Consumer complaint received 2021-10-13
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: MD
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage

Complaint:
When I initiated my refinance with Freedom Mortgage ( FM ) in XXXX XXXX I received my first loan estimate on XXXX. As of XXXX my refinance still had not closed. 

They were on their fifth attempt to close my loan when I received a call on XX/XX/XXXX to schedule my closing date. However, during the call the person said we actually cant schedule you for closing because the rate lock needs to be extended but this should only take a couple of hours to get done. The next call I received was on XX/XX/XXXX. During this call the person repeated the exact same thing I was told on XX/XX/XXXX! I asked them why were they calling me to schedule closing only to once again tell me the rate lock needs to be extended. When I asked if the rate lock was extended on XX/XX/XXXX, as I was originally told, they didnt answer the question but only said the rate lock was being requested immediately. This is the level of pure incompetence I faced during the entire process since it was initiated in early XX/XX/XXXX. 

With each failed attempt to close, not only was I then told to continue making my monthly mortgage payment ( at my current higher interest rate ) but then came the repeated requests to update my pay statements, bank statements and approve additional requests to run a credit report. With each new credit check my credit score dropped. It appears there was never any real attempt to complete my refinance because with every failed attempt to close, which was FMs fault every time, they could not provide an explanation for why the errors were occurring. I was only met with promises to get it right the next time and requests for more documents. 

Closing attempts : # 1 XX/XX/XXXX I identified and communicated to FM that they listed the incorrect appraisal amount on the closing disclosure which resulted in the new monthly mortgage payment including a charge for private mortgage insurance ( PMI ). If the correct appraisal amount was used there would be no PMI. 
# 2 XX/XX/XXXX closing costs were listed as being financed when I told the officer in XX/XX/XXXX that I was bringing cash to close to cover the closing costs. 
# 3 XX/XX/XXXX the closing disclosure provided 5 days before closing listed closing cost and cash to close of approx. $ XXXX and $ XXXX, respectively. The closing disclosure brought to closing listed closing costs and cash to close of approx. $ XXXX and $ XXXX, respectively. The new closing costs included a charge for delinquent water fees. After multiple calls to FM, no one could explain why the amounts changed and why there was a charge for water fees when Im already in the property and there was no water bill in their system to support the charge. When I asked why they would be collecting a fee for a water bill on a refinance and when Im already living in the property no one could answer my questions. There was no delinquent amount owed to my water company. 
# 4 after giving weeks of advance notice of planned vacation in XXXX and the need to complete closing on XX/XX/XXXX, they scheduled my closing for XX/XX/XXXX. I was then told FM would be ready to close once I returned from vacation. 
# 5 FM called on XX/XX/XXXX to schedule my closing but indicated that since I had not returned their calls while I was on vacation that the rate lock would need to be extended. I told them I had communicated to my customer advocate when I would be back in town and why didnt they simply complete the rate lock extension beforehand. Knowing my vacation plans my customer advocate told me the loan would ready for closing once I returned from my vacation. This wasnt the case. Once again, no real explanation provided except that it should only take a few hours to complete the rate lock. My final and last communication with them was on XX/XX/XXXX. 

For almost 7 months I was strung along with no real effort being put into my refinance transaction. The only thing FM seems to be concerned about was that I continued to make my mortgage payments, comply with endless requests for documents and continuously checking my credit report which impacted my credit score. After XX/XX/XXXX I stopped accepting calls from FM to schedule my loan for closing. After 5 attempts to close, its shame on me for continuing to believe that they had any intent or were competent enough to complete my refinance. If this was the service they were providing, why would I want to establish a 30 yr. mortgage/ relationship with them. As of the date of this communication, I have yet to receive any communication from FM questioning why I have not responded to them. That right there shows there was no intent or desire to compete my refinance. I have since moved onto another mortgage company that has complete my refinance in 30 days! FM needs to be investigated to determine why they allow things like this to continually happen because if was not an informed customer that reviewed every detail of every document I would have been in transaction with numerous errors and paying more on a mortgage than I should be.

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