Consumer complaint received 2021-12-20
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: SD
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
Freedom Mortgage ( NMLS ID : XXXX ) recently ( Freedom began to accept any payments after XX/XX/21 ) took over servicing my VA loan from XXXX XXXX ( NMLS ID : XXXX ). I mailed my first payment to them and they received it on XX/XX/21. On XX/XX/21 I began to receive sales calls disguised as customer service calls. I answered the first XXXX and listened to the guy give his intro and when I realized it was the new mortgage company, I hung up. I had already sent payment and didn't need any information from them so I assumed it was a sales call to get me to refinance. He immediately called back, which I ignored, but listened to his voicemail. He also sent an email ( also on XX/XX/21 ) stating this : My name is XXXX XXXX  and I am your loan advisor for your home loan with Freedom Mortgage, which was recently transferred to us from XXXX XXXX XXXX. I am trying to contact you regarding your account with us, and left a message for you at ( my phone number ). 

Please reach out to me at your earliest convenience at ( his number ), or respond to this email with a good time to call you. I look forward to hearing from you. 

Thank you XXXX XXXX  Team Leader, Sales Producing His signature is what told me this was definitely a sales call rather than an actual attempt to assist me with my loan. I immediately went online to look up their main number, called it and was able to get my loan number and confirm they received my payment via their automated system. It gave no options that I could find to actually get to customer service ( you can, it's just either buried at the end of the IVR or requires you to smash 0, but only within certain menus as I was smashing zero pretty much the entire call ). 

I then sent an email back to the agent stating this ( I'll admit I was being a jerk, but I was frustrated ) : Hi XXXX I'll cut to the chase. I hate sales and marketing. I don't need a sales pitch. The loan is 6 months old. So unless you are going to reduce the interest rate below 2.75 % AND ( this is key here ) cover all closing costs so that I pay XXXX out of pocket, I'm not interested. I've already set up my online account and your company has received and cashed the check for XXXX 's payment so I think I'm all good. I'll continue to make payments either online or via mailed checks ( no app, are you guys living in the 90s? ). 

Please remove me from all marketing and sales email and call lists. 

I appreciate you reaching out, but for me, when the loan transfers I prefer to have a seamless transition where I speak with no one and can immediately access the account online. 

Thanks for the call and email and have a happy holiday season! 

Again, I want to reiterate that all voicemails received ( XXXX so far ; XX/XX/21, XX/XX/21, and XX/XX/21 ) didn't not specify what they wanted exactly, but rather left vague references to assisting me with my loan ( which I didn't need as I had already set up my online account and made my first payment ) and their email was the same. 

I figured maybe that would be the end of it. Nope, he calls again on XX/XX/21, I recognize the number and ignore again, but listen to him give the same salesy pitch in the guise of helping again. I leave it be as I figured maybe it takes some time to process my request to be removed from their marketing and sales lists. 

Then he calls me again today to which I again ignore it, but listen to the exact same vague message to assist me. Now I'm XXXX. I immediately find the customer service number again and call in. I go through the prompts trying to find my way to a service rep. Finally, one of the menus worked when smashing zero and it takes me to a wonderful rep who validates my information and asks what I called in a about. I tell her I have a sales rep keep calling me and I want it to stop and she immediately says she will take care of it. She said that it was someone from their refinance team ( as I had already assumed at this point, but had not confirmed until now ). I thank her and we end the call. I opted to do their survey to which I gave the service rep a glowing review as she did great and I left them some comments about the shady practice of calling recently bought loans ( that closed on current loan only XXXX months before ) to get them to refinance. 

After this call ends and I do the survey I check my email and now see I have another survey about the onboarding experience. What? Onboarding you say? Oh you mean the aggressive sales calls disguised as a helping hand? It basically asks if you received a call to review your loan to which I say yes and then it asks you if you got various information ( how to set up account, make payments, etc ). to which I say no, because I never actually took the call. I was able to figure this out on my own ( which I know not everyone is and would likely take these sales calls, hence me reporting this shady practice ) and already had an account set up and made my first payment. 

The survey asks how likely you are to recommend Freedom Mortgage to family friends on a scale of 0-10 ( I'm sure you're stumped at this point as to the score they got ). The actual email is only signed by " XXXX XXXX XXXX ''. So who actually does the onboarding? Customer service or sales? Are they same thing? Are the comingled, but still have divided duties? I don't really care, but I don't want to take sales calls on my XXXX-month old loan and I don't think any one else in a similar situation should either.

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