Consumer complaint received 2015-06-25
Company: REGIONS FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: AL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Loan modification,collection,foreclosure

Complaint:
My wife, XXXX has a XXXX mortgage serviced by Regions Bank, dba Regions Mortgage (loan XXXX, property address XXXX AL XXXX).  Regions Mortgage representatives (primarily the "Single Point of ContactXXXX but (all) others as well), have repeatedly misinformed my wife and I regarding possibilities for a  loan modification.  I have only learned yesterday, XX/XX/XXXX that our loan is not owned by Regions, but by XXXX.  Yesterday, I called Regions Mortgage, and the extraordinarily unhelpful XXXX our "Single Point of Contact", was unavailable, and so I had the opportunity to discuss the overdue mortgage with another representative who repeatedly said the my wife did not qualify for loan modification because of the "Investor" requirements could not be met.  As this representative repeatedly used the term "Investor", I finally demanded to know exactly who was the "Investor".  It was only then that it was disclosed this loan was owned by XXXX.  As this is actually a XXXX mortgage, my wife would have been potentially eligible for a loan modification with lowering of interest rate.  To my knowledge prior to yesterday, we have never been informed of, or told to read the XXXX website, rather we have been instructed multiple times to research our options at XXXX "Know Your Options".  We had dealt only with Regions, who we thought owned the mortgage, and who calls us regularly both by "robocalls" and actual people, so prior to yesterday, were not aware that our loan was owned by XXXX. This was never made clear to us in spite of multiple calls and letters from Regions.  Regions obscured the fact that the loan was owned by XXXX,  either purposefully in order to deceive, or by  gross negligence, so we were unaware we could apply for a loan modification either in XX/XX/XXXX or anytime prior to this and thereby overpaid XXXX of dollars before going into default in XX/XX/XXXX.  We have repeatedly asked Regions for a reduction in interest rate, and Regions has always maintained that my wife was ineligible as she has (1) no income, and (2) lack of equity as they maintained we needed to have an appraisal to establish that there was sufficient equity that was needed to be at some level before the loan could be modified.  As we knew that the value of the properties in the local neighborhood declined greatly since our purchase, we knew that we had no equity and to pay for an appraisal was wasted money.  What we did not know, and we were not informed of by Regions despite our repeated inquiries going back to at least XX/XX/XXXX, was that HARP loan modifications can be done for properties with no equity and in lieu of income, proof of and amount equal to XXXX months of mortgage payments is sufficient.   I believe that Regions has been at best negligent and perhaps fraudulently misrepresenting themselves as the owner of this mortgage, and this deception directly prevented the application for loan modification under HARP.  We intend to pursue this at all available levels, and any assistance you can provide will be appreciated.  Thank you.
XXXX

Company public response: Company chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation