Consumer complaint received 2023-12-29
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — Trying to communicate with the company to fix an issue related to modification, forbearance, short sale, deed-in-lieu, bankruptcy, or foreclosure
Company: CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES, LLC (MA)

I have worked as a bartender at the XXXX XXXX for XXXX years and owned my home in XXXX, MA for XXXX years. I am now in the beginning stages of foreclosure because of problems related to Covid and the loss of income when they shut the XXXX XXXX down and I got laid off. My income dropped to {$440.00} a week for unemployment and I contacted my lender Carrington to tell them what was going on and why I could not make the mortgage payment. Their agents did not offer any options -- -they said figure it out, we dont care. At that time I did not know anything about forbearance or CARES act. While I was in the middle of Covid issues their agents never told me about any programs I could apply for. I was able to keep up with the payments for a while with my unemployment checks but eventually could not make the payments and Carrington was not willing to work with me. Due to this obstruction I fell further behind and now find myself in the beginning process of foreclosure even though I have recovered financially and have the ability to make my original mortgage payment or even more. However, when Carrington finally was willing to work with me I was put into a plan that doubled my monthly payment from {$3000.00} a month to over {$6000.00}. No one at Carrington can tell me why this happened or what is going on and now and I need help to cut through the red tape. 

After being told we cant help you for over a year I started getting letters in the mail that said I need to make a payment ( I would sporadically pay when I could ) and that there may now be options to help. After receiving this notification I did apply for assistance in 2022 and was eventually offered a plan to help me called the Covid short term payment deferral. ( attached ) This seemed like a good deal because as I understood it the past due payments would be deferred until the end of the loan and I would resume making a payment similar to my original mortgage payment around {$3000.00} a month with an interest rate of 8.25 %. However after accepting this modification and making the first few payments my escrow payment suddenly exploded to {$3500.00} a month??? This put my monthly mortgage payment on my home at {$6100.00}. I dont know how this amount could go so high?? My monthly property taxes are approximately {$530.00} per month and I have my own homeowners insurance policy that is only a few hundred a month. 

How did I end up in this situation? Why is the escrow payment so high? I thought Carrington wanted to help me because of what I went through during Covid?? I had a steady job and suddenly my income was cut by 70 % because my employer was shut down by the government. When I couldnt pay I asked Carrington for help but was turned away for well over a year when they should have offered me CARES program forbearance. 

I came out of Covid and my financial circumstances have improved. In addition to my job at XXXX XXXX I have a long term tenant who rents out the downstairs as well as XXXX and some alimony. I could easily afford my original mortgage payment. I was really surprised that they were willing to offer a plan to save my house after shutting me out for over a year but a few months after accepting this modification my escrow payment went up and my total payment went up more than {$3000.00} a month. How did this happen? Is this part of the Covid short term deferral program? Because if it is, this is NOT a good deal and this was not explained to me. Although I am in a good position financially this monthly payment is close to 70 % of my gross income. No one could afford that, and it is unconscionable for Carrington to put me in this position. Now I am behind on the mortgage again and starting foreclosure and it seems that this short term deferral program made everything worse. 

I have tried calling Carrington multiple times to find out why my escrow payment went so high and no one can give me a straight answer.