Consumer complaint received 2020-03-26
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: NY
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
On Monday XX/XX/XXXX I called into Freedom Mortgages ' ( FM ) customer service line to discuss my options for difficulty paying due to my job loss and my co-borrowers inability to collect rent from tenants due to their work/coronavirus related hardships. I was advised that I'd need to send in a list of information and documents for review and consideration of possible loan hardship options ( request list is attached ). I received the list of requested info on the same day. 

Everything was submitted as requested on Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX via email and snail mail. Over the following 2 weeks, I reached out to Freedom Mortgages ' customer service line for a status on my hardship request and was advised that additional information was needed. Shortly afterward, I received a letter outlining the specific information needed and proceeded to submit that to Freedom Mortgage. 

On Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX I called for a status update and was advised by Freedom Mortgage rep XXXX ( ID # XXXX ) that all that was needed was a corrected IRS Form 4506-T, which I submitted same day via email. ( Note : the form they provided was from XX/XX/XXXX. The IRS website has the most updated form that explicitly states that taxes can no longer be sent to 3rd parties. Perhaps FM is providing old forms to customers to circumvent this and have people send their taxes directly to them? ) I called again for a status on Wednesday XX/XX/XXXX @ XXXX EST and was advised by XXXX ( ID # XXXX ) that FM had everything needed and review would commence on Thursday XX/XX/XXXX. 

I called again on Friday XX/XX/XXXX and was advised by XXXX ( ID # XXXX ) that FM now needed updated bank statements ( are they purposely prolonging the process to get more info? ), signed and dated tax returns ( which was already submitted ), and a letter of explanation for a specific deposit amount on one of my co-borrower 's bank statements. All was submitted on Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX via email. 

I called again for a status update on Wednesday XX/XX/XXXX and was advised by XXXX ( ID # XXXX ) that the documents were not yet uploaded and I should try again on Friday XX/XX/XXXX or Monday XX/XX/XXXX. 

Today, Thursday XX/XX/XXXX, I called for a status update, and was advised by XXXX ( ID # XXXX ) that a note on Wednesday XX/XX/XXXX, stated that they received my submitted info, however my file was still incomplete, and that they still needed tax returns, a letter of explanation for a deposit, and bank statements ( all was sent on XX/XX/XXXX ). Although very kind and professional, XXXX was unable to give me details beyond that or answer my questions about whether or not the attachments I sent got through properly, etc. 

This request is taking entirely too long, but I'm still getting letters regarding potential foreclosure, with inconsistent invoice amounts. When I asked about this, I was told " as long as you aren't over 120 days in default you don't have to worry while we review the hardship request ''. If I'm denied, I'll be in more debt and hardship than I would have been if I was simply given an answer within 1-2 weeks and had time to make arrangements.

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