Consumer complaint received 2022-05-14
Company: PRIMARY RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE
State: AR
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Other type of mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
This is a Chronicle of the unethical, and at times illegal, practices of Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc. ( PRMI ) ; including, but not limited to : bullying, harassment, threats, operating with a conflict of interest against client, dual-tracking, and illegally sharing client account information with a third party for financial gain. I will attempt to keep this summary as factual and direct as possible without personal, emotional interjections. 

My wife, C**, and I, XXXX, ( we ) purchased our first home together XX/XX/XXXX for approximately {$93000.00}. It was a Rural Development Loan through PRMI and secured with the United States Department of Agriculture XXXX USDA ) as Guarantor. 

Shortly after the purchase of our home, our son, ***, was injured severely in a sports incident on XX/XX/XXXX, resulting in emergency XXXXXX/XX/XXXXr. Afterward, his need for 24hr care caused his mother to be unable to return to work and remain with him at home for the duration of his recovery. This was a long and arduous process including much therapy and 2 more surgeries. During this time the increased care for my son and inability for my wife to contribute financially put strain on the household. 

Over the following year we continued to make the monthly payments on our mortgage. Due to our finances being stretched, due dates of bills, and the dates of my paydays, we were usually late on our payments, but they were always made ( until XX/XX/XXXX ). 

Around XXXX of XXXX we began receiving " offers '' for a "XX/XX/XXXXStreamlined Refi '' from a company named XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XX/XX/XXXX. Since we were running late on our mortgage payments, we had considered it. A " lower interest rate and lower monthly payment '' sounded good. XXXX contacted us regularly, at least once a month, to attempt to convince us to choose them to refinance our loan. We never considered that they may not have been operating toward our best interests. 

As I previously mentioned, we made our monthly payments on our mortgage. We were contacted each month when the payment was due, and PRMI was aware of the hardship we were encountering. When asking PRMI what we could do to try to alleviate the problem of late payments we were just told to " try making your payments on time ''. This was never a serious issue until the aforementioned date of XX/XX/XXXX. It was my payday, and I was working XXXX, per my regular shift. I clocked-out from work at approximately XXXX. I drove home and arrived just before XXXX. As soon as I was home, I got online, as I had done each month previously, to make our payment. When I attempted to make the payment online it would not allow me. I tried several times to no avail. It kept giving me a network or account error. I resolved to call customer service Monday, XX/XX/XXXX ; which I did. When I called PRMI on XX/XX/XXXX, I was informed that my account is " Now in default ''. I explained to them how I had tried to pay it online, but was not allowed to. I was informed that our payment had to be posted " before XXXX on Friday, XX/XX/XXXX ''. I told them I was unaware of such a policy. They were unwavering. I asked what I would need to do to get our account back in good standing. They said that I would have to make 2 ( two ) payments on our account immediately. I informed them that they knew our situation and that this would be impossible. I asked if I could go ahead and make my XXXX payment and I could find some way to make the XXXX payment before XX/XX/XXXX ( when the account would incur penalties ). I was told that PRMI " would NOT accept partial payments '' and that we had to make the entire amount of 2 payments ( though we had only " missed '' ONE ). I told them that if they would not take care of us, I would have to find someone who would help. This was only the beginning of our problems with PRMI. 

I had no real plan for what we were going to do to save our home, but I had to do something. So, I contacted XXXX about the mortgage refinance that we had been offered. They told me that they would take care of us and we would not have to make a payment for 90 days, and that would just be added into our refinance. Everything seemed fine until we got a notice from PRMI that our home was now in foreclosure. XXXX was not doing what they claimed to be doing for us. I was able to contact XXXX about what was happening and was told that they had been unable to complete our application, but never gave a clear reason why. I then called PRMI to see what we could do about the issues with our account. I was told it was in foreclosure and we were facing the sale of our property due to being in arrears. I told PRMI about how we had been involved with XXXX for a refi and they had not done what they claimed. I was told that they got that story a lot and that we would just have to deal with things how they were. 

I got the amount from PRMI for the account balance to bring it current. I informed them that we could have the money for them next Wednesday. When I called PRMI on Wednesday to pay the balance to cover the arrears, I was told that our account had been referred to the foreclosure attorney on Tuesday, the day before. I told PRMI that they had said we could catch our account up on Wednesday. I was told that we never said we ( PRMI ) werent going to move forward with the foreclosure. I then contacted their Arkansas attorney, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX In XXXX XXXX. They informed me that the account hadnt even been processed yet and we may be able to stop the foreclosure. I contacted XXXX again to let them know that I had spoken with the attorneys office and they said I could stop it if the arrears were paid in full. They told me that it was too late and that it had been submitted. I would have to deal with the attorney, now. Of course, we did not have the additional funds to pay for the attorney fees. 

I began to search for help to keep our property. I came across a company called XXXX XXXX XXXX offering mediation for foreclosure assistance. XXXX claimed that they would stop the foreclosure and get PRMI to re-evaluate our mortgage agreement. PRMI actually responded positively to the initial contact from XXXX, allowing them to enter negotiations over our account. We began paying XXXX the equivalent of our mortgage payment ( {$700.00} ) each month for their promise to have our mortgage re-evaluated. Then, Covid-19 happened ... and in XX/XX/XXXX our world shut-down. 

Over the course of about 4 months we stayed in contact with XX/XX/XXXXbout the status of our acct. They always claimed to be working on it. They never moved forward to get anything done for us. They were just collecting our monthly payments. I began complaining regularly about never having any forward momentum with the case. In XX/XX/XXXX I received notice from XXXX that they had negotiated a forbearance for our account. It seems they didnt realize that I knew it was a newly implemented Federal mandate. I complained about their inability to make any progress with our acct, until a temporary solution was handed to them, that they took credit for. I told them that I was going to contact the Attorney General to let them know what they were doing. I was immediately offered a complete refund of the funds ( equaling {$2800.00} ) that we had paid forXX/XX/XXXX to help. We were now under the mortgage forbearance for our account, allowing us to partially breathe a temporary sigh of relief knowing that we werent losing our home, right then. 

I paid close attention to the mandates and how the government was trying to assist the public. I knew that we were only protected by a 90-day forbearance and that we would have to request an extension before it ended. XX/XX/XXXX was the last day to be able to request furthering the forbearance. I emailed PRMI XX/XX/XXXX about our desire to extend the forbearance and that I may be able to even send a payment to keep our account from falling further behind. I thought that we had done all that was needed ( according to Federal guidelines ) to keep our account protected. I then received a letter from PRMI that our forbearance had ended and that the entire account balance was due. I contacted PRMI about the fact that we had requested the forbearance extension. We were told that they werent sure because of the verbiage of my email that was what we wanted since I had said we would try to make a payment also. I told them it was, and according to guidelines, we were still eligible for it. I even sent them a copy of the USDA Guidelines for Government guaranteed loans. They still would not extend the forbearance, and told me that those guidelines did not apply to me ( when they did ), but offered for us to begin the Loss Mitigation ( LM ) process. I felt like we had no other option. I began supplying documents, as requested, to the LM department. 

Over the course of the next year, we were constantly harassed by PRMI and their attorney, threatening foreclosure. We would not relent. Each time we would complete the LM process, we were told it was not enough and there would always be another stipulation that we were expected to meet. During this time, I also did some research on PRMI and XXXX. I found that the people I was dealing with in the PRMI LM Dept had ties to the agents at XXXX. XXXX and XXXX XXXX with PRMI, and XXXX and XXXX XXXX with XXXX were connected ( among other people ). I know, in fact, that XXXX XXXX worked with PRMI before his work with XXXX. XXXX started contacting us months before our account was even in default. 

During the duration of the LM process, I did not feel that we were being handled properly and ethically. I contacted the USDA to ensure that PRMI was operating according to Federal Guidelines for Covid. They were not. The USDA contacted PRMI about adhering to the set guidelines. After that, it seemed PRMIs actions were almost vengeful. They increased the pressure from the foreclosure attorney, and began demanding much more from us for the LM department. 

This added stress prompted me on XX/XX/XXXX to contact XXXX XXXX with the Office of the Attorney General ( Consumer Complaint No. XXXX ), and later the XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX PRMI responded to the AG on XX/XX/XXXX. Of course, PRMI claims their strict adherence to law ( and even denies affiliation with XXXX XXXX XXXX ). I can prove otherwise. 

This brings us to our current situation of still being stuck in their loop of Loss Mitigation. We were still covered by Covid guidelines. But, now, they insist on referring to the hardship from my sons injuries and ignoring USDA standards for Covid relief. This has to stop. 

Their Loss Mitigation " Hardship Application '' asked for property repairs needed. Our 30yr old HVAC system had recently gone out ( after multiple repairs ) and we have had issues with our septic since we bought the property. We got a verbal quote from XXXX XXXX XXXX for a complete replacement. I listed these things as " needed repairs '' on our home. They added " windows '' and " insulation '' to the list- when we had not mentioned them, because it was how we had purchased the home. Now, our Loss Mitigation application has been " accepted/approved '', but is " delayed '' due to these " repairs being needed ''. We fear they are still doing all they can to take our home instead of help us keep it as the law states.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation