Consumer complaint received 2021-01-19
Company: BROKER SOLUTIONS, INC.
State: NJ
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
My husband and I purchased our first home on XX/XX/XXXX. It has been the biggest nightmare ever. Being new homeowners was short-lived. Since XX/XX/XXXX we replaced our whole roof ( and wood pieces ), had a plumbing problem, severe water pooling in our yard ( which we had to buy and install drainage ), repair all the leaks inside, drywall, replace the carpet, etc. I now live in the dream home I was promised at closing. Thanks to the hard work, late nights, and many tears we were able to achieve these necessities. We have forbearance on our loan at the moment, we are not in foreclosure. When I try to get things resolved through our lender, I get no response back ; when I try getting help from our realtor, again ... no answer. We feel as though we have been victims of predatory lending from every angle possible. 

We were not informed until XX/XX/XXXX that the house was in a flood zone. The flood zone information was never provided for us before XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX we purchased a flood insurance policy from XXXX for {$20000.00}. XXXX XXXX XXXX and I paid {$410.00} for the policy using our joint account. We were on the phone with one of our loan closing specialist XXXX XXXX when we purchased the policy. We were first time home buyers and wanted to make sure we purchased the correct requirements needed for the mortgage. 



We received a letter from New American Funding on XX/XX/XXXX stating that we needed to up our coverage. I sent an email to our closing specialist ( XXXX XXXX ) asking her why we needed to up our coverage ; because I had her on the phone XX/XX/XXXX while I was on the phone with XXXX flood insurance for the initial policy, and I asked if there was a certain amount of coverage I needed. XXXX stated, there is no limit required by New American Funding. Her response to the email was Hi XXXX, I am sorry that this has come up but at the time of closing, I was not aware that a higher coverage was required as it was signed off by underwriting. If you received a letter from servicing to correct it, there is nothing I can do to change that, but you can check with them if there is an exception for a lower coverage amount since there is only the 1 % chance of a flood per the flood cert. And you can also look to change the vendor for the flood coverage to see if they will offer you a lower premium. You can go directly to FEMA for flood insurance and they usually have lower premiums. I did not intend to mislead you in any way, I was not aware at the time that you would need additional coverage for the flood insurance, if I had known I would have had it requested before closing. Sorry again for this coming up now. XXXX I was upset with this answer, but I did what was needed. We then upped our coverage to what they needed and put the remaining balance into our escrow. XXXX had upped my coverage to XXXX which was more than what my house is worth because I wanted peace of mind, and to make it more than the minimum to avoid this conflict again. These phone calls were during work and family time hours ... XXXX sent New American funding the bill, New American Funding added this amount to our escrow. I was under the impression that everything was updated and fixed. 

XX/XX/XXXX, after being in our home for 4 months our ceiling began to leak. We had to have our whole roof ripped off and replaced with a new one and some wood pieces. I was under the impression that purchasing a home FHA the roof had to be certified for 2 years from purchase. I contacted my other loan specialist XXXX XXXX. on XX/XX/XXXX Hi XXXX, I have a few issues. We have only been in the house for almost 4 months and we have issues with the roof in the back. I believe the seller knew about these because they put a patch on the ceiling where the leaks are coming from in multiple locations. We were never told of this issue and I am so upset. I do not want to be responsible for this roof so what can we do? I again do not want to pay for this as a believe this was a known issue. Please advise. Thank you Kindly, XXXX XXXX XXXX replied Hey XXXX, Im sorry to hear about this coming up for you guys. To be open, my best suggestion would be to reach out to your agent and an attorney. In my opinion, the seller should be liable in the event they did not disclose the leak on the disclosure sheet. There should be a copy of disclosures in the contract, and if they didnt disclose, theyre in breach of contract. Then again, I am not an attorney, and I would highly recommend consulting with one on this. Please let me know if you have questions or if I can clarify this! XXXX XXXX XXXX. I then began searching for an attorney. Every lawyer office I called didnt deal with issues like this. Most real estate lawyers only deal with foreclosures and the one who said he could help us wanted $ XXXXhr. This being out of our price range is why I tried doing most work myself. 

Sometime in XXXX, I received a letter from New American Funding asking for flood insurance, again. At this point, I was so confused because my coverage was more than I bought my house. I call New American Funding and they say that I am not showing a sufficient amount of coverage, my coverage was for {$20000.00} I told the representative this can not be correct because if you look in the notes you can see I upped my coverage amount a couple of months ago. She said she saw that, and I just needed to call my insurance company and have them fax the updated policy to New American Funding. I called XXXX and asked them to send the most recently updated policy to New American Funding. 

In shock, our mortgage payment was increased to {$1700.00} from our original amount of {$1500.00}. They told me due to city tax and our updated flood insurance policy, which made sense. 



In XX/XX/XXXX, I received a letter stating I needed to provide flood insurance coverage again, and They have not received the insurance information they requested. They will cancel our insurance coverage as of the effective date of the acceptable replacement policy that you provide. If this effective date is not the same as or before I your old policy expiration date of XX/XX/XXXX, there will be a premium charge for the lapse in coverage. We urge you to contact your insurance agent immediately and have them provide us with current written evidence of sufficient flood insurance coverage. Confused and now upset because they did purchase a flood policy for our home. Policy number : XXXX XXXX Policy Tracking ID : XXXX ). I call New American Funding and ask for a supervisor in the insurance department. The representative would not give me any information to identify him just his first name. He says our policy has a dwelling of {$20000.00}. At this point, I explain how I dealt with this already and you can see that reflected in my mortgage payment. He then gets a customer service rep on the line and she explains that my mortgage payment went up because of city tax. Now I am mind blown because both representatives who work for the same company are giving me two different reasons why my mortgage payment went up. I ask the supervisor to investigate this and get back to me because I am at work trying to handle all of this and at this point, I am extremely upset because they could not understand the issue that I have been going through these past months. On my lunch break, I call XXXX flood insurance and speak with a representative, and told him the whole situation. He explored why the policy never got issued in the first place, it seems New American Funding issued 2 checks for the same amount to XXXX then they put a stop payment on them which made them bounce. I call New American Funding to explain this newfound information and they all think I am crazy. The supervisor from the flood department was very condescending and made me feel like I was lying. I did call months ago, and I thought it was documented, but customer service and insurance do not use the same program so they can not see each others notes is what I was told. I was irate at this point and tried my best to explain this issue in the simplest form possible, the supervisor finally understood and said he would personally take care of this matter and see that it gets paid in full and issued. I asked for a call back number he couldnt provide one or an ID number anything to distinguish ; I asked him to call me back when it was complete. I received a call the next day saying everything went through, but the line kept dropping. I ask him multiple times about our payment amount per month and refund, which was ignored. 



I then received an email from XXXX XXXX Dear XXXX XXXX, we receive your recent inquiry regarding funds due at closing. My name is XXXX XXXX, and on behalf of the Corporate Customer Service department, I will be your point of contact regarding your concerns. My attempt to contact you by phone was unsuccessful. I would like to speak to you to obtain additional information to ensure I am addressing all your needs. Please contact me at the phone number or email referenced below. Thank you, XXXX XXXX I call XXXX back because I am at work, and he tells me my payment should be updated and they will have an answer for me within a week. I wait a week then I call XXXX, at this point he seems very annoyed with me that I keep checking to see if they have an answer. He then stops answering my phone calls and only response to me per email. Next email XX/XX/XXXX Dear Ms. XXXX, This email is in response to your inquiry about the escrow impounds. Please know that I am working with our escrow team to get your payments adjusted. As soon as they complete the analysis process, your payments should be close to the estimated amount at closing. I will provide you with an update once I receive feedback from the escrow department. Kind regards, XXXX XXXX XXXX email : XX/XX/XXXX Hello XXXX The request I sent to the Escrow Department to adjust your payment is still opened. I contacted them today and was advised that they will have the new payment amount by Friday ; I will circle back to you then. If you need other information, please feel free to contact me. Kind regards, XXXX XXXX I emailed XX/XX/XXXX Hi XXXX, I have not received a call from anyone with my updated mortgage payment yet. Do you know if this process is done? Please advise. Thank you Kindly, XXXX XXXX. His XXXX Hello XXXX I spoke to the escrow team and was advised that the analysis of your escrow account will be completed today. Monday it will be reviewed to ensure accuracy and confirmation will be sent on Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX. The amount will be close to the amount you were paying at loan inception. I will reach out to you once they complete the analysis. Kind regards, XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Hello XXXX I received confirmation that your XX/XX/XXXX loan payment is {$1500.00}. The Escrow Department will mail written confirmation with the breakdown of the payment. If you require additional information regarding your payment, please feel free to contact our Customer Care team. Kind regards, XXXX XXXX Corporate Customer Service Specialist Within this time of emailing back and forth, I received yet again another letter asking me to provide proof of coverage for flood insurance. I tried calling XXXX XXXX and it went right to his voicemail. I called New American Funding 4 separate times because the line would not go through. After being on hold for 45 mins I had been waiting the whole time for the wrong department because of the customer service rep from the beginning of the call. Aggravated and very upset I emailed XXXX. Great that's a lot closer to what we were told at closing. Also, Is there going to be a refund check for everything we paid extra? 



Further, why am I STILL receiving letters in the mail to " provide flood insurance information ''? This letter is dated XX/XX/XXXX. This is unbelievable, this is the same issue that got us HERE in the first place. Not to mention we're been working on this since before XX/XX/XXXX. Do I need to contact my flood insurance company, to make sure the payment went through? 



At this moment moving forward I am going to obtain some legal action for such negligence and mistrust from New American Funding. I have had to call and email multiple times ; just to make things move along. 



