Consumer complaint received 2021-10-05
Company: MIDFIRST BANK
State: GA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
I enrolled in the Covid Forbearance Program due to financial hardship I incured as a result of the Covid lockdown order. The program ended XX/XX/XXXX On XX/XX/XXXX I filed to request for partial claim of the forbearance amount and a COVID Advance Loan Modification. I filled out the required forms online and uploaded the supporting documents to the Mortgage Assistance Center platform. Once I uploaded the documents, the status changed to Pending Review, as expected. 

A few days later, I logged in and found out the status changed back to Not Received ( without notifying me by mail, email or phone ) as if I didn't upload any documents. I resubmitted the documents. To avoid any delays in processing my application, I followed up with a phone call to XXXX XXXX XXXX to confirm that they received these documents on their end. 

I later received a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX denoting that my application is complete as of XX/XX/XXXX and it is going through the review process. 

A day later, I received a statement dated XX/XX/XXXX requesting that I pay the full forbearance amount of {$15000.00} by XX/XX/XXXX. As I am unable to pay this amount by the due date, I called the XXXX XXXX XXXX to speak with a representative who stated that " they understand if I can not make the payment '' but offered no reassurance of adjusting the amount, or explaining the repercussions I may face if I do not make the full payment by XX/XX/XXXX. 

The front line representatives are cordial and professional, but do not seem to have a grasp of what the review process entails ( Training/Access Restrictions ). Accordingly, I feel that I can not rely on their answers and just wait in limbo while risking the loss of my home due to unnecessary and avoidable delays. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I logged into Midland 's Mortgage Assistance Center and saw that they are listing the initial application for assistance, which I filed on XX/XX/XXXX, as " Not Received ''. I sent a second email to the company at XXXX explaining that I had already filed this form a month ago, to which I have not received a reply, other than the automatic response that my email was received. 

I performed an online search for similar issues, and it seems that there are a lot of complaints against the company, including an article on the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, many of which in regards to the same practice of submitting and resubmitting documents which delays the process and results in homeowners defaulting and potentially losing their homes. I do not want to face a similar ending. 

Now I am faced with the total amount of Forbearance due which I can not pay and I am late on as of XX/XX/XXXX, and even though I received a letter confirming that the application is complete and is pending review, the Midland Site now shows that the Application Form itself, the main document to start the process and which I filed 30 days ago, is marked as " Not Received '' as if the process itself has not begun. I had also submitted their Unemployment Affidavit form and Letter of Job Offer, both show as " Not Received '' in the " Income Verification '' field.

I understand that there may be a spike in the workload due to the Forbearance program ending, but the discrepency between the information on the portal ( showing that my documents were not received ) and what the customer service reps are telling me ( that they have all the documents ) is worrisome to me, as I do not want to continue to be in the infinite loop of submitting and resubmitting documents and risk my application being delayed and losing my home due to technical glitches/oversights.

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