Consumer complaint received 2023-06-15
Company: Mr. Cooper Group Inc.
State: MA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
This is a complaint against our mortgage company, MrCooper, a Texas company, which has mishandled our mortgage since assuming it in XX/XX/XXXX. Since then, the company has : * failed to remit more than {$15000.00} in property taxes to our city, XXXX, Mass., even while collecting the taxes from us in our monthly payments and contributions to escrow, causing the city to lien our home and warn of foreclosure. Cooper paid the bill a few days after I became aware we were in arrears and called the company; * failed to competently manage our escrow account, which the company says has gyrated between a surplus of {$4400.00} on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, to a deficit of {$19000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX - a {$24000.00} swing in four months. The company says the account now has a deficit of {$8300.00} ; * attempted to hold us accountable for its failure to manage our account by increasing our monthly payments from {$2400.00} in XXXX to as much as {$4400.00} last month - an increase of {$1900.00}, or 79 percent over three months ; * ignored my requests to stop billing us for Private Mortgage Insurance after our equity exceeded 20 percent, the level at which the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says mortgage companies may no longer require the insurance. Cooper itself says our equity has exceeded 20 percent for more than a year and is now 26 percent. 

* refused to explain any of this, even after I sent letters to company president XXXX XXXX, the companys customer relations complaint department and its payment department on XX/XX/XXXX. The letter included a check for principal and interest, but did not include a payment for escrow because the company has ignored my inquiries about how it mishandled the account and how it will properly handle it going forward. Our experience with all of this gives us no faith the company can pay our taxes and manage our escrow. 

Worst of all, the company has been sending an avalanche of emails and letters- including 17 emails since I deducted our escrow from my last monthly payment on XX/XX/XXXX - warning that we face foreclosure and that our loan is in default and has been turned over to a debt collector. It sent another letter on XX/XX/XXXX saying, among other offensive things, that the issue could be resolved if we transfer ownership of ( our ) property to us in exchange for relief from some or all of the mortgage debt. 
Several of Coopers letters have come from XXXX XXXX, a dedicated loan specialist in the companys XXXX, Texas, office. In bold type, she asks me to call as soon as possible. Ive called several times, including at XXXX XXXX. today. Shes never available and doesnt return messages. The number she provides in her emails is XXXX. 

The companys only specific acknowledgement of my XX/XX/XXXX letter explaining the problems it created came on XX/XX/XXXX, when in a letter signed only Mr. Cooper, it said it was reviewing your concerns and takes all matters seriously. '' Weve gotten no response beyond the threatening form letters. 

XXXX created these problems by its mismanagement. It should not be allowed to divert our property taxes over XXXX years, cause the city to put a lien on our home and advertise it for foreclosure, put my mortgage loan in default, threaten its own foreclosure, turn us over to a debt collector, attack my credit rating, suggest we give the company our home, double my monthly payment, provide no explanation for any of this and cause enormous stress in my family. Cooper fixed half the problem when it paid the city the {$16000.00} tax arrears it created. If Cooper also caused a deficit in our escrow, it should not be allowed to bully us to make it up by doubling our monthly payments, imposing an impossible hardship and forcing us from our home. 

By the way, Cooper also has tried to bully XXXX city treasurer XXXX XXXX. She told me that our property tax account fell into arrears because Cooper directed her to apply our property taxes to the wrong unit in our condo development. She said the company told her it was her responsibility to claw back the $ XXXX in misdirected payments. She said she told the company she would not, that she applied the payments as Cooper directed and that it was Coopers responsibility, not hers, to fix it.

We will not be making escrow payments to Cooper going forward. We will paying the company only the principal and interest on our loan. We will be paying our property taxes and homeowner insurance bill ourselves. We will no longer be paying Private Mortgage Insurance because the equity weve built in the home frees us of that obligation. We would refinance with a different company but interest rates today are more than double what they were when we bought the home three years ago.

Finally, I want to note the extreme emotional distress this company is causing my family. My partner, XXXX XXXX, and his mother, XXXX, live in the house that Cooper is threatening to take ( I live nearby ). XXXX and XXXX have paid all of Coopers monthly bills in full and on time over the three years the company has held the mortgage, until I took over the payments last month when the city advised me that the company had not been paying our taxes and put us $ XXXX in arrears. XXXX is XXXX, in a XXXX XXXX XXXX She has XXXX XXXX XXXX and a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. She has difficulty understanding the issues here and is overwhelmed with stress and XXXX that she and XXXX will lose their home. Her only income is Social Security. XXXX earns about {$48000.00} annually as a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX They can not afford the {$2000.00} increase in their monthly payments that Cooper is demanding to cover its own malfeasance, with no explanation so far. There are no other affordable options for them in this area, where XXXX and XXXX both grew up and will stay. 

I have several documents detailing the problems outlined here, which I can provide you if there is any dispute. They include : 1 A copy of a letter I sent to Cooper on XX/XX/XXXX explaining the problems it has created.It has not responded. 

2. Letters from the city of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX advising us that it had placed a lien on our home and was preparing to foreclose and detailing the deficit in our property tax account caused by Coopers failure to remit our taxes.

3. Monthly statements from Cooper showing how it has caused our escrow to gyrate between a surplus of {$4400.00} on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, to a deficit of {$19000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX ; XXXX. Some of the more than two dozen letters Cooper sent m after receiving my monthly payments for XXXX and XXXX, which included payments for principal and interest on the mortgage loan but not for escrow. As I said, Cooper responded by defaulting our loan, turning it over to a collection agency, threatening foreclosure and - most offensively - suggesting we surrender our home to the company. 

Thank you for whatever help you can render. 

Cooper Loan number : XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation