Consumer complaint received 2018-08-23
Company: NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE LLC
State: TX
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
This is my third complaint about Mr Cooper to the CFPB for failure to release funds after an flood disaster insurance settlement. The previous two complaints to the CFPB, which were essentially identical, have resulted in quick and efficient resolution of the problems, which had taken hours on the phone and weeks to resolve. 

We are Hurricane Harvey flood victims in late XX/XX/XXXX. Mr Cooper is our primary mortgage company, and they, through XXXX, have dealt with our FEMA and flood insurance settlement. The final amount of the settlement for structural loss is {$190000.00}. For the past six months, Mr Cooper has done whatever in their power to not release funds to us despite every conceivable protocol being followed, and often repeated numerous times. 

All documentation about the loss, about contractor bids, work agreements, contracts, and so forth was uploaded in XX/XX/XXXX. Repair commenced using my out-of-pocket funds while insurance settlements were finalized. From the beginning, Mr Cooper was extremely slow with dealing with claims despite all paperwork being correct and all protocols followed. This began with the initial advance before the finalized claim and has continued through the repair process. For instance, in XXXX, a claim was denied because one contract did not have the contractor 's zip code. A revised copy of the document was uploaded, but the claim was still denied. Each document review takes a week and this is used to slow down the process further. 

I filed a CFPB claim after an inspection verified 25 % completion of work in XXXX ( after the zip code denial ) due to Mr Cooper not releasing funds. The matter was settled within a week and I received a check for {$20000.00}. When we got to 50 % completion, I ran into identical issues. Again, after several weeks of fighting with Mr Cooper after the 50 % inspection was certified, after several rounds of weekly document inspections only to result in having claims dismissed for invalid reasons, I filed a second CFPB complaint. Again, within a week, funds were released, for half of the total remaining, or {$68000.00}, leaving a balance of {$68000.00}. 

I was assured that there would be no issues when we reached 100 % completion. After all, an inspector would verify that we had completed work and thus there would be no reason to continue holding funds to pay out more contractors. I reached 100 % completion in early XX/XX/XXXX and an inspector certified that the repairs were done, with all paperwork completed on XX/XX/XXXX. 

Mr Cooper, true to form, has continued the exact same stalling tactics as before. Despite being at 100 % completion, despite not owing the contractor a cent at this point ( because I paid out-of-pocket ), Mr Cooper has denied my claims several times. The first time was because the exact amount of the settlement did not agree with a proof of loss submitted in XX/XX/XXXX. They had received updated paperwork from insurance but apparently had lost it. I resubmitted it, and waiting a week. Similar reuploads of paperwork have continued. Last week, they promised to do an " expedited release '' of funds, however, today, I have been informed that they can't release my funds because my contractor 's agreement doesn't have an address on it. This is the exact same excuse they used in XXXX and the problem was resolved at that time! And I don't even owe my contractor money anymore! I'm finished repairs! On the phone, they were able to find the documentation uploaded in XXXX and sure enough, there was a contractor address on it. 

Today, they are telling me that they are submitting for another expedited review. I fully expect them to deny my claim. Perhaps they will find that the paper does not measure 8 inches by 11.5 inches but instead is 7.5 inches. Perhaps they will take issue with the fact that the documents are written in a Times font and they prefer a Sans Serif one. Perhaps they need to just make one last win at the dog track with my insurance settlement that they are sitting on. 

Anyway, it's hard not to be cynical and bitter after a long, protracted fight on the most trivial of matters when I have been dealing with just as many issues with contractors, permitting, hardware companies, and so forth. The whole ending to this mess seems in plain view, and Mr Cooper is putting up silly roadblocks for no apparent reasons just to make flood victims ' lives harder.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation