Consumer complaint received 2016-07-20
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: MA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Loan modification,collection,foreclosure

Complaint:
I was laid off from my teaching position in XX/XX/XXXX and due to lack of income missed three mortgage payments. We contacted Citmortgage, submitted all required paperwork for a Loan Modification through Citimortgage/HAMP and awaited their decision. During the next two years the Homeowner Support Specialists assigned to our account changed eight times. Each time, we submitted the paperwork in its entirety again. Each time we waited for a response but all we received were notices that our HSS had changed again and we needed to re-submit the paperwork for the modification. XX/XX/XXXX we received notice from Citimortgage attorneys that our home that we have lived in and paid for was to be auctioned in XX/XX/XXXX. We contacted the Citimortgage HSS that was currently assigned to our account and again submitted all paperwork for the loan modification. After approximately 30 days we were informed by Citimortgage that they were just the " servicer '' of our loan and that the note was held by a bank in Indiana. They said the bank from Indiana does not participate in the HAMP program so we would get no modification. At this point we decided to sell our home. The home is currently under contract for sale and we requested the payoff amount from the attorney representing Citimortgage. After we received the paperwork from the attorney we were shocked to see the interest and lawyer fees attached to our account. The amount takes away any chance of us to successfully move to another home. 
If Citimortgage knew all along this two year process that our loan did not qualify for a modification, why were we not told in a timely manner so that we could have avoided interest and lawyer fees for the past two years. This added up to XXXX which now makes the sale of our home through the real estate process impossible. It is our claim that Citimortgage did willfully and with malice, withhold information about the loan modification decision to drive up interest and fees to collect. Had we been made aware of the decision that our loan was not eligible for a modification, we would have sold our home two years ago, paid off the loan in its entirety, and walked away with some equity in the home that we have occupied, updated and paid for, during the last 28 years. Now Citimortgage wants to charge XXXX to us when it was in fact, the fault of Citimortgage that these interest and fees continued to climb. 
It would be in the best interest of all parties involved that Citimortgage would not collect this XXXX in fees and interest and that we could sell our home and move on with our lives. We believe Citimortgage delays the modification process on purpose through the many changes of Homeowner Support Specialists, does n't inform its borrowers of the decision in a timely manner, runs up fees and penalties and then ruins people 's lives in that process.

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