Consumer complaint received 2021-11-24
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
XXXX Bank and a refusal to inform customers of the terms and procedure of closing the forbearance. 

XXXX Bank failed to inform me of the terms to bring my forbearance loan back to normal after the forbearance was over. They had XXXX  months to inform me of the terms and never did. Now they want me to pay XXXX extra payments that they said I did not need to pay to be able to defer those forbearance payments to the end of the loan. 

XXXX XXXX- Started my forbearance with my loan company XXXX Bank. 

XX/XX/XXXX XXXX - After being informed that I would only get XXXX months of forbearance with my loan I called before the XXXX months had passed to see what my options were to payback the missed payments. I was told by a employee of the bank that I had 4 options : 1-Be evaluated for a loan modification to move missed payments to the back of the loan, extending the loan term. 
2-Add the missed payments to the end of the loan as a lump sum payment. due and payable upon maturity, payoff, or finance.

3-Agree to a repayment plan with our hardship team.

4-Make a lump-sum payment after the forbearance period expires.

I could choose from these 4 options what I would be able to do and they would decide what they could offer me. I chose option XXXX XXXX XXXX as possibilities. 
I was told that between the time I chose the options I wanted and the time the investors offered me an option, I would not be asked to make payments. They did not tell me how long it would take. They said that when they decided, I would be informed through their XXXX XXXX XXXX website, which is the site that the company set up to deal with the forbearance, and had been using to communicate to me, as well as physical mail. In the document center I would be receiving everything in writing in the document center. 

XX/XX/XXXXXXXX XXXX - After a month of no letter and no changes, I called XXXX bank again and They had told me that no updates have been made to my account and that they were still working on my account. To pease wait a few more weeks and as soon as there were changes that they would appear on the XXXX XXXX XXXX website. If I did not see anything by late XXXX to please call back. 

XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX I wanted an updated so I called and they informed me that if I wanted to defer my payments to the end of the loan I had to make XXXX payments that I had missed. What XXXX payments I asked, I have never missed a payment. They informed me that it was for the months of XXXX and XXXX oXXXX XXXX. But my loan was in forbearance then. I asked for this in writing and they refused. I asked to know why I had to pay this and they said that my forbearance only covered XXXX months and that they could not move forward until my account was up to date. I informed them that my account was up to date and that the previous two bank agents both assured me that I did not have to make any payments while they worked on my loan. The agent I was talking to today informed me this was not the case. I realized that they were changing the agreement that the forbearance was built upon and refusing to put this in writing. I hung up when they refused to send me any sort of documentation as to what I owed and why. I called back from the same number as previously, an agent picked up the phone, saw my number and my previous phone conversation and put me on hold indefinitely. I was stoned-walled and the bank was refusing to talk to me. So I hung up and dialed the number from my work phone and was able to get in touch with a different agent. This person was far more helpful but made some disturbing things clear. 

He informed me that in XXXX they were still figuring out the forbearance deferment terms out with the investors and that they did not finalize them until early XXXX. These terms were not made public, or sent to customers or is anywhere on their website. So I was agreeing to something against my will and to something that I was not informed of or ever put into writing. There was no way I could have known what I had to do or how to proceed forward. And with over a month to inform me there was literally no effort made to inform me or any other customers. This can not be legal. I also asked for where this information was public, and they said it was not. So there is no way for me to look at the terms and conditions being proposed to me. They made it clear that they would not provide any written information whatsoever. 

I only wanted to end my forbearance in a proper manner and with legal documentation of the process and the terms I am agreeing to, but the company will not provide it. I want to make sure I do things legally and with legal protection for both parties and they refuse to provide any sort of documentation of the terms or the process. I live in a high market value area, how do I know they will not change the terms later on to benefit them? I don't and that is not right. 

Kindly, Mortgage Holder.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief