Consumer complaint received 2019-07-19
Company: Home Point Financial Corporation
State: GA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Beginning on XX/XX/XXXX, I began reaching out to my mortgage company, HomePoint Financial, to inquire about the removal of PMI from my account. After several phone calls to the customer service team yielded a number of different answers, I started an email dialogue that lasted several weeks and bounced me around to several different departments. 

While I received an initial response from the insurance department on XX/XX/XXXX, I was re-directed to their general customer service e-mail ( Wecare - the irony of this name grows daily ). I never received an official response from the Wecare team, despite having records of the connecting email sent from the initial insurance department contact. Despite my repeated follow ups, I heard nothing. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I finally received an email form the Wecare team with a general instruction to visit their website or to call their service line during business hours. Literally a month had passed and they asked me to follow up on-line or over the phone. 

Needless to say, I was furious and reached out immediately. I was able to speak with management that day and was promised a better response and got on the following day. It was an encrypted message with detailed information about the various ways I could remove PMI and the LTV numbers I would need to reach for that to happen. 

Most interestingly, the appraisal method, which I had been pursuing from the start had the following directions " To request a full appraisal you must complete 24 months of payment history with Home Point Financial and pay for a full appraisal. Our records reflect you have made a total of 32 payments. 

Once you are ready to request PMI removal please send a written request through XXXX or to the address below. '' Left out was any information as to the price of the full appraisal!!! Meaning I would have to again seek out customer service to get this information. 

Herein lies another major problem, the customer service department available over the phone can not speak for or provide any sort of detailed information about the PMI process, since this is its own department. 

When you ask to speak with customer service in the PMI department, I am consistently told that they do not accept calls and the ONLY avenue for communication is through email. 

It takes an additional encrypted message on XX/XX/XXXX to inform me that the appraisal costs {$470.00}, a number I was not able to pay at that point. Choosing instead to wait until the XXXX home-buying season to pay this amount and send a request. 

Fast forward to XX/XX/XXXX, as I begin to ready for the request for an appraisal and the hopefully end to this PMI saga. I call the customer service line on Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX to confirm that the amount for appraisal is still {$470.00} and the mailing address for PMI removal requests that I was sent close to one year earlier. 

Once again, I am told that any questions meant for the PMI department must be directed at them through email communication. While I try to assure them I am just simply looking for confirmation of any existing set of facts with their company, I am told it would be better to confirm directly with the PMI department. 
I send an email that day ( XX/XX/XXXX ) to the PMI team and follow up after 24 and 48 hours of no response. On the third day I call the customer service line and am dismissively told that that department has a 5-7 business day response time on all communication. I ask for another way to resolve the issue and get an answer but am told there is nothing else they can do for me and that I must wait for the PMI to respond. 

When I see I have not yet heard from them this morning, I reach out to the customer service line. While they apologize for the inconvenience and promise to connect with a supervisor in that department, I am told they will follow up on Monday with a response. This seems completely disrespectful and inappropriate given the companies consistent failure to meet communication deadlines.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation