Consumer complaint received 2018-02-13
Product: Mortgage — FHA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company (MA)

XX/XX/XXXX I called Freedom Mortgage to make my XXXX mortgage in the amount of {$3400.00} they said it would be a {$15.00} fee so the total amount would be {$3400.00}. A few days later I received my confirmation letter. First week in XXXX I noticed that they had still not withdrawn my payment so on Friday XXXX I decided to call Freedom. I spoke with Teller is # XXXX ( I did not get her name ). The rep had said it was returned from XXXX  XXXX XXXX. I went on to tell the rep I am disputing that because I don't see it on my end as being processed. She then said let me contact our cashiering department. After putting me hold she came back to say she can see it was sent to XXXX on XXXX and it was returned to Freedom on XXXX but with no notation. She said I can see it was NOT returned due to NSF She further went on to say that Freedom tried to withdraw the funds but XXXX  XXXX XXXX " just didn't give them to us '' I asked her to verify my checking account information and she said I can only verify the last 4 of  both the ABA # and the checking account number, she didn't have access to the system that held the entire number. She did verify both the last 4 of the ABA # and the last 4 of the account number and they were both correct. I told her I wanted to make a payment and she told me not to until this was straightened out. She then said I should call my bank to check on their end. I got off the phone with Freedom and called XXXX XXXX XXXX who confirmed that NO attempt by Freedom Mortgage was made to have the funds withdrawn. I asked them to send me a letter to confirm this point. 
On Saturday XX/XX/XXXX the more I thought about my conversation on Friday I was not comfortable with what I was being told and the fact she told me NOT to make a payment made me nervous so I called again. I spoke with XXXX XXXX id # XXXX and she did confirm that the on XX/XX/XXXX I called to make my payment and on XXXX Freedom credited the payment to my account but on XXXX the funds were reversed with the notation " reversed & misapplied ''. I stated I wish there was a way to verify the ABA and the account number used and she said there is. I said I was told yesterday there was no way to verify and her response was " they just don't know where to look '' at this point XXXX read back to my account number and ABA number and they were correct so we know the funds were not withdrawn to misinformation that I gave on my information. She then said she will send an email to her cashiering department to get further clarification on what " reversed & misapplied '' means. I told her I was not comfortable making my payment so she said there is no reason you can't make a payment. So on XX/XX/XXXX I initiated a bill payment from my XXXX  XXXX XXXX account in the amount of {$3400.00} this was the payment amount minus the XXXX phone payment fee to my Freedom mortgage account. XXXX told me to call back late Monday ( XX/XX/XXXX ) and she would have clarification from cashiering on why the payment was reversed. When I got home from work on Monday in the mail was a default letter from Freedom assigning my account to a point of contact. To give XXXX a little time to research I waited until Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX. asked her if she could confirm the ABA and the account number to call back. When I called and asked to speak with XXXX I was told well I can help you ( Teller id # XXXX ) I was told that they had not yet received a response from cashiering on what " reversed and misapplied meant '' while I was on the phone with him he refreshed his screen and said oh they just updated your notes and the reason the payment was never received from XXXX   XXXX XXXX because " XXXX and XXXX  XXXX XXXX weren't able to talk '' I told him I wanted my XXXX phone payment fee back and I wanted my credit fixed. He told me once I receive the letter from XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX could email it to them requesting my refund of XXXX and the request to fix my credit. I then asked him if Freedom had received my payment ( because it had been withdrawn from my account ) he said they had but it was sitting in unapplied funds. I asked why would I payment I made be sitting in unapplied instead of being credited to my account. He said he did not know but he would " open a ticket '' to find out why. At this point I said okay thank you. It was at this point after I hung up that I received the default letter with a single point of contact so once again I picked up the phone to speak with my single point of contact. I was assigned to XXXX Teller # XXXX but when I called she was not available instead I ended up speaking to XXXX Teller id # XXXX. I went through everything that happened prior to this call with XXXX to fill her in. She put me on hold so she could research my account and hopefully provide me with a resolution. 
She came back and proceeded to tell me that on XXXX the reason my account was reversed was due to " different email address ''. I said what? my payment was reversed because the email address was wrong? How would the bank know that? I actually asked her to confirm the email address she had on file and it was correct ( coincidentally my husband works for XXXX  XXXX XXXX ) At this point i was flabbergasted because now I have been told 3 different reasons on why my payment was reversed and labeled misapplied. I again pressed the issue of the payment that I made in XX/XX/XXXX int he amount of XXXX sitting is unapplied. She said that happens because of the modification I just did. My modification was cleared up in XX/XX/XXXX 8 months ago. She said she would call me back no later than XX/XX/XXXX with an update. 

The reason I am contacting the CFPB is that because the reason my loan went into modification back in XX/XX/XXXX with freedom was because of an error on their part that I didn't press and my home almost ended up in foreclosure. Back then I contacted the CFPB and they contacted Freedom and Freedom admitted they had handled things incorrectly and quickly fixed my loan. It concerns me that this time for a payment I was attempting to make they have once again made a mistake, I have been given 3 different reasons/answers on what has happened. I went onto to explain to XXXX that I felt Freedom makes living taking advantage of people that live pay check to pay check and in some cases do not know how to fight for themselves. That they take what Freedom is saying as true and they don't give any push back.