Every employee I spoke to about these multiple issues told me charges were for other things when they were NOT. Like New American Funding charged us city tax when we live in New Jersey. I was told that's why our monthly mortgage amount went up. 

Then I find out through my insurance company, the check NAF issued to my flood insurance company bounced. That's pretty scary when thinking about how YOU are our lender. 

XXXX took out an additional flood policy and raised our mortgage, but wait ; wasn't I just told it was raised due to city tax? Hmmm. 

I do apologize because I rarely ever get this upset. But buying this home through New American Funding has been the biggest nightmare. You don't even have the courtesy/professionalism to give me a call to discuss this sensitive matter. At this point is there someone else that can help us? To make sure this is complete. Please advise. Thank you Kindly, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX His response XX/XX/XXXX Dear Ms. XXXX XXXX I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience the loan process has caused. It was my pleasure trying to assist with the correction of the monthly payments. Please know that I have forwarded your email to our Customer Care Management team. A manager will contact you to address your concerns about the Township of XXXX taxes, the Flood Insurance situation, and the payment is reduced to only {$1500.00}. Respectfully, XXXX XXXX Corporate Customer Service Specialist. On XX/XX/XXXX I tried contacting New American Funding at XXXX XXXX  I did not get a representative on the phone until XXXX XXXX. I had been hung up on 3 times while being transferred to the supervisor. I waited in the line each time to be reconnected and asked the rep I was working with to take my number to incase we get disconnected. The supervisor I was put through to told me he couldnt help because it wasnt his department. Finally, with him on the line we spoke with XXXX XXXX, she said she wanted to investigate everything and get back to me because she didnt want to tell me the wrong information. I asked her if this was because of liability and she said no, but youve been misled so I dont want to do that again. She followed up with this email Good Evening, Thank you for your inquiry. We have begun the process of researching the flood issue. We will have a better angle on things tomorrow XX/XX/XXXX. However, we wanted to reach out to you and let you know that we have started and because we said we would. Please let us know if you need anything else, or if you have any other questions. Have a wonderful day. Regards, XXXX XXXX Customer Care Team I have not followed up yet nor have I been contacted by anyone and the date is XX/XX/XXXX. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I finally got a call from XXXX XXXX. A heaven-sent an angel who began to get things moving. We worked on spreading the shortage and trying to get a refund for flood insurance. I was even willing to work with them even with their mistakes because XXXX was so amazing. However, I haven't heard from XXXX XXXX since XX/XX/XXXX. I have left about 17 voicemails, emailed 3 times, and tried calling her direct number with nothing back. 

Today XX/XX/XXXX, I called the branch located in XXXX  XXXX NJ. The branch manager XXXX was very nasty and screaming when I asked if I could come up there to seek an appointment to settle this mess in person ; again with an open mind. She told me not to come there because of their not a bank. I explained I had a mortgage through her company. She proceeded to tell me she can't help me. I then said I guess ill have to get a lawyer, and hung up. XXXX texted me after the phone call XXXX : " Hi we were just talking and you hung up this is XXXX from New American what I was trying to say is that I would help you to get someone so that you did not have to make a trip here.. please let me know you get this please give me your name and address and I will work to help you '' ME : That's ok. I was trying to be nice as I haven't been able to resolve this issue since XX/XX/XXXX. Due to the way you screamed and spoke over me, I think we'll settle this in court. Thanks for the customer service. '' XXXX : me too!! I was trying to help .. you are more than welcome to come here I was trying to assist you without you doing that. I am in contact with the vice president of customer service as we speak and can have her contact you. '' Another two topics I would like to include would be our home had a sign-on bonus for selling and purchasing realtors of XXXX dollars. Our realtor rushes us through the process. He tried to get us to use his mortgage company because they were quicker. XXXX began to get very rude to us, I later found out because the seller wanted the home sold by XX/XX/XXXX. The house was not being sold till XXXX XXXX only got XXXX dollars at closing. Being first time home buyers we depended on our realtor to guide us in the correct manner, which now we know was incorrect. 

As for the home inspection, we did not get one because XXXX said '' The home was inspected by FHA in XXXX '' so he sent our loan officer the previous inspection info. He also said that the home was approved FHA before and the buyer 's mortgage fell through. Again. We trusted the wrong person. 

Lastly, on the appraisal/inspection, they stated we could not move in due to broken pavers in the back. The owner/seller stated he would not perform any repairs. XXXX went to the home and removed the pavers himself, he showed us the broken ones in his trunk. 

I have tried numerous times to move things along and I feel I just keep getting the runaround. I have tried talking to our realtor, he ignores me, as well as the mortgage company. I am seeking HELP. I feel I have been misled and I am unable to trust my mortgage company in the things they say they will do. I feel we have become victims of predatory lending. I have all the proper documentation, emails, and notices, etc. It's now been over a month since I was supposed to hear from a manager, and haven't heard a thing. I have developed severe anxiety dealing with this situation that sends me into XXXX because I feel so helpless. Your help would be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you Kindly, XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation