Consumer complaint received 2018-01-11
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: SC
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Freedom Mortgage acquired our mortgage from our original lender, we did not choose them, in XX/XX/XXXX. We made an initial escrow payment of {$3200.00} to cover  XX/XX/XXXX property taxes of {$340.00}. I am a XXXX XXXX XXXX veteran, exempt from personal property taxes. I submitted documentation of exemption from XX/XX/XXXX taxes from the South Carolina Department of Revenue to Freedom Mortgage, and received a letter that it was received on XX/XX/XXXX. The letter said to allow 30 days for a response. We waited, but heard nothing, so we contacted Freedom Mortgage and were told it was in escrow review and we would be receiving a refund and a decrease in our monthly payment. 
After multiple phone calls, we receive inconsistent explanations from Freedom Mortgage customer care center regarding the status of our escrow review, and are repeatedly told to allow more time. XX/XX/XXXX, I  spoke to XXXX ( ID # XXXX ) at Freedom Mortgage and was told all documents were received and our tax exemption had been verified in XX/XX/XXXX, and he resubmitted a ticket for escrow review which would be completed by XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, my husband called and was told we would be receiving our refund check from escrow by XX/XX/XXXX. I called XX/XX/XXXX to find out how much the refund was, I spoke to supervisor XXXX ( ID # XXXX ) and was told there is no refund, and our escrow analysis would not be done until XX/XX/XXXX. Also, that until they receive a refund on XX/XX/XXXX taxes, they will not adjust our monthly payment or issue a refund. However, they will not ever receive a refund for XX/XX/XXXX taxes because our exemption is for XX/XX/XXXX, as the documentation shows. I then spoke to XXXX 's supervisor XXXX ( ID # XXXX ) who offered no explanation why we had been repeatedly lied to by her employees, and said our escrow will not be reviewed until XX/XX/XXXX. She also tried to minimize my complaint, stating " You 're not actually out any money '', which is n't accurate since we currently are paying {$390.00} per month towards a tax we are exempt from, and are owed a refund total of {$3600.00} for overpayment of escrow in XX/XX/XXXX. I called XX/XX/XXXX, spoke to supervisor XXXX ( ID # XXXX ) who urged me to submit an email to the customer care team to request an escrow review. I explained we requested an escrow review in XX/XX/XXXX, four months ago, and have been told since then that it is under review and our refund will arrive by XX/XX/XXXX. She confirmed our documentation of exemption had been received and verified by the XXXX XXXX tax assesor 's office, but the review will not be until XX/XX/XXXX. This company has treated us unfairly, unprofessionally, and deceitfully. We would like them to follow-thru with our escrow review, as originally promised, and would like our escrow refund and monthly mortgage payment adjusted to reflect our tax exemption, and we would like it done in a timely manner as it has already been 4 months. We have been through this process before with XXXX XXXX, and it was completed within two weeks, from the time we submitted our documentation to the time we received our refund check. There is no excuse for the lack of action by Freedom Mortgage. They are unjustly keeping our money, and continuing to charge us for money we are not responsible for.

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