Consumer complaint received 2019-03-27
Company: Mr. Cooper Group Inc.
State: OH
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
My husband died in XXXX. At that time I lost over 60 % of my household 's income. By the end of two years, I could no longer afford to make the mortgage payment and pay the property taxes both. I stopped paying the property taxes a over year ago and six months later, I stopped paying the mortgage payments when I couldn't afford the needed repairs on the house and I had to save money to move into affordable housing. 

I contacted Nationstar Mortgage AKA Mr. Cooper over five months ago on XX/XX/XXXX in order to begin a short sale of my home because it is worth less than the {$130000.00} plus owed. I was told by a representative in Mr. Cooper 's Short Sale Department, on a recorded line, that if I considered a Deed in Lieu that Mr. Cooper would reimburse me up to {$10000.00} for moving expenses. Following Mr. Cooper 's suggestion, I requested the paperwork to initiate the Deed in Lieu instead of the Short Sale for which I had multiple interested buyers. Fast forward to around or about XX/XX/XXXX ... I contacted Mr. Cooper to ask what was going on with my request since I had not heard anything in 30 days. I was told that the account had been assigned to someone in the Deed in Lieu Unit and I was transferred to him. 

The assigned representative of the Deed in Lieu informed me that a title search had been completed and it reported that the IRS had a tax lien on the property since XX/XX/XXXX. I asked the representative how long had he had that information and I asked why hadn't he contacted me. He responded, he had had a death in his family. I said, okay and advised the agent that I paid the taxes in question in XX/XX/XXXX and that there should not be a lien on the property. I advised him that I would resolve the issue and report back to him when the lien was released. 

Reaching someone in the IRS ' Lien Processing Unit was no easy task ; virtually impossible. I called and held online for hours upon hours, everyday, only for my call to be internally disconnected once the Unit closed. I finally got someone on the phone two or three days before the Gov't Shutdown on  XX/XX/XXXX, who told me that I needed to contact the department who request the lien attachment and advise them of the problem. I finally reached the supervisor of the orginator of the lien request four hours before the Gov't actually shutdown. She researched the problem, completed the paperwork to release the lien and allegedly forwarded the Release request to the Lien Processing Unit. I asked her to expedite the request and I assumed the Release was sent to my local county before the IRS left on that day for weeks for the Gov't Shutdown. I updated Mr. Cooper ( the assigned representative ) via email at every turn. 

I moved out of the property on that weekend before XXXX and I have maintained utlities and insurance for both my house which is still in my name, and my new place. I continued to keep the utilities on at the house because of all of the break ins in the area and I wanted to give the illusion that someone was residing there. I turned off the gas and allowed the homeowner 's insurance to lapse in XX/XX/XXXX. I will receive a water bill in my county as long as the property is in my name and I still have the electricity on, so that I can keep the exterior lights on at night in order to deter burglars from vandalizing the vacant property. The IRS lien was released a month ago on today, XX/XX/XXXX. 

I called Mr. Cooper and could not reach anyone. Therefore, I emailed the assigned representative proof that the lien was released and I asked him to advise me if we could move on in the Deed in Lieu process. He never responded, so I emailed him a week later and still no response. I even asked him if he were no longer assigned to my account to please advise me so that I could contact the correct person. I called Mr. Cooper frantically all week during the week of XX/XX/XXXX and only a greeting would answer the call stating that Mr. Cooper was experiencing a high volume of calls and to try my call later. I received that message from XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX. I emailed the representative a third time on XX/XX/XXXX and attached proof of the Lien Release and my Moving Expense Sheet totalling {$7200.00} ( significantly less than the {$10000.00} limit that I was told that Mr. Cooper would pay up to in the process ). He finally answered the email, only to say that he submitted the file for approval and that he would contact me before the week 's end. 

On Thursday afternoon at XXXX EST, I called the representative when I hadn't heard from him as promised. He answered and told me that he had only been approved to disburse {$5000.00} of my {$7200.00} moving expenses. He told me he had to send out paperwork to me to sign and return. I asked would he send the perwork out on that day via overnight service. He stated yes and he advised me that Mr. Cooper had recently absorbed 3000 new mortgage accounts and all staff had been instructed to answer incoming calls because of the increased number of calls. I asked to speak with his supervisor because I couldn't believe that they would negate existing Deed in Lieu processes to address new concerns. But his supervisor corroborated his story down to every detail, he even stated that Mr. Cooper does not any longer pay up to {$10000.00} for moving expense reimbursements and he asked me if I had moved out of the house. I told him yes but that I had a few items in the garage that I would retrieve when I met with the agent to hand over the keys and transfer over physically ownership of the property. The supervisor stated, oh you do not have to bother with turning over the keys and I advised him that I wanted to and that was the Plan of Action that the assigned representative and I had since I first contacted him in XX/XX/XXXX. 

In closing, an agent did not contact as the representative advised in order to receive the keys and to conduct a walk through of the property. This is standard Deed in Lieu procedures, across the board with mortgage companies but Mr. Cooper did not follow that standard. Unbeknownst to me, the assigned representative and his supervisor sent a Preservation Company to a property still in my name and had the locks changed, whereby locking me out. The City 's trash cans are in the garage and I can not retrieve them so that the Waste Department can pick them up on tomorrow. I feel violated and the representative nor his supervisor bother to respond to my email on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX about the locks being changed or that I still had not received the paperwork as promised. I just received the paperwork on yesterday, XX/XX/XXXX and I called someone on the Executive team at Mr. Cooper on today. She emailed all the involved staff in my complaint by I still did not receive a call from anyone. I would like for this complaint to be forwarded to the CEO of Mr. Cooper and I expect to regain entry into my house on tomorrow, and I expect to be financially compensated fully as promised the {$7200.00}

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation