Consumer complaint received 2018-02-15
Product: Mortgage — VA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company (FL)

1.I refinanced this home in XX/XX/XXXX after I retired from the XXXX and chose a variable rate ( 2.5 % ). Of course, the loan originator sold the loan - to Freedom Mortgage ( FM ). For about the first 3 years under FM, I was constantly barraged with phone calls and letters asking me to convert to a fixed rate ( a higher interest rate, of course ). I repeatedly indicated that I did NOT want to do this since my rate was guaranteed for 5 years.

2. This home has been a rental since I left it upon duty reassignment subsequent to purchasing the home and throughout the remainder of my XXXX XXXX service. Upon retirement, I allowed my son and his family to live there with his rent being the mortgage payment. Due to the timing of his pay and other expenses he is always late making the payment but he has ALWAYS made the payment plus the late fee. 
3. On XX/XX/XXXX my son attempted to make the XX/XX/XXXX payment and late fee online. Of course, FM had also added the XX/XX/XXXX payment due which doubled the amount due. My son could only make one payment and the FM website would not allow him to change the amount of payment being submitted. So, he gave me the cash and I mailed a check for XX/XX/XXXX payment plus late fee ( {$730.00} ). 
4.On XX/XX/XXXX the payment with the late fee for XX/XX/XXXX was made on line, as usual. However, FM had charged twice for the late fee which caused my son 's payment to return as NSF. ( Instead of the usual {$18.00} late fee, they charged {$36.00}. He paid it thinking this was the usual amount he paid but actually only had funds to cover the payment with the usual late fee amount ). 
4. On XX/XX/XXXX I called FM since the payment for XX/XX/XXXX was still sitting in my son 's bank account and I had received the statement indicating the overcharge of {$18.00}. FM assured me they had received the XX/XX/XXXX payment and also acknowledged an over charge of {$18.00} which I was told by the representative was applied to the principle, not refunded or credited. Of course I was not pleased by the overcharge or the way they handled the reimbursement so a supervisor indicated she would apply a waiver to one future late fee and that this would be notated on my account. 
5. On XX/XX/XXXX, my son received notice that the XX/XX/XXXX payment ( the payment they assured me they received ) was returned for insufficient funds. I called FM on XX/XX/XXXX. Again there was a supervisor involved because they caused the NSF action by overcharging the late fee and now a NSF fee would be added. That super indicated he would waive the NSF fee and again, take care of the late fee overcharge. Again, this would be indicated in notes on my account. That same day I mailed a check for the XX/XX/XXXX payment plus late fee to FM. After 9 days, it still had not cleared my bank. Concerned that my check was lost in the mail or mail fraud during the XXXX season, I made another phone call to FM on XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with another supervisor who told me there were NO notes on my account! At this point, we agreed that I would make the XX/XX/XXXX payment by phone with the phone fee waived. When I queried him whether stopping a payment would result in an NSF fee, he assured me it would not or that I would not be charged. I then called my bank and put a STOP payment on the check. I WAS subsequently charged a fee ( {$25.00} ) by FM for stopping the payment, which has not been reimbursed or applied to the principle as of this writing. FM does record conversations so all this can be verified. 
6. It appears that the late fee overcharges were applied to the principle, against my wishes. I was told I could opt to have them placed in " unapplied funds '' and deduct that amount from my next payment or request a refund. I was counting on applying the overcharges to a subsequent payment. FM just does what they see fit regardless of the customer preferences. If I could afford to make additional principle payments I would! 
7. The real problem is that we as consumers have no choice who covers our mortgage. This is outrageous and the practice needs to stop. Maybe then you would receive far less consumer complaints. At best, the VA Department needs to reconsider whether FM should be an option to handle a VA mortgage. I've had many mortgage companies over the last 18 years because of all the " selling '' and Freedom Mortgage is by far the worst.