Consumer complaint received 2018-11-07
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — 
Company: Onity Group Inc. (FL)

I received foreclosure papers in XX/XX/XXXX. I tried doing a short sale. I had a cash buyer and an offer and contract were submitted to Ocwen for approval in XX/XX/XXXX. The short sale offer was accepted by Ocwen and my realtor submitted all the documents to have the buyer approved. We waited for Ocwen to send the approval letter so we could close on the sale but the approval letter never arrived. Between my realtor and I, we must have called Ocwen over 30 times in a period of almost 3 months. We were told repeatedly that a relationship manager would get back to me. No one ever returned our phone calls or emails. I finally got a phone call 3 months later and was told that the appraisal report had expired and therefore the short sale had been denied. Ocwen apologized for not returning any of our phone calls and said we had to start the whole process all over again and order a new appraisal. When I notified the buyer he backed out because he had already lost so much time he was afraid the house might foreclose before we could actually close on the deal. I then opted for a loan modification but when I received the approval letter, the new monthly payments were completely unaffordable. I then opted for a Deed-in-lieu and sent in the requested documents and actually received an approval letter in XX/XX/XXXX that stated that I needed to be out of the property by XX/XX/XXXX. Ocwen sent a notary public to my house in late XX/XX/XXXX to sign the deed with two witnesses. The notary public advised me that she would overnight all the documents to Ocwen. I moved out of my house on XX/XX/XXXX and notified Ocwen in writing via email. They replied stating that someone from the home preservation team would contact me to secure the property and that my account had been approved for {$10000.00} relocation funds. They said I would receive the relocation funds by mail 3 business days after the DIL was finalized. I waited for the home preservation team to call me for the keys but no one ever called. I sent several emails to the relationship manager asking when were they going to call me but I kept getting replies stating that someone would contact me soon. Finally on XX/XX/XXXX I got an email from the relationship manager stating that the home preservation team had advised them that the property was occupied and that I needed to vacate the property as soon as possible or the DIL might be denied. I replied to this email stating that that was not accurate. I had told Ocwen several times via email that I had moved out of the property on XX/XX/XXXX. The property is in a gated community and they would not have let anyone in without the guard calling me first. No one ever contacted me so I knew they were lying. On XX/XX/XXXX I got a reply to that email from the relationship manager stating that the DIL had been denied because someone from the home preservation team had spoken to me on XX/XX/XXXX and that I had supposedly said that I had not vacated the property. Which again, is a complete lie! They even threaten of an eviction! I have been trying to tell them for over a month that I moved out on XX/XX/XXXX and I've been waiting on the phone call to go meet someone at the property to hand them keys. On XX/XX/XXXX, I finally spoke to my relationship manager over the phone and explained everything in detail. He then transferred me to the DIL department and stayed on the phone listening to everything. They apologized and admitted that they might have called the wrong number or person. They said they would proceed with the DIL and that within 5 days someone from the DIL department would call me to schedule an inspection at the property and that soon after that the DIL would be finalized. I then received an email on that same day from the relationship manager apologizing again and summarizing our phone call. I sent an email to the relationship manager yesterday, XX/XX/XXXX, letting him know that I still had not received a phone call for the inspection. They had said someone would call within 5 days and the 5 days were up. I received a reply to that email this afternoon, XX/XX/XXXX, stating that the DIL had been denied and that I would have to reapply. No further explanations. I now believe that every time I email the relationship manager, random people who don't know what's going on are replying and this is going around in circles. In the email replies that I am getting, they are passing themselves off as my relationship manager, but this is not true. I am very frustrated and the final foreclosure sale date on my property is on XX/XX/XXXX. It already has been postponed 4 times at Ocwen 's request to proceed with the DIL. In the meantime, I am getting bills from the XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX and the water utilities department. They say that the property is still in my name and therefore I am responsible for these bills even though I moved out at Ocwen 's request. I paid all my XXXX fees through the month of XX/XX/XXXX, and I moved out on XX/XX/XXXX. The XXXX  monthly fee is {$270.00}. I paid my water bill through the month of XX/XX/XXXX but they say I still have to pay $ XXXX  monthly base fees even if there is no water consumption. I can not afford to pay these fees since I moved out over a month ago and I'm having to pay these fees for my new residence. I don't have money to hire an attorney and I feel they are taking advantage of me because I have no legal representation. The communication with Ocwen is terrible and they just really don't want to help anybody. They offer all these alternatives to foreclosure but if you accept, they don't follow through.