Consumer complaint received 2023-12-20
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: DC
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage
Sub-issue: Applying for or obtaining a modification, forbearance plan, short sale, or deed-in-lieu

Complaint:
-Contacted Freedom Mortgage early on- I initially contacted Freedom Mortgage in early XXXX  I received a notice from the XXXX Tax & revenue Office about outstanding taxes. My mortgage went from {$3900.00} to almost XXXX XXXX  which I am not able to afford. Research revealed that there were code violations from the previous owner. Just for background, my house is a historic home thats over XXXX XXXX XXXX and the previous owner has 30+ years of deferred maintenance. XXXX XXXX cited violations for the previous owner which is now showing on my tax bill. I contacted the title attorney and insurance company, and there is an ongoing complaint and possible legal action to remove these fines completely since those violations and fines should have been paid at settlement. XXXXXXXX referred me to a tax advocate ( XXXX XXXX ) who Ive been working with diligently to correct the matter. I contacted Freedom Mortgage to alert them to the issue at hand. I was proactive in alerting Freedom Mortgage to this issue. I am overall demoralized and exhausted which further stresses my economic hardship. The tax bill is outrageous and no reasonable person should have to deal with this in their first year of homeownership. 

-I never received a response to my hardship forbearance request - Records will show that I contacted Freedom Mortgage early on. I logged on to pay my mortgage and saw a link that offered financial assistance. I was taken to another website and filled out the application and did not receive a receipt or response so I called in. When I called I would always receive many conflicting responses to my situation and no further instructions advising me of my options and I found the process to be vague. Each week I called they would say my application was pending and the decision was under review. They never told me that they issued a formal response, and I did not receive any notice by mail or online. In fact, there are 5 returned mail notifications in the Freedom Mortgage portal. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I became frustrated and browsed all over the website and finally found the portal with notifications. I spoke with 3 customer service reps and 2 supervisors and no one informed me. 

-Conflicting contents of the letters - I eventually found returned mail and denial letters in the portal. This was my first time seeing those letters after calling persistently for status updates to my hardship request. The letters themselves are conflicting. There are multiple denial letters which show that I indeed responded. The 1st denial letter dated XX/XX/XXXX states that I was not eligible for a formal forbearance because 100 % of my calculated surplus income is not sufficient to cure the arrearage on my account for 6 months. This defeats the entire purpose of a forbearance request for a hardship so it is very misleading and does not address my particular tax issue. 

The second denial letter dated XX/XX/XXXX excludes the forbearance option completely and only says I am eligible for a partial claim, which in my case doesnt make sense. Once the taxes are forgiven the claim wouldnt exist anymore. I feel my case was ignored and delayed just to deny me when I never received a notice of my rights they offered no solutions to my problems. My rights as homeowner are not being respected and they are steering me to programs beneficial to them and not to programs beneficial to the homeowner. Freedom Mortgage intentionally delayed their responses and made it further obscure to find the hardship application all while giving me conflicting answers on the phone. This is essentially a wild goose chase meant to waste my time.

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