Consumer complaint received 2015-09-04
Company: Ocwen Financial Corporation
State: CO
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Loan servicing, payments, escrow account

Complaint:
This complaint is in regards to Ocwen 's handling of insurance claim money distributed by the insurance company to cover replacing a hail damaged roof and gutters. My complaints are about unnecessarily cumbersome and stringent processes, changing policies mid-stream and poor customer service. 
Ocwen appears to have a different standard of procedure than other mortgage companies for claims like mine. Since there was a lot of hail damage to roofs in Colorado and many of my friends and neighbors are also having their roofs replaced, I know what other borrowers have encountered with their mortgage companies. Settlements I am aware of range from {$11000.00} to {$18000.00} and everyone else 's mortgage company simply endorsed the check and let them cash it. My settlement was in this range and Ocwen is dispersing the money when I have met their criteria. My current loan is for less than half the estimated value of the property and less than the value of the land alone. Ocwen really has no vested interest in this repair. 
The packet of claim forms is not well structured and is highly difficult to figure out what is required. In the email that came with the packet of forms it stated, " If the loan is current, you will have the option to act as your own general contractor throughout the repair process. In the event you choose to act as the general contractor, you will be responsible for paying any sub contractor XXXX s ) hired with the funds that are being released to ensure no liens are placed against the property. In this case there is no need for you to provide a contract between you or any sub-contractor ( XXXX ). '' I wanted to choose this option, but there was no place or form to indicate that I was doing this. I was supposed to sign a 'Acknowledgment of Guidelines ' which included supplying forms that were only required if I hired someone else to be the general contractor. I, therefore, sent a copy of the email and circled this line and wrote that I was choosing this option and wrote N/A next to each document which was not applicable if I was my own general contractor. 
I mailed the check along with the paperwork on Thursday XXXX XXXX. I called on XXXX XXXX to request an inspection. I was told that I would receive a call from an inspector to schedule within 3 to 5 days. As of XXXX XXXX I have not received a call. 
On Friday, XXXX XXXX I received a nearly incomprehensible email indicating the need for additional paperwork. The email stated, " Borrower has requested for Private Repairs but missing sighed XXXX License from borrower. Received copy of mail on which borrower has requested for PR but not signed. Hence not accepted OR else please send below missing document for normal procedure : '' First, there was no document to sign to indicate that I was selecting Private Repairs. Second this was the very first reference to an XXXX License. So I called to get clarification for what was needed and I was told that I needed some sort of license to do a Private Repair and that I would need to provide the contractor 's licenses of anyone I hired ( which was not asked for in the original packet ). I pointed out that this was different than what was stated in the packet and he told me that this was a policy change that had taken affect yesterday. 
After complaining about this change he told me that in my case I could send a copy of my receipt for payment and he would email a form to sign and have notarized for selecting Private Repairs. He never emailed me any forms. This representative also said he would put in an order to have my property inspected. As of XXXX XXXX have not received a phone call. 
On XXXX XXXX, I received an email indicating that I had five days to send XXXX attached documents that needed to be signed and notarized that indicated that I chose private repairs and indemnified Ocwen. Neither of these forms were part of the original claim packet

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation