Consumer complaint received 2015-08-19
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: AL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Loan modification,collection,foreclosure

Complaint:
My husband and I jointly owned a home together with a mortgage through USAA. As part of an agreement, I signed over my interest in the home to my husband and he was to re-finance the home in his name alone and hold me harmless from the mortgage. As I was XXXX military, I signed a specific power of attorney to enable my husband to re-finance the home in his name alone at the time I deeded my interest in the home to him. Instead of refinancing the home in his name in my absence, he refinanced the home through USAA in his name as primary borrower but also signed my name through the power of attorney as secondary borrower. My signature was listed and signed by him as power of attorney. USAA knew the deed was in my husband 's name alone as it was an exhibit to the refinance mortgage, but they never contacted me to verify whether it was my intentions to allow my husband to co-sign my name to a mortgage refinance in which I held no interest in the property. Also, I never received a copy of the mortgage from USAA. Subsequently my husband began the process to correct the situation by filing an assumption request for mortgage through USAA in his name alone on or about XXXX 2015. USAA acknowledged the receipt of my husband 's request to assume the mortgage and sent the attached letter on XXXX XXXX, 2015. After submitting the request to assume the mortgage in his name alone, my husband suddenly passed away on XXXX XXXX, 2015. I was the initial administrator of my deceased husband 's estate and I found the letter concerning assumption and immediately contacted USAA who notified me to send in the information they had requested from my husband and they would process the assumption as my husband had requested. I sent the requested information on or around late XXXX 2015. Instead of processing the assumption in the name of my husband estate per his initial request, USAA own its own removed my husband name who was the primary borrower off the mortgage which essentially left me as the only borrower for a property I no longer owned. I immediately notified USAA of the error, but it took several weeks and many calls and letters before USAA even returned the designation on the mortgage back to its original status by listing my husband 's estate as primary borrower. They however left my name as co-borrower despite the assumption request my husband had submitted before he passed way. On XXXX XXXX, 2015, my husband 's son presented my husband 's will to probate and was appointed executor. I immediately notified USAA that I was no longer administrator and provided the Probate Courts Contact Information and Executors contact information to file a claim for payment of a claim with Probate Court. Around XXXX XXXX, USAA removed the mortgage information from my USAA account online and ceased corresponding with me concerning the account. I assumed USAA was properly pursing the matter in Probate Court. Thereafter on XXXX XXXX with no prior notice, USAA reported a 2 month delinquency on the mortgage payments to the credit bureaus under my name which lowered my credit score from XXXX to XXXX. At the same time the mortgage information that had been removed from my USAA online account for approximately XXXX weeks was reposted. I immediately contacted USAA again and they admitted they dropped the ball in handling this matter, but to my knowledge they have not corrected the situation. Today I followed up with USAA and was told that they were not filing the claim with probate court and that since my husband signed my name as co-signer they were pursuing me for payment without first trying to collect from the Estate as primary borrower. I can not make the mortgage payments and do not want the house to go to foreclosure. The Estate has the funds to make the mortgage payments and satisfy the mortgage in its entirety, but USAA refuses to file the claim.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief