Consumer complaint received 2016-11-21
Company: M&T BANK CORPORATION
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Loan modification,collection,foreclosure

Complaint:
In XXXX XXXX, I left my job to start a business. Daycare expenses were out of control with both my wife and I working, so I figured running a business from home would allow us to save on daycare expenses and that my income would be easily replaced by the business income. We took out a couple loans to finance us while I got the business off the ground. Problem : despite my best efforts, the business completely failed. I literally made NO money off of it. I only had ONE customer in 9 months of being in business and he never even paid me. We ran out of savings by XXXX XXXX and my wife 's income was not enough to make mortgage payments by herself, so we fell behind. As soon as we started to fall behind, I was proactive and called M & T Bank ( the lender on our mortgage ). They sent me " foreclosure prevention '' paperwork to fill out and send back to them, which included forms to fill out and send back with a hardship letter and proof of our situation, etc. They did n't mention forbearance as an option on the phone, but I knew that it was because I have an FHA mortgage and all it takes is a quick XXXX search to find out what your options are. So, because I was essentially unemployed ( self-employed with no income is basically the same as being unemployed, right? ), I applied for a forbearance. I specifically said in the letter that my application was for a forbearance, but to let me know if/why that option is n't available and to let me know what options ARE available. This request was COMPLETELY ignored. Without telling me why, they put my application in for a loan modification instead ( which is NOT what I requested ) and then denied it based on the lack of income. Of course there was n't enough income! That 's why I was applying for a forbearance, NOT a loan modification! I was annoyed, but planned to get my mortgage caught up anyway. I got a job in XXXX XXXX where I was able to work from home until XXXX, when we would have to relocate. This job paid as much as my wife and I were making combined prior to my unemployment AND we rented out the house when we relocated, so we had rental income on top of the income from my job and could start getting caught up on our mortgage. We were 3 months behind at this point. I sent in a payment for XXXX of our past due payments and a little extra. M & T sent it right back to me. I called them and they said that they wo n't accept any payments unless I send in XXXX payments at a time. Now, keep in mind that with my increased income from my new job and rental income, we also have to pay rent for where we 're staying, so we could n't afford to send in XXXX payments at XXXX time. I could pay extra each month until the loan was caught up -- that 's what I planned to do -- I just could n't do 100 % extra. I told this to the representative on the phone and he said they ca n't let me do that, that they 'll continue to just send payments back to me unless I send them XXXX at XXXX time. Now, I 'm several more months behind and my loan has been forwarded to a foreclosure attorney. I 've been trying to find a way to work up the funds to bring the loan current, but have had no luck so far, and now I find out that they have disclosed the status of our loan to the tenants living in our house. I understand that as landlords, we 're legally required to inform our tenants if the home is about to be foreclosed on, but there is no date set yet and we still have time to either get the loan reinstated or get the loan modified, so it seems that the status of our loan may have been unnecessarily disclosed to an unauthorized 3rd party. That makes XXXX strikes in a seemingly predatory scheme by our mortgage lender. The people on the phone have always been nice and respectful, but it seems like the company they work for is eager to foreclose on our home. We 're going to send in another application for a loan modification and hope for the best.

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