Consumer complaint received 2024-08-01
Product: Mortgage — FHA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Trying to communicate with the company to fix an issue while managing or servicing your loan
Company: Southwest Business Corporation (TX)

My husband called SWBC Mortgage on XX/XX/year> to ask if they had a program that would allow us to skip a payment due to an unexpected AC issue in our home. We were not in default, late or at risk for being late. We just hoped we could move the payment to the end of our loan so we would not have to use a credit card to pay for the XXXX repair, but that was an option. 

We were told we were approved to skip a payment and we would be receiving paperwork in the mail. A couple of weeks went by and we never got any paperwork. I called SWBC to ask about the paperwork and I was told that I could just ask any questions I had over the phone and accept the program verbally, but that they would also resend the paperwork. I asked my questions ( How this would affect us long term, how the program worked, etc. ) and told them I would wait for the paperwork to make a final decision. Again the paperwork never came. I called them again and they once again told me that they had sent the paperwork ( though it never came ). This was on or around XX/XX/XXXX and they gave us a XX/XX/XXXX deadline to accept the terms. We decided to verbally accept over the phone because we were going out of town and would not be here in the paperwork did come by XX/XX/XXXX. 

Around XX/XX/XXXX I received a notification from XXXX XXXX that my score had dropped XXXX points with all three bureaus! SWBC had reported a 30 day late. In a panic, I called them and was assured it was a mistake and would be corrected. I was told that I should have been told there would be some kind of reporting, but not a 30 day late and nothing as negatively impactful. Since then, we have had credit card companies lower our available credit due to this credit change. I contacted SWBC again and was told that I should have known about the credit reporting. How would I know if I never got paperwork until after the fact. I asked how this would affect us when we first were told we were approved and credit was never mentioned. I told SWBC I STILL did not have any paperwork from them about this program they set us up with. They offered to mail it again, but I told them they needed to fax it to a local office where I could pick it up. They did so on XX/XX/XXXX and that was when I was finally able to see that we were enrolled in a COVID-19 Stand Alone Partial Claim. A loan modification. I have called SWBC several more times and I have been told they will make a decision on what to do about the credit reporting by XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX I called the escalation dept as instructed to do by an employee and although they assured me someone would call me back with in XXXX hours, they never did. 

I also reached out to HUD, as I have an FHA loan and they are looking into this matter because they have no record of my mortgage being in any kind of program. 

We feel like this was done deceptively because they never gave us information until we had no choice but to continue with the option they gave us. SWBC was the ones that told us we were approved to skip XXXX and XXXX payments and they would be put into a second silent mortgage to HUD that would be repaid at the end of the loan or if we sold our house. SWBC intentionally withheld how this would affect our credit.