Consumer complaint received 2022-05-04
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
This is in response to a previous complaint # XXXX which was CLOSED but Submitted to the CFPB on XX/XX/XXXX. We did not intend for the complaint to be closed. 
the response from the previous complaint from the lender was the following : Company 's Response XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, CA XXXX Re : Your Complaint to the CFPB Complaint # XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, CA XXXX Dear XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX : We have reviewed your complaint and researched the issue regarding your request for a credit amendment. Freedom Mortgage performed an escrow analysis on XX/XX/XXXX ( see attached ) which increased your monthly payments from {$4100.00} to {$4500.00} effective with the XXXX, XXXX payment. The analysis was sent to the XXXX XXXX mailing address shortly after issuance. The increase in payments was due to increases in property taxes and insurance. Your complaint states that you did not receive the escrow analysis and you were not aware of the increase. However, our notes indicate that we spoke to you on XX/XX/XXXX and attempted to explain the increase to you. You placed the call on hold in order to conference in one of the other Borrowers, but the call was disconnected after two minutes per our notes. Therefore, you were aware of the increase in XXXX, XXXX when the payment was due. We also attempted to call you on XX/XX/XXXX. We are not able to amend your credit as we are required to report accurately to the credit bureaus. Very truly yours, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Customer Service Freedom Mortgage Corporation XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX Mt. XXXX, NJ XXXX. 

OUR RESPONSE BELOW : Formal Response : The response by the lender is misleading on two counts. First, we have completed our research ( examining all mail and phone records ) and can confirm that no notice was received regarding escrow analysis which was stated to have been sent to the XXXX XXXX mailing address with an unspecified date. 
Second, XXXX XXXX explicitly says Freedom Mortgage tried to call on the XXXX of XXXX and could not reach us. There are no incoming calls from freedom on that date. Just two calls on that date from within XXXX Arizona ( please see attached phone record for the phone number Freedom has been calling and on record at Freedom for the point of contact ). 
Yes, we did speak on XX/XX/XXXX. Freedom Mortgage called from ( XXXX ) XXXX, and the call was 6 minutes long and was incomplete. Yes, an attempt to conference another member in after 4 minutes and then the call disconnected. We did try calling multiple times back to Freedom Mortgage, but there was an automated response stating a 45 min wait and XXXX XXXX, who tried to call, was driving to work AND the call kept repeatedly dropping. After multiple attempts, and waiting for someone to answer, XXXX XXXX, had to work. In addition, we have no record of any attempt by Freedom Mortgage to call us back then. Specifically, not one incoming call was received that day from Freedom Mortgage. Needless to say, we did not understand why Freedom Mortgage was calling or what was wrong. 

According to our records, we called Freedom Mortgage and finally got through their line on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX. We called Freedom and spoke to the attendant ( XXXX, agent number XXXX at Freedom Mortgage ) to get a complete understanding of what was needed and how we address whatever was of concern. It was at that time that we understood what happened. The statement by XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX Customer Service, that Therefore, you were aware of the increase in XX/XX/XXXX when the payment was due. Is a false statement. This is, at best, an assumption on his part and he has no evidence to confirm that we understood. Once we clarified the reason for the call, we sent the adjusted amount to Freedom Mortgage, and they did receive the corrected amount on XX/XX/XXXX as confirmed by our bank executive ( XXXX  XXXX XXXX ) and also Freedom Mortgage received the {$310.00} for the previous month shortage as requested by the agent, XXXX, agent number XXXX, we spoke to at the time. The agent acknowledged we had never been late with the previous lender. Freedom Mortgage acquired our previous lender XXXX, and she stated that she could not see a reason why Freedom Mortgage would do anything to damage our credit if we took action immediately as we did. XXXX was instructed to email to confirm by this agent. These emails were as follows : On Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX sent an email from XXXX stating the following and to the date of this message, none of her emails has any acknowledgement of receipt by Freedom Mortgage. 

Her testimony is as such : On Friday, XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke with XXXX # XXXX regarding my credit report showing that Freedom Mortgage had reported my payment late in XXXX. 

She stated that she wrote the summary of our conversation on the notes and to simply send this email requesting that Freedom Mortgage remove that from my record since the account is up to date and we have never been late on our payments since XXXX when we first acquired the property. The email contained : PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF THIS EMAIL and you confirm that you are agreeing to remove that mark from my credit report as soon as possible. Her testimony also states What is strange is that out of all of this, Freedom Mortgage did receive {$4200.00} on time and yet reported XXXX late because XXXX was missing. We were told that the {$4200.00} was placed in a different account at Freedom Mortgage and NOT applied to our loan payment and that is why more than what we paid was reported on our credit report. In other words, on that day, it was never mentioned that their policy was to cash the check and hold it and mark the account as unpaid and that they were going to report us to the Credit Bureaus.

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