Consumer complaint received 2023-11-16
Company: NEW YORK COMMUNITY BANCORP INC
State: NY
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: USDA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage
Sub-issue: Trying to communicate with the company to fix an issue related to modification, forbearance, short sale, deed-in-lieu, bankruptcy, or foreclosure

Complaint:
I am in the beginning of the foreclosure process with Flagstar because they have denied me access to government programs that I qualify for to help struggling homeowners with XXXX XXXX. My hardship was due to Covid related income loss ( I was laid off ) and eventually was approved for a loan modification in XX/XX/2022. One month later my wife told me she wanted a divorce and moved out and I lost my job. I was able to make 4 months of payments from money that I had saved up but was overwhelmed with bills and also legal fees for lawyer to protect my children in custody battle. I kept in contact with Flagstar and they told me I had lost the original deal and needed to apply for help again. This process took several months to actually get reviewed ( I could have been making mortgage payments during that time ) and Flagstar would not accept payments until the review was done. I was recently told that I was denied for assistance options and that my loan was going into foreclosure. I looked over the denial letter from Flagstar and looked at guidelines for XXXX  loss mitigation programs. It said that Flagstar is required to consider all feasible loss mitigation options and there are several that they did not look at such as special servicing modification, special forbearance or a 12 month repayment plan. They also did not consider a mortgage recovery advance or XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX modification and did not consider pairing two different loss mitigation options together which the XXXX  allows. My hardship is resolved, my financial circumstances have improved and Flagstar is required to conduct a full review of my current and correct financial information for all XXXX programs. I believe that Flagstar has denied access to government programs that should be made available and have engaged in questionable servicing practices. I have owned my house for 13 years and live here with my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and girlfriend and live in babysitter and cant lose this house and really need these guys to work with me. 

I have worked in steel manufacturing for many years and am now in management. When Covid hit my state it was declared a disaster area ( their denial said there was no disaster declaration ) and I ended up getting laid off from my job. I continued making payments as long as I could but eventually could not keep up and contacted Flagstar to ask about help for Covid related income loss. I do not recall being offered the CARES forbearance which I found out that Flagstar was required to provide access to since I have a government backed loan. Eventually I was approved for a loan modification in XXXX because I was back on my feet and then one month later the whole thing fell apart with my wife filing for divorce and custody of the kids and then losing my job. 

My hardship is resolved and I have the ability to pay my mortgage payment. I am sorry that this situation happened, but I had never had a problem with my payments until Covid hit and wiped out my business.

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