financial burden. 

When I called XXXX XXXX, they told me they couldn't reinstate my old, grandfathered policy, so they had to issue a brand new one with the cost as it would be a brand new client and policy, losing all the benefits of keeping a low premium. Freedom stated I could keep the check I was sent with the {$2000.00} they had failed to send on time to XXXX XXXX, as XXXX XXXX sent the {$2000.00} back to me when they received the premium too late to keep my policy. So Freedom Mortgage stating they had the wrong payee is not accurate, they had it because XXXX XXXX received the payment, they just received it outside the grace period they gave Freedom Mortgage to pay my policy. 

I never wanted to switch my insurance carrier, there is a reason why I chose them, and I have no issues with them, so Freedom Mortgage keeps telling me to look around for another carrier to see if they have a better deal, for something I didn't cause is not a good faith recommendation. My calculations reflect that in the live of the loan, they will cause me at least over {$12000.00} in financial lost due to my lost of grand fathered status, and they come and offered {$440.00} as a good faith, then when I declined and submitted more evidence to them, they come and told me {$2500.00} as a one time credit to my escrow or send to me via check? This is unacceptable. My loss of grandfathered status is costing ever more than {$12000.00} since I will have the house for the remainder of my life, not just for the life of the loan as we live in a high risk flood zone area in Florida and premiums keep rising. 

Their response and such " good faith '' proposal is not acceptable. I ask XXXX  to please assist in this matter, I ask as a retired Veteran, for help. I gave my best years of my life serving this country so that I could enjoy retirement, and this situation and the change in loan escrow increase due to higher flood insurance premiums wasn't calculated in my plans. I am a permanent and fully XXXX Veteran and can't afford for a company like Freedom Mortgage to make me pay for something I didn't cause. I ensure that every month my mortgage obligations get paid on time, no matter if my kids have the toy they wanted for XXXX, or if I cant buy a personal item I needed, because paying our mortgage is our priority so that we can have a roof in our heads and covered in case of a disaster. So we at least expect Freedom Mortgage to take responsibility and make this right of us. 

Thank you for your time and assistance in this matter. 

Sincerely, 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