Consumer complaint received 2023-02-27
Company: Mr. Cooper Group Inc.
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
In XX/XX/2022 we were impacted by XXXX XXXX, in which we had damage to our roof and flooding. Due to the location of my home on a slope, water came rushing into my garage from the street. Since we are not in a flood zone, we do not have flood insurance to aid in the recovery and loss of appliances ( including the A/C unit and water heater ) and power. We contacted Mr. Cooper, who services our loan, and asked for some relief so that we could take care of the house and get back on track. At the time, Mr. Coopers representative stated that we could have disaster forbearance for 2-3 months, and at the end of that period, we would have some other options to help us out. The options that were shared with me were to have the months that we had in forbearance moved to the end of our loan, to make full payment of all deferred payments at once, to do a repayment plan, or to modify the loan. We ended up taking the forbearance for the months of XXXX and XXXX based on the information provided by Mr. Coopers representative, believing that at least one of the options would actually assist us ( moving the payments to the back of the loan ) vs. causing further harm ( Refinancing to a higher rate, major lump sum payment or much higher payment for a duration of 3-6 months ). 
On XX/XX/XXXX I called in to discuss the options that were presented to me in XXXX, thinking that we would have the option of moving the two payments that we had in forbearance to the end of our loan, or be presented with an affordable payment arrangement, but this ended up not being the case. During that conversation, I learned that the investor on our loan actually does not have those options available even though they were presented as options to me in XXXX. I was informed they actually only allowed for two options : 1. Make the full payment, which at this time would be {$9000.00}, including XXXX which would be due 2 days later, or 2. Modify the loan, which would entail adjusting our interest rate. Currently, we have a 3.75 % rate and the going rate at that time would have been nearly double at 6.5 % based on the market, which would have been detrimental to have our payment jump so much. After doing some more research I learned that if a homeowner was affected by a FEMA-declared disaster, which we were, the lenders were taking action to assist the homeowners and allowing them to move the payments missed to the end of their loans. I then called again in XXXX to plead with Mr. Cooper to see if we could have the same treatment as the rest of the homeowners who were affected in the same manner. The way my options were presented during this call felt very much like I was being steered into a higher rate which would greatly benefit the investor, but definitely not with the intent to help the customer. 
Now feeling duped by the first representative, I am writing this complaint in the hopes that this will prompt the lender to do the right thing and work with me and provide a reasonable solution such as allowing us to move 2 payments to the end of our loan allowing us to get back on track with our normal monthly payment or providing a payment plan that is affordable. This has put tremendous stress on my family and continues to do so today. 
We have made a great effort to stay get and stay current on our mortgage payment as we had only one choice : to attempt to catch up on the 2 months that we had in forbearance. We were able to make 3 payments for XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX but that left us in really bad shape with all of our other obligations and the fact that my wife is still currently unemployed after all of the layoffs that are taking place in the mortgage industry. I dont feel we are asking for anything unreasonable given that the nature of the trouble was caused by a FEMA-declared disaster, which we had no control over. I really feel that this has been unfair treatment and a deceptive practice on behalf of the loan servicer providing options that they should have known really are not options available to me.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